Rhinoceros Horn Poaching and Illegal Trade at its Highest level

This article talks about the the results of a report about Rhinoceros conservation.  It shows that even though the rhinoceros population has increased, there has been a huge increase in poaching and illegal trade of their horns.  In the year 2007, only 13 rhinoceros were poached in South Africa.  In the year 2009, 122 rhinoceros were poached.  In the year 2012, 455 rhinoceros were poached.  In those 5 years, rhinoceros poaching incidents in South Africa and Zimbabwe account for 94% of the rhinoceros deaths in Africa.  Meanwhile, it shows that since 1991, the white rhinoceros and black rhinoceros populations in Africa have increased 6% each year.
I think this is a good article to use because it has a lot of information that I can use from my research paper.

Rhinos in crisis - Poaching and illegal trade reach highest levels in 20 years. (2013, January 13). TRAFFIC. Retrieved from http://www.traffic.org/

The Trade of Rhinoceros Horns between South Africa and Vietnam

This TRAFFIC report examined the poaching of rhinoceros for their horn.  The rhinoceros in South Africa were being poached for horn to sell them on the black market.  The rhinoceros's horn is widely believed to have healing properties.  There is a surge in illegal trade of rhinoceros horn that are from South Africa.  Vietnam has been smuggling in these horns because they believe that the horns can cure cancer.  Even though South Africa has strict poaching laws, the poachers are finding ways to avoid the law.  The Javan Rhinoceros which lived in Vietnam went extinct in 2010 because of poaching for the horns.  Because of this, they shifted their attention towards poaching rhinoceros in South Africa.  The recent surge of poaching in South Africa for rhinoceros horns will cause a huge problem for the population of rhinoceros in South Africa.  40% of black rhinos live in South Africa.
I think this is a good article to use for my research paper because it has a lot of statistics about poaching.  Plus, it is up-to-date for most of the stuff.

Milliken, T., & Shaw, J. (2012). The South Africa -Viet Nam Rhino horn trade nexus: A deadly combination of institutional lapses, corrupt wildlife industry professionals and Asian crime syndicates. TRAFFIC. Retrieved from http://www.traffic.org/

Ecosystems will collapse if poaching does not stop

This article gives us a deeper look on what poaching does to the environment.  It gives the 3 reasons why people are poaching around the world.  For example, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) released a report stating that there is an increase in demand for rhinoceros horn because people believe that their horn can used to cure cancer.  There are many different types of ecosystems that are about to collapse because of poaching.  One of these ecosystems is the marine ecosystem.  This process started when some species of fish that are on top of the food chain like sharks were overfished.  This has caused an overpopulation of rays and skates where the sharks were overfished.  Because there is a big decrease in the population sharks and a big increase in the population of rays and skates, their ecosystem is out of balance.  Eventually, this will cause the collapse of the ecosystem.
I think this is a good article for me to use for my research paper because facts, examples, and studies about poaching.

Pedersen, S. (2012, June 4). Continued poaching will result in the degradation of fragile ecosystems.  The International. Retrieved from http://www.theinternational.org/