CORRECTION: Namibia loses 390 rhinos in 10 years: authority

Figures released by Namibia's environment ministry Tuesday show that 294 rhinos have died of natural causes since 2005, while 103 others were poached, leaving the country with around 2,000 still alive.

Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta told a media conference in the capital Windhoek that of the poached rhinos, 95 were black and eight white.

Shifeta said 16 white rhinos died of natural causes, eight were poached while three were hunted for trophies in the past decade.

It is estimated that Namibia has about 2,000 black rhinos of the world's population of 5,000. Data from animal conservation groups indicate an annual growth of around 7 percent of Namibian black rhino population.

Poaching is considered the biggest challenge to rhinos population growth. Shifeta said Namibia lost 24 rhinos to poaching last year, while so far this year 68 rhino carcasses have been found across the country.

Sixty-two of the 68 rhinos were found at Etosha game park where Namibia's biggest rhino population is, while four were found in the northwest Kunene region.

He said DNA tests conducted on the cause of the rhino deaths this year revealed that 29 died of natural causes.

Namibian authorities insist that the growing rhino population has put a pressure on conservation efforts and auctioned licence to hunt black rhinoceros to raise funds.

Last month, a U.S. hunter killed a black rhino in Namibia after bid 350,000 U.S. dollars for a permit despite worldwide criticism from conservationists.

Although the minister did not give the total number of elephant deaths in the past decade, he said last year alone 78 died and 23 have so far been poached this year.

"Out of these 23, 21 were poached in the Bwabwata National Park and two in Mashi conservancy in the Zambezi region," he said. Endi