Rhinos could be wiped out from SA’s wildlife parks by 2050 if poaching continues at its current rate, a campaigner fighting to save the beasts has warned.

Suzanne Ackