Swazi police have arrested two suspected poachers in connection with the country's first rhino killing in 20 years, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

A traditional healer and his nephew were arrested after rangers at Hlane Royal National Park at the weekend discovered a female white rhino lying in a pool of blood with its horn hacked off, police spokeswoman Wendy Hleta said.

"We have enough evidence to charge these two for now," she told AFP.

Mike Richardson, spokesman for the company that runs Swaziland's national parks, said it was difficult to quantify the loss.

"She is a breeding animal and represents a sizeable percentage of our rhino population," he said. "What is probably more damaging is that our defences have been cracked. That air of invincibility has taken a hammering."

He added that weapons found with the alleged poachers looked "as if the rifles were brought in from over the border. They seem to be pretty high tech. The horn is believed to have moved into South Africa."

Swaziland does not release the size of its rhino population, but conservationists have put the number at around 100.

Demand for the horn is fuelled by its use in Asian traditional medicine. Poaching has soared in neighbouring South Africa, home to 21,000 rhinos, with one of the animals killed almost every day last year.

earlier related report
Female rhino born in Uganda, first in 30 years
Kampala (AFP) June 8, 2011 - A rhinoceros in Uganda's only rhino sanctuary has given birth to the first female calf born in the country in three decades, the director of the conservancy said Wednesday.

The calf was born on Saturday weighing some 50 kilogrammes (110 pounds) at the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, which aims to reintroduce rhinoceros in Uganda, where they were wiped out in the early 1980s.

"This is the first female born on Ugandan soil for almost 30 years after they were completely decimated back in 1983," said Angie Genade, executive director of the Ziwa Sanctuary, about 180 kilometers north of Kampala.

It brings Uganda's total rhino population to just 13.

"Having a female rhino is of major significance because the more females there are the more rhinos we can breed," Genade said.

She said the baby will be named once a sponsor is found for it.

Uganda's rhinos were hunted to extinction in the early 1980s by poachers and army deserters.

In the past decade white rhinos have been reintroduced to Uganda from countries including neighbouring Kenya and America.

One of the three male calves at Ziwa was baptised Obama after the US President as his father is Kenyan and his mother American.

earlier related report
Cambodian monks help protect rare turtles
Kratie, Cambodia (AFP) June 8, 2011 - Cambodian monks and environmentalists launched a new conservation project on Wednesday to help save one of the world's rarest and largest freshwater turtles from extinction.

A centre for the endangered Cantor's giant soft-shell turtle has been set up on the grounds of a temple near the central town of Kratie on the Mekong river, with support from wildlife group Conservation International.

"The turtle faces serious threats in its natural habitat," said Conservation International's Sun Yoeung, explaining that the centre would look after baby turtles.

"We hope they will have a better chance at survival when they are bigger and can protect themselves," he said.

The turtle, capable of growing up to 50 kg (110 pounds), was thought to be nearly extinct until it was rediscovered on an isolated stretch of the river in 2007.

At the opening ceremony for the centre, an orange-clad monk blessed a female Cantor's turtle weighing 18 kg (40 pounds) and released her into a large pond inside the temple complex, a popular tourist attraction in the area.

Staff at the facility hope to find her a mate soon to kick-start a breeding programme.

The centre is also home to nearly 100 baby turtles who were moved from their nests for their own protection.

"In one or two years we will release them back into the river," Sun Yoeung told AFP. "Now they are too small and they can be eaten by birds or fish."

The Cantor's turtle is also under threat from hunters and from the destruction of its habitat.

The animal spends 95 percent of its life hidden in sand or mud and is listed as endangered under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the same status given to tigers and pandas.

It was discovered in an area closed off to scientists until the late 1990s because of decades of civil conflict in the country.

It is not known exactly how many of the creatures are left but since 2007, CI has protected 51 nests on the Mekong river and watched more than 1,000 turtles hatch successfully.

Tweet

Related Links Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com