Two nights ago, the worst possible thing happened at Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage, a refuge and rehabilitation center for rhinos and other animals who have lost their families to poaching.

Two armed men stormed into the orphanage, held the staff hostage, ripped out the security cameras and shot two 18-month-old white rhinos, Impy and Gugu.

Both rhinos had their horns brutally removed, which the poachers will probably try and sell for a large amount of money.

Impy and Gugu's horns were larger than some of the other rhinos' horns at the
sanctuary, Yvette Taylor, a manager at Thula Thula and executive director of Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization, told The Dodo. But she also explained that their horns were still quite small.

"As a rhino person who's rehabilitating rhinos in this poaching crisis, you think that your worst fear is that one of the rhino that you're working on is going to be shot or injured or killed," Karen Trendler, the director of Thula Thula, said in a Facebook Live interview. "So that worst nightmare was realized … it's just beyond comprehension."

Gugu immediately died after being shot, but Impy remained alive, despite being badly injured.

"They did deface him [Impy] while he was still alive, and it was so bad that he had to be euthanized," Trendler said in an tearful interview.

This tragedy is particularly heartbreaking considering what these rhinos have already gone through.

"Impy survived a particularly brutal poaching," Trendler said in an interview. "He stayed at his mother's carcass for six days, moving away just a short distance to eat … because he was obviously very hungry and very thirsty. And when he came in, I still remember so clearly, sitting with this tiny little rhino who was covered in blood splatter from where they shot the mom, and he smelled terribly of carcass fluids, and … that reality hitting me — this is what rhino poaching is about, this is what these little guys go through."

https://www.thedodo.com/thula-thula-rhino-attack-poachers-2278541451.html

Mothra, would you support my plan to flood Vietnam/China with rhino horn laced with polonium?

Gordon wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2017 at 8:20am:



No. For the obvious reasons.

mothra wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2017 at 8:48am:


Cool. Say goodbye to Rhinos.

Gordon wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2017 at 8:52am:



No idea.

mothra wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2017 at 8:56am:


Have you ever met any end users of rhino horn, Mothra? Do you think there's a thriving market of rhino horn in your closeted beach esplanade?

I lived in Hanoi for 4 years and have a very good insight in the use of endangered animals used in TCM and the people who use them.

How about you jump on plane to Hanoi and check it out of yourself, Lan Ong st in the Old Quarter should be your first stop.

Hope this helps.
https://www.skyscanner.com.au/transport/flights/adl/han/cheap-flights-from-adela...

mothra wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2017 at 9:05am:


Have you ever been to TCM shop in S/E Asia where rhino horn is sold?

I suppose not, but I bet you've been to a Fleurieu Peninsula dairy where vegan milk is sold 

mothra wrote on Feb 23^rd, 2017 at 9:09am:


I'm trying to help you,  Mothra. There's a big wide world outside the  Fleurieu Peninsula and if you jump on it right now you could be in Lang Ong st in Hanoi, walking I'm my footsteps,  investigating the TCM shops for yourself.