An endangered black rhino had to be put down after she was shot by poachers with a Kalashnikov rifle.
The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority had to make the difficult decision to put her to sleep after they were unable to save her.
Mother Ntombi leaves behind her calf, who was recently weaned, after she was seriously injured in Zimbabwe’s Matopo National park on Thursday.
The authority said in a statement: “The rhino had AK bullet heads in three of her legs and a further bullet wound in her right shoulder.
“The animal was very immobile and was unable to walk to access food and water.
“She had a front broken leg that she was unable to bear weight on.”
The park, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, has one of the largest concentrations of black and white rhinoceroses and an intensive breeding programme.
Ntombi was part of a ground-breaking genome sequencing project by scientists in America that seeks to save the endangered species of rhino.
A report by the Lowveld Rhino Trust said 50 rhinos were killed by poachers in 2015 in Zimbabwe – more than double the previous year’s total.
Black rhinos are on the WWF’s ‘critically endangered’ list, with a remaining worldwide population of about 5,000.
Zimbabwe’s current population of both black and white rhinos stands at just over 800.
The mandatory sentence for rhino poaching in Zimbabwe is nine years’ imprisonment.-UKMirror
