“They play an important role in our tourism, our economy, as well as the ecology. “Our rhino are being poached at an alarming rate that, if unchecked, will see them extinct in the very near future,” Bloch said. Simon Bloch, of Outraged South African Citizens Against Poaching, one of hundreds of volunteer groups created in recent years to raise awareness about rhino poaching, says the killing of any rhino should be forbidden while white rhinos are under threat. Ezemvelo, which runs game parks throughout the province and co-manages Makhasa with the local community, sold the permit to a local businessman for about $120,000. Last month, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, the government body responsible for conservation in KwaZulu-Natal province, auctioned off a license to shoot a specific male white rhino at the Makhasa Resource Reserve. As measures to curb the crime fall short, the sanctioned killing of the single rhino has fueled a heated debate about how best to protect one of the country’s most beloved animals. The poaching has become an emotional issue for South Africans, who regularly see front-page images of rhino carcasses, bloodied stumps where the horns used to be.

White rhinos are classified as “near threatened” by the IUCN, which means they may face extinction in the near future. South Africa is home to the largest rhinoceros populations in the world, including about 4,500 black rhinos, classified as “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and about 20,000 southern white rhinos. Five years ago, the country lost only 13 black and white rhinos to poaching. Last year, a record 443 black and white rhinos were killed in the country’s public and private game reserves, up from 333 in 2010, according to government officials and conservation groups. Growing demand for rhinoceros horns by practitioners of traditional medicine in Asia has created a booming poaching industry in South Africa. Government conservation officials say the deal will actually protect the remaining eight rhinos in the Makhasa Resource Reserve, a game reserve adjacent to an impoverished community whose residents might otherwise be tempted to participate in poachings. Animal rights activists are challenging a decision by South African conservation authorities to auction off a permit to hunt a white rhinoceros, a member of a species increasingly under threat from poachers.

Rhinoceros hunt