Africa Focus: Rhino killing by U.S. rich man angers conservationists

International and African conservation organizations on Friday condemned the killing of a black rhino by a rich U.S. man in Namibia, saying it does no good to the protection of endangered animals.

Corey Knowlton raised the anger of conservationists by killing a black rhino after buying a Namibian license to hunt for an aging black rhino bull.

Namibia's move to allow commercial hunting of its black rhino population has also ignited a fierce debate on the future of ongoing efforts to conserve the rhinos around the world, as some Namibian conservationists said the move was necessary to eliminate aging black rhinos that cause disturbance to younger bulls and stop reproduction.

"The purpose of trophy hunting is to hunt to kill animals. The argument that it is an important part of conservation is without merit," Azzedine Downes, President and CEO of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) President and CEO told Xinhua.

"Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that there are no animals to hunt. I do not think that Namibia's trophy hunting is conservation, " Downes said.

Downes said challenges in conservation of the black rhinos around Africa, include the lack of proper information sharing systems amongst the local communities, government agencies and conservation organizations, which is necessary to curb poaching.

"Every individual rhino counts in Namibia," said Kathleen Garrigan, spokesperson of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF).

"It is the responsibility of all rhino range states to limit any activity that result in any unnecessary mortality," she told Xinhua.

The rhino remains one of the world's most endangered species on the "red list" of the global protection bodies.

"There are fewer than 5,000 black rhinos remaining in Africa and the species has been listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as critically endangered since 1996," Garrigan said.

More than 90 percent of the black rhino population currently resides in four countries around the world - Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), a state-run animal protection agency, and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) are running a project to stop poachers before they kill the rhinos.

"We are using technology and methods developed by intelligence officers in Iraq and Afghanistan to stop roadside bombings," Downes told Xinhua.

The project known as "TenBoma" involves the use of space-based cameras (geospatial mapping) to gather information about the movement of poachers preying on mostly the black rhinos.

Kenya has the highest number of eastern black rhino sub-species, currently making 80.3 percent of the wild population of black rhino in the world after South Africa and Namibia.

There are 648 individual eastern black rhinos in Kenya, according to Paul Muya, deputy spokesperson of KWS.

The black rhino population is currently distributed on state conservation areas, private and county government protected areas.

Kenya plans to set up its first black rhino's conservancy to host the first breeding population of the black rhinos at the Sera Community Conservancy to host the breeding of the rhinos.

Efforts to lend hands in the conservation of the black rhinos saw the African Wildlife Foundation jointly launch a funding program for the Ngulia Rhino Sanctuary, a fenced sanctuary at Kenya's Tsavo West National Park, home to a now growing population of black rhinos.

"When construction of the sanctuary began, there were as few as three rhinos. Today, there are more than 70 individuals," Garrigan said. Endi