A male White Rhino has been shot dead at Thiory by poachers who broke into the zoo overnight and killed the Rhino before stealing his horn Zoo de Thoiry : mort d'un rhinocéros blanc braconné pour sa corne
Sad shocking news, but I would never call them poachers, they are pure and simple criminals of the worst kind!
This is a very disturbing story indeed.........even in zoos our rhinos are apparently not safe....as ZG has said, this is organised crime......
Bloody hell , that's not the sort of thing you expect to happen in a western zoo! And I concur with zg that these people are out and out criminals. Let's hope and pray it's an isolated incident and whoever did this is swiftly brought to justice!
English article about this .... ? ( how can I call it ??? ) : Poachers break into Paris zoo, shoot rhino dead and steal its horn
What I'm wondering is will this have a knock on effect for zoos throughout Europe? A few places in the UK allow access to outdoor exhibits after hours so will these rhinos be put on lockdown after this? I remember a few years ago the Aspinall parks claimed to have been targeted but I don't recall hearing any follow up story so assumed it was paranoia but this just goes to show the lengths some people will go to make a few thousand pounds. As I said previously, I hope that this is just an isolated incident and doesn't spark any copycat attacks.
I personally think that it was almost unavoidable that such an insane thing would happen at some point... Now it gets harder and harder to poach enough rhinos in Africa to meet demand, criminals start looking for alternatives and zoos are then a relatively easy target....
Statement from the park: Translated In the night of Monday, 6 March, to Tuesday, 7 March 2017 of the perps broke into in the field of thoiry despite the security measures put in place and killed one of the three white rhino in order to seize the One of his horns. The whole staff is extremely shocked. A survey of gendarmerie investigation in the early hours of the morning. The direction of the domaine de thoiry's gonna file a complaint. The facts The wrongdoers entered the field of thoiry by forcing one of the external grilles near the African Plains. They are then directed towards the building of the white rhino which they forced the metal gate and have fractured a interior door intermediary. This enabled them to access the loges animals. They then shot and killed Vince A YOUNG 4 year old male to cut one of his horns, probably with a chainsaw. His second horn has only been partially trench which leaves imagine that criminals have been disturbed or that their equipment turned out to be defective. The other two white rhino living in thoiry, Gracie 37 years old and Bruno 5 years of age, have escaped the massacre and are safe and sound. Vince was found this morning by his careful who, very attached to animals which she attends, is deeply affected. This heinous act was carried out despite the presence of five members of the zoological staff living on site and surveillance cameras. The context The Rhinoceros Horns are the subject of an illegal trade because they ready medicinal properties unfounded. In 2015 on the black market, 1 kg of rhinoceros horn was sold 51 000 euros. There are 5 species of rhinoceros and 11 sub-species, all threatened. Vince was born at the end of 2012 at the burger ' Zoo of arnhem in the Netherlands. He arrived in March 2015 at the domaine de thoiry. He belongs to the sub-species Southern White Rhinoceros who, after having near extinction in the 19th century (only 20 to 25 animals in the wild), saw its numbers back up to achieve a little more 20 000 individuals, 18 of which 000 are located in South Africa. This is therefore a subspecies extremely threatened for which the reproduction and the conservation in zoos and in the field is essential. 250 Southern White Rhinoceros are currently being housed in zoos in Europe and are the subject of a programme of Breeding. In recent years the poaching in South Africa has seen an increase exponentially. In 2007, 13 white rhino were killed, in 2011, 448 White Rhino, in 2014, 1 215 and in 2015, 1 175 White Rhino who were workers. On 21 February, the orphanage dedicated to thula thula rhino in South Africa was attacked. The team has been seriously molested and killed several young rhinoceros. The flights of rhinoceros horns are also on the rise across Europe. It would be, however, the first time that a zoo is suffering an attack resulting in the death of a rhinoceros. Very involved in the preservation of animals and their protection, the domaine de thoiry had already, in her own way, pulled the alarm in 2013 by organizing a conference on the trafficking of rhino horn. Different specialists of the rhinoceros and wildlife had participated, including the National Directorate of intelligence and customs investigations (dnred), the direction of nature and landscapes of the ministry of ecology, sustainable development and energy (Medea) , the brigade cites - capture of the office of the hunting and wildlife (Oncfs), the president of the African Rhino Specialist group of the international union for conservation of nature (Iucn), the responsible traffic for the world Wildlife Fund (WWF). In France, a decree, published on 17 August 2016 in the official journal, prohibited "on all the national territory and at any time" the transport for commercial purposes, the hawking, commercial use, the sale, The sale or purchase of defenses and objects compounds in whole or in part d ' Ivoire of species of elephants or rhinoceros horn. This arrested for all species of elephants (in Africa and Asia) and rhinoceros (White, Black, Indian, Sumatra and java). Exceptions to this prohibition, however, are planned. These derogations concern the antiquities business (objects worked from before 1947), "currently free of cites documents, on a case-by-case", said the ministry of the environment. The trade and the restoration of objects worked from after March 1947 and before 1 July 1975 are also possible, " subject to have obtained previously, on a case by case basis, the certificate intra-EU ( Cic) planned by regulation cites ". The trafficking of wild species and their products is severely punished by the law in France. The trafficking of wild species protected represents the 4th traffic in the world after that of drugs, counterfeiting and that of human beings.
