Earth Song: Cry for an African Treasure
I have watched my peers grow up to become more conservative. I think the reverse is happening with me. There is a growing joke that as I get older the most likely I wi l l become a tree hugging vegan feminist hippie. I am already ha lf way there. This past week I heard some troubling news. Last year South Africa saw a record year for Rhino poaching. More than 1,200 rhinos were i l legal ly poached. That number is a 21% increase from the year before. South Africa is home to approximately 18,000 white rhinos and about 1,700 b l ack rhinos. If poaching continues at this rate, rhinos may become extinct over the next two decades. Imagine our children learning about rhinos at an exhibition. We could be talking about rhinos the way we ta lk about dinosaurs. That is a reality I never want to see come to l ight. The surge in poaching has been driven by the high prices for rhino horns on the b lack market. There is reportedly a strong demand for rhino horns in Vietnam and Chi