31 more rhino carcasses found in Namibia's game park

Thirty-one more rhino carcasses have been discovered in Etosha National Park in northwestern Namibia.

This brings the number of rhinos killed at Etosha to 38, and 43 for the whole country this year alone.

A week ago, the tourism ministry announced that seven rhino carcasses had been discovered at Etosha, where Namibia's biggest rhino population is.

In a statement Friday, the tourism minister said some of the carcasses are old while others are new and have horns.

It further said the ministry was busy working together with the members of defense forces to determine whether all the 31 new cases were poached or they died of natural causes.

"The current levels at which our rhino are being killed illegally in the country need to be rapidly brought under control, " the statement signed by the tourism permanent secretary Simeon Negumbo said.

Last year, the tourism ministry asked cabinet to sanction the use of the army in protecting rhino. Last week, Cabinet also approved a second request for increasing the number of soldiers on the ground at conservancies across the country.

In addition, there are drones deployed to monitor any illegal activities especially at Etosha National Park.

Negumbo said the tourism ministry will continue to strengthen its efforts in effective crime prevention and law enforcement through coordinated and integrated clusters of activities such as security planning, monitoring and adaptive management. Endi