The Last Rhino
“An informative and disturbing documentary on the war on South African rhinos and economic markets, mythologies, crime syndicates, government corruption, high-tech massacre technologies, and vicious mercenaries driving the immanent extinction of this magnificent species. The urgency of the crisis is vividly dramatised, as are the violent urges deep in the human condition, and the armed struggle taking place right now in Africa and elsewhere in the struggle to save animals from extinction and as a vital part of the politics of nature.”
“It’s a creature from a bygone age, older than mankind itself. Greed and corruption, myth and superstition, had brought the rhino to the brink of extinction. For millenia its best protection, the rhino’s horn is now its worst enemy. If the killing doesn’t stop then the last rhino in the wild could disappear in just a few years. These days rhino poachers come by a helicopter armed with powerful tranquillisers and chainsaws. The cruelty of the attack is just shocking. A philosopher once said that we can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. If so what kind of men are doing this? In 2010 more than 300 rhinos were killed for their horns. It amounts to the wholesale slaughter of one of this continent’s most praised natural assets, by means both crude and sophisticated.” (Al Jazeera Correspondent)