A Young Rhino Has Been Poached In A French Zoo

4-year-old Rhino named Vince was safely inside his enclosure with two other rhinoceroses when he was shot in the head and killed by poachers who then removed his larger horn before they either were forced to run away or their equipment failed. Find out more here.

Allison Sapien
Created by Allison Sapien
On Mar 7, 2017
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Tuesday morning, zookeepers in the zoo at Thoiry, just west of Paris, discovered a gruesome tragedy. 4-year-old white rhinoceros Vince had been shot in the head and killed, and his larger horn had been removed with a chainsaw.

According to police, the poachers broke into the zoo through a grill near the rear entrance. They then broke through two other locks to get to Vince and his fellow rhinos, Gracie, 37, and Bruno, 5. Although there is an established illegal trade network of poached horn between Europe and Asia, this is the first time anything of this kind has been recorded happening in Europe. According to park director Thierry Duguet:

It’s extremely shocking. An act of such extreme violence has never happened before in Europe.

Thierry Duguet

The Guardian, March 7, 2017

www.thesun.co.uk

According to the zoo's former historic director of the African enclosure, Paul de La Panouse

We are grieving. It’s a terrible shock. Animal parks throughout Europe have been put on alert to look out...

Paul de La Panouse

The Guardian, March 7, 2017

www.thesun.co.uk

White rhinos are endangered with only an estimated 21,000 of them remaining in the wild. Vince's loss is especially tragic because he belonged to an extremely threatened subspecies of southern white rhinoceros. But now, what we would like to know is...

Do you think zoos need to tighten security for endangered animals?

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