Poachers kill white rhino inside French zoo

A white rhino.
(Image credit: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Keepers at the Thoiry Zoo in France made a disturbing discovery on Tuesday morning, when they found a 4-year-old white rhino shot dead inside his enclosure.

Police say one of his horns had been hacked off with a chainsaw, and the other was partially removed. The rhino, Vince, was just 5 years old, and had been shot in the head three times. The poachers broke into the zoo overnight, and it's believed this is the first time a rhino was killed inside a European zoo.

On the black market, rhino horns can command $30,000 a pound; in some countries, including Vietnam, it is considered an aphrodisiac, the BBC reports. The white rhino was on the brink of extinction in the late 19th century, but slowly made a comeback, although now about 100 rhinos are killed in the wild every month for their horns. Two other rhinos at the Thoiry Zoo, 37-year-old Gracie and 5-year-old Bruno, were not harmed during the attack.

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Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.