S Africa to continue anti-poaching patrols
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E-mail Xinhua, May 18, 2012
The South African Defense Force (SADF) would continue to conduct border security patrols to curb rhino poaching, Defense Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said here on Thursday.
Sisulu said the last phase of the borderline control strategy would be rolled out this year and that soldiers would be sent to patrol the border with Lesotho.
The soldiers had initially been posted on the South African- Mozambican border as part of the government's strategy to secure borders. They were later assigned to anti-rhino poaching units in the Kruger National Park.
The situation in the park was "dire" when the soldiers first arrived. Progress has since been made in the fight against poaching, Sisulu told reporters before submitting her Budget Vote in Parliament.
The soldiers have seized 22 poachers and confiscated 19 hunting rifles and AK-47s between April 2011 and March 2012, she said.
The soldiers had also shot and killed 11 poachers in the last financial year, she added.
Despite mounting efforts to stop rhino poaching, the number of rhinos poached in the country has risen to 210 since the beginning of the year, according to the latest official figures.
A growing demand for rhino horns been blamed for the recent upsurge in rhino poaching in South Africa. In some Asian countries, particularly Vietnam, rhino horns are seen as a luxury item, used as a post-partying cleanser and a purported cancer cure. But there is no scientific proof for this.
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