Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper. Rhino poaching declined sharply in South Africa last year, according to the latest official data. In 2020, there were 394 known cases of rhino being killed for their horns, down 33% on the 594 that were killed in 2019. This is also well down from the peak of 1,215, a grim milestone reached in 2014. A surge in demand in newly affluent and fast-growing Asian economies such as Vietnam, where rhino horn is coveted for medicinal purposes as well as bling, is behind this dreadful state of affairs. There are a number of factors behind the sharp drop in rhino poaching. Last year, lockdown measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic clearly curtailed the movement of rhino poaching syndicates. The poaching toll over the past decade has also reduced rhino numbers and fewer animals represent fewer opportunities to poachers. A recent Daily Maverick report pointed to statistics showing that the Kruger Park’s rhino population has fallen almost 70% in the past decade in the face of an unrelenting slaughter, with about 3,500 white rhinos and only about 270 black rhinos