http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_SOUTH_AFRICA_SAVING_RHINOS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-22-09-23-35 KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa (AP) -- They used to rely on snares, poison and shotguns to kill rhinos for their horns. Now international crime syndicates are arming poachers with night-vision goggles and AK-47 assault rifles as the price for rhino horn surpasses gold.
When the crackle of gunfire signals the death of yet another rhino, radios squawk to life here in South Africa's flagship Kruger National Park and soldiers ready for pre-dawn patrols.
"They've become very aggressive," Ken Maggs, head of the South African government environmental crime investigation unit, said of the poachers. "They leave notes for us written in the sand, warnings. That indicates it is an escalating issue ... They are coming in prepared to fight."
The government of South Africa, home to 90 percent of the rhinos left on the continent, is fighting back. Since more than 140 troops were deployed in April, the number of rhinos killed in Kruger has dropped from 40 in March and 30 in April to 15 in May and just two in June. Fifteen alleged poachers also have been killed this year, and nine suspects wounded in gunfights.
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