Up to 89 rhino poachers have been arrested this year, an indication that the South African government was beefing up efforts to curb rhino poaching, authorities confirmed on Tuesday.

There would be more arrests and convictions for rhino poaching in 2012, government officials said.

Last year, 232 suspected poachers were arrested in South Africa, including 26 who died in clashes with the authorities. In 2010, 165 arrests were made.

But the intensified campaign against rhino poaching has apparently failed to curb the surge in rhino poaching.

A total of 135 endangered rhino have been killed by poachers so far this year, about a third of the number killed during all of 2011, according to the environment department.

The worst hit area was the eastern Kruger Park where 75 rhinos were killed for their horns since Jan. 1. The department said rising price in rhino horns had led to the rhino killing spree. Last year, a record 448 rhinos were killed in South Africa, including 19 black rhinos, a critically endangered species of which fewer than 5,000 remain in the wild. That is 34 percent more than in 2010, when 333 rhinos were killed, and nearly four times the 122 lost in 2009.

International syndicates are believed to be behind the surge in rhino poaching. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said the recent upsurge in rhino poaching had been linked to increased demand for rhino horn in Asia, particularly Vietnam where it is a luxury item, used as a post-partying cleanser and a purported cancer cure.

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