I thought that they would continue to rob from museums, I know that has been done many times in the past with several horns being stolen by a traveller community then being sold on to the Far East. Surely that is far less risky than tackling various fences and then an adult rhino...
Many museums have horns treated with poisonous substances, so that would make the end result "not very enjoyable".
But the people stealing the horns probably won't be taking it and those who are taking it deserve everything they get with regards to an agonising illness!
Indeed......... I wonder if there is something toxic that can be painted on to rhino horns (without effect on the rhino obviously) which would make using powdered horn a game of russian roulette and therefore reduce demand. Maybe this has already been tried? I dare say the rhino conservationists must have thought of this....
It is serious. In the last years, there have been a series of thefts of rhino horns from museums around Europe. Thief/thieves were never found. During that time, several zoos feared of safety of their rhinos. Now I am afraid there comes a wave of killing of live rhinos in zoos and wildlife parks in Europe. I think it is possible that it is the same person/persons who robbed museums. Even worse, he is now armed. If I were an European zoo having a rhino, I would quickly invest in CCTV cameras. And would develop a protocol with the staff and local police, what to do if a person with a gun and a chainsaw appears on the zoo grounds. It is expensive, but so is life of staff and a rhino. Certainly, at least Thoiry zoo has a problem what if the thief comes for two other rhinos. Unexpected situation for a zoo, which are usually safe and trouble-free places.
As others already said. Rhino horns were stolen from European museums despite that museum specimens are preserved with extremely poisonous substances. Rhino horns pass through a chain of middlemen before the final customer, none of whom obviously cares about anything except money. It has been long known that rhino horn can contain anthrax and other dangerous bacteria, but this did not reduce demand.
Actually, one man who stole a rhino horn from a Czech museum has been caught. The rhino horn was fake btw. And the man was average Czech thief who saw some tv news about how valuable horns are on black market and just wanted to try his luck. I think zoos should cut their rhino horns and burn them publicly. This way, criminals will have no reason to enter zoos and kill rhinos. Cctv is useless, it may help to catch the criminals, but it can´t prevent the deed itself. And 24/7 armed guard in each zoo will be too expensive. After this recent news will be seen by millions of people all over Europe, many scum people will get motivated to try it too. It is not anymore about one criminal group/person that would endager european zoos and can be caught by police if only police does its best. The zoo director of Thoiry should have never made a public show from this incident, because the news are now spreading in media worldwide and it will lure people to try the same elsewhere.
More on the tradgedy, which I have wondered how long it would take the criminal and callous element of society to get round this sort of thing. 'Heinous' poachers break into Paris zoo and shoot white rhino three times in the head for its horn
They would still have to tell people something about losing one rhino and sooner or later somebody would find out the truth and that would be much worse than being open about it from the beggining
Most zoos (at least here in USA) have night guards, who can call police if they see something suspicious. Does Thoiry not have this? How could someone drive through a gate into a rhino pen and fire a rifle three times without being noticed?
I think it works 2 ways, yes it shows this to potential poachers, but the much much wider mass is appalled by this and this news is spreading quickly... So in terms of generating attention to the problem it is doing a good job. I however completely agree with you that zoos should cut the horns and burn them, this makes for more attention to the problem and will safeguard the animals. It is also a good education tool I would say, when all zoo visitors see "incomplete" rhinos, which can give a very strong conservation measure if done right...
