On the back of the dreadful statistics that poachers have killed a new record of 405 rhino’s in South Africa since the beginning of the year, comes the news that the Kruger National Park will immediately halt the posting of rhino sightings on its notice boards.

One of the highlights for many visitors to the Kruger National Park, and many other wildlife parks around the country, is visiting the information maps and notice boards that appear at most camps.

These boards provide relatively up-to-date information on the whereabouts of various popular species of animals.

The boards obviously don’t guarantee a specific sighting of an animal, but they do give you a fair idea for planning a particular route to follow in the hope of seeing a specific species.

Laura Mukwevho, a spokeswoman for the Kruger, has told the Beeld newspaper that all camp managers have now been ordered to remove information on maps and notice boards about rhino movements with immediate effect.

The Kruger Park has itself lost a total of 229 rhino’s due to poaching this year alone.

The trade in rhino horn, and other endangered wildlife, is fueled by the constant demand for their perceived healing properties.

Just last weekend, an auction took place in Beijing where cases of spirits and tonics fortified with tiger, rhino horn and pangolin were sold.

Even though Chinese law and international conventions on the trade of such products is illegal, the auction was still advertised the previous night on Chinese state television.

Shockingly, the auction house dedicated a dozen pages in their auction catalogue to tiger bone wine alone.

[Sources: Guardian, TimesLive]