Chinese, Vietnamese demand fuels mass rhino killing / 中越迷犀牛角入藥 非洲犀牛盜獵猖獗　　　　　　　　　　

International trade in rhino horn has been banned since 1977, but the poaching of this giant, majestic animal is still rife in Africa. In 2015 alone, over 1,300 rhinos were killed illegally to meet Chinese and Vietnamese demand for rhino horn. Conservationists said the struggle against rhino poaching was failing, as a record showed that 1,305 rhinos were killed illegally in Africa last year, most of them in South Africa. However, the South Africa government claims there is progress in stopping the illegal trade. ==EDNA MOLEWA, Minister, South Africa Environmental Affairs== The figures we can give you: around 300 as opposed to around 600 or 700 last year in the same quarter, so there is a real downward trend. Julian Rademeyer, an investigative journalist, discovered poaching is also rife in neighboring countries. ==JULIAN RADEMEYER, investigative journalist== In 2015 for instance Zimbabwe lost 51 rhinos, Namibia have recently updated their figures, Namibia lost 125 rhinos, so I don't think you can look at it in isolation. Reportedly, the population of black rhinos dropped by more than 94%, to merely around 5,000 in 2015, from the highest of 850,000 in the last century. Seeing the crisis, some African countries attempted to protect rhinos. For instance, in Zimbabwe, killing a rhino carries a mandatory nine-year sentence. However, the threat of jail time has not been enough to stop the trade because there is still a huge demand from China and Vietnam, where rhino horn is used in a traditional medicine. TRANSLATED BY：MERVYN KWAN