Natasha Anderson, IRF’s Zimbabwe monitoring coordinator, said... | 22 Words

Poaching is a huge problem worldwide, but thanks to organizations dedicated to protecting endangered animals, there's still hope these amazing creatures will see an increase in their population.

Check out what one organization did after they found a baby rhino in a really bad way...

Trophy hunting is the killing of wild animals for human pleasure. Some even refer to it as a "sport."

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The animals are often bred in captivity and are released into a fenced-off area where they are cornered in and gunned down by hunters.

These animals are actually bred to be hunted.

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Across Africa, there are hundreds of breeding facilities that churn out thousands of innocent animals to be hunted. The animals involved are habituated from an early age, often through being hand-reared and bottle-fed, so that they are no longer naturally fearful of people, making them easy targets for a rifle or bow when it comes to the hunt.

This is the main reason that many travel abroad to hunt.

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Because here in the U.S. deer hunting is the most extreme that regulated and legal animal hunting will get. For the big "macho" hunters out there, deers are seen as child's play; many hunters want to take on larger, more dangerous animals to feed their nasty habit.

Though partaking in the sport comes with a hefty price tag.

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Keen hunters have been known to fork out tens of thousands of dollars just to corner an innocent and frightened animal and shoot it dead. What kind of satisfaction they get from it, I will never know.

The average price to hunt a lion in Africa is around $20,000, whereas an elephant can cost as much as $40,000.

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That makes trophy hunting a booming business. The industry employs ranchers, outfitters, professional hunters, gun manufacturers, and taxidermists alike. People with time, money, and a lack of sanity to ensure the business keeps on giving.

Some hunters try to justify their spending...

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The hunters claim that they're helping to fund "conservation efforts" with the money that they pay to hunt. However, I think that's just an excuse to keep on killing. What's the point breeding animals only to kill them? You aren't adding to anything.

Some hunters claim to help endangered species with their hunting.

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Back in January 2014, Corey Knowlton from Dallas, bid $350,000 for a permit to hunt and kill a then-endangered black rhino in Namibia. "I felt like from day one it was something benefiting the black rhino," Knowlton told CNN. "Being on this hunt, with the amount of criticism it brought and the amount of praise it brought from both sides, I don't think it could have brought more awareness to the black rhino."

People have long protested the act of trophy hunting and poaching.

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Because, thankfully, we're not all barbaric monsters on this planet.

And even celebrities have voiced their disgust at the activity...

British comedian and actor, Ricky Gervais, has always been incredibly vocal on his stance about animal rights. In this tweet, Ricky expresses his utter repulsion over the way that rich hunters not only kill innocent animals but exploit the needs of the poor.

Luckily, there are organizations out there dedicated to protecting these amazing creatures...

And now there is one more rhino in the wild thanks to the International Rhino Foundation (IRF), their partner the Lowveld Rhino Trust (LRT).

According to a release from the IRF, in July 2020...

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A sixteen-month-old female black rhino calf was found "in the bush of the Bubye Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe."

LRT workers realized the rhino was injured and without her mom...

They quickly got her the veterinary care she needed.

After examination, they found gunshot wounds from a heavy-caliber rifle...

Likely belonging to a poacher.

She was given medication and all her wounds were cleaned...

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She "was then taken to specially constructed rhino bomas to continue to be cared for by LRT staff and to recover in safety away from lions and hyenas," the IRF's release reads.

Natasha Anderson, IRF’s Zimbabwe monitoring coordinator, said...

"This little girl had enough personality and the fight for three rhinos. Although she was obviously scared without her mother and in considerable pain, the LRT team increasingly became more confident that she would recover from her bullet wounds because she was displaying what a fighter she was."

She was later given the name Pumpkin "for the soothing sound of the word."

LRT staff would stay with Pumpkin and create "soothing 'rhino' noises," to ease her into the new environment.

The LRT team also fed and cared for her...

"She became known as 'Princess Pumpkin' due to her very fussy eating habits and the hilarious mini tantrums she would throw if anything was off schedule," said Anderson.

The calf also had playdates with a wild rhino named Rocky.

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After 6 weeks, Pumpkin was ready to return to the wild.

And it seems as though she decided to meet up with Rocky again, just shortly after her release.

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"It is likely that they will join up and live together, both finding the company they craved at last since tragically losing their mothers to poaching," said Anderson.

The black rhino population has seen a small increase of 5,630 from 5,500 in 2019.

In 1970, there were 65,000 black rhinos in the wild, which dramatically dropped to 2,300 in 1990. The population looks like it's still slowly rising like it did in 2019. Let's hope it does! Keep scrolling for more...