40 Black rhinos poached in Zimbabwe

27/01/2008 00:00:00 May 2007. Recent reports indicate that least 40 black rhinos have been killed by poachers in Zimbabwe over the last three years.

Zimbabwe has been badly affected by an increase in poaching after controversial land reforms that saw the forcible takeover of white-owned farms, many of which had private game sanctuaries on them.
An unprecedented economic crisis in the country that has seen inflation spiralling to a national record of more than 2,200 per cent and worsening poverty has also caused an increase in poaching by people struggling to survive amid the crisis.

Zimbabwe's black rhino population came close to extinction in the 1980s at the hands of poachers from neighbouring Zambia. In the 1990s, many of the animals were moved from the Zambezi Valley to game reserves on private land inside the country to avoid Zambian poachers' guns, but have now fallen prey to locals.