Africa 

 Rhino poaching is driven by crime syndicates that might have entered Africa as infrastructure (e.g., roads and building construction), and extractive industry (e.g., mining) contracts have been awarded to Asian companies operating in Africa. Poaching syndicates are highly systematic and strategic; poaching gangs are generally well-funded, well-equipped, and ruthless. From 2000-2007 there was a reduction in poaching in southern Africa, partly because of increased antipoaching efforts. Since 2008, however, poaching has been on a steady increase. In South Africa alone, 333 rhinos were killed in known poaching events in 2010; by 2012, numbers had increased to 668 (about one rhino every 9 hr) and by the end of 2013, three rhinos were lost in South Africa to poaching each day (Fig. 1.2). The year 2013 may well prove to be the tipping point for African rhinos, with population growth unable to keep pace with poaching losses. With the onset of the covid-SARS pandemic, the world saw less poaching in years 2020-2022, but in 2023 the numbers have started increasing again with poaching numbers with almost 500 rhinos being poached in Africa, more than 60% of those in a single state park. (IRF; 2025)