Hornswoggled

This morning, a tragedy occurred at a zoo near Paris. Vince, a male white rhinoceros living at the Thiory Zoo, was shot to death by an unidentified assailant, who then proceeded to cut off one of his horns. The killing cast a shadow over zoos around the world, as it was the first time that an animal at a European zoo had been killed by poachers. The poachers--who as of now have not been arrested--apparently escaped with one of Vince's horns before they could target the zoo's other two rhinos, Grace and Bruno. Vince was five years old, young for a rhino, which can live to be up to sixty. His death highlights a serious blind spot in conservation today: are zoos really doing all that they can to help endangered species?
The main target of poachers who hunt rhinoceroses is their horns. Rhinoceros horns are valued for their "medicinal" properties in China, as an aphrodisiac in Vietnam, and as ceremonial daggers in Yemen. As far back as medieval Europe, ground rhinoceros horn was thought to be an antidote against poisons (this may be one of the inspirations of the mythical unicorn). None of these uses can remotely justify the continued slaughter of hundreds of rhinos, and the poachers who use them as an excuse to make money are every bit as guilty as the people who consume rhinoceros products.
Today, there are five species of rhino (white, black, Indian, Sumatran, and Javan), and their populations together total less than 40,000 animals. The northern white rhinoceros is a possible sixth species, since it has been isolated from the other populations of the white rhinoceros for over 1 million years, but there are only three individuals of it left.
Captive breeding in zoos has been the life-line for rhinos. While poaching and deforestation have killed them off in the wild, zoos have allowed these animals to survive and breed safely, hopefully to a point where they can once again roam wild. Unfortunately, as Vince's death shows us, even zoos are not foolproof. As a matter of fact, it is the third time this year that an animal in a zoo has been killed by a trespasser. The other two (a hippo and a crocodile) were acts of vandalism with no financial motive, but they all highlight a disturbing fact. In order for zoos to be truly safe sanctuaries for endangered species, they will need to improve their security.


For endangered animals like the white rhinoceros, zoos offer the best hope of recovery. But what if zoos aren't as safe as we thought?