In addition to our previous posts regarding the issues around the brutal dehorning of rhino’s, it’s ever so shocking to read that the number of rhinoceros horn thefts from museums and private collections across 15 European countries has escalated in the last year.
The horns of the stuffed rhinoceros on the first image, which were wrenched by thieves in the Bamberg’s Natural History Museum, Germany, apparently had a black market value of tens of thousands of dollars.
Rhino horns have become highly prized on the black market due to the widespread belief that when powdered down they have great medicinal powers. In some cultures they are also used for the hilt on ceremonial daggers.
