Poachers break into Paris zoo, shoot rhino dead and steal its horn

Four-year-old rhinoceros named Vince found with three bullets to head at Thoiry Zoo 

Katie Forster

A rhinoceros at a zoo near Paris was shot three times in the head on Monday night by poachers who then cut off its horn with a chainsaw.

The four-year-old rhinoceros, named Vince, was found dead by keepers at Thoiry Zoo, to the west of the French capital.

One or more poachers are believed to have broken in to the zoo and forced their way into an enclosure where three rhinos lived, reported Le Parisien. 


The white rhinoceros's second horn had also been partially hacked off, indicating the perpetrators had run out of time or their equipment had failed.

They may have also planned to steal the horns of the two other white rhinos, five-year-old Bruno and 37-year-old Gracie. Both animals are said to be safe and healthy.

Vince was born on in September 2012 at Burgers' Zoo in the Netherlands. He arrived in Paris in March 2015 with Bruno.

Rhinoceros horns can be sold on the black market for around £30,000 each and are particularly sought after in China, where they are believed to have aphrodisiac qualities.



Continued


4 years old.  You callous, cowardly bastards.  Shame on you and those who pay you your blood money.  Just remember that karma has no menu; you get served what you deserve.

Aurochs horn found at Dinas Dinlle beach in Gwynedd

An animal horn thought to be 3,000 years old has been found on a beach in Gwynedd after the recent storms.

Engineer Derfel Hughes from Rhos Isaf made the discovery while walking at Dinas Dinlle, near Caernarfon.

Mr Hughes checked with museum experts who reckon it belonged to giant wild cattle called aurochs which became extinct in the 17th Century.

He gave it to a friend at the Greenwood Forest Park tourist attraction in Y Felinheli where it could go on show.

"Finding it was a total fluke," Mr Hughes told the Daily Post.

"I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

'Fascinating'

"When I looked closer I thought it might be a tusk, like the one you would find on an elephant."

But he checked with National Museum Wales and the suggestion is that the horn belongs to an ancient breed of cattle called aurochs, according to Mr Hughes' friend Stephen Bristow, managing director at the forest park.

Read on

Poached rhino’s skin grafts a failure

Disappointing results from Thandi's skin grafts 

October 2013. Vets checking Thandi, the rhino that underwent a pioneering skin grafts after having her horn hacked off on Kariega Game Reserve, have found that the grafts have mostly been unsuccesful. The purpose of the checks was to evaluate if the skin grafts had worked, and which methods in particular had been successful. Although Thandi's behaviour and general health appear strong, the procedure revealed that the skin grafts were mostly unsuccessful. 

Very disappointed

Veterinary Doctor, William Fowlds, commented "The surgical team assessed her face after a good clean up we were very disappointed to find that she has removed most of the grafted tissues that were transplanted on the previous two occasions. Only 2 small islands of tissue remain over her front horn area and the exposed bed of granulation tissue is not as blood rich as we would have hoped. The back horn area is doing well but probably isn't subjected to as much pressure as what is clearly happening in the front." 

Thandi has undergone many surgeries and treatments since her horn was hacked off by poachers in March last year. 19 months after she was poached the Kariega team, Dr Fowlds, and surgical Doctors Johan Marais and Alistair Lamont gathered at Kariega in the hope that this would be her last procedure after a very long recovery period. 

Continued