hunt down and sedate a giant rhino. what they do next may strike you as rather gruesome. we have decided to dehorn our entire population. because of our high level of threat, we dehorn every rhino, even rhinos with calves. dehorning can be controversial. critics say it leaves the animals defenceless. but it's designed to deter poachers. why hunt a rhino for its horn when it's already been removed? rhino numbers in this area fell by two thirds between 2008 and 2019. lockdown slowed that decline, but then the lockdown was eased. since november — december last year and into 2021, this landscape, and particularly kruger national park, has been experiencing serious numbers of rhino poaching incidents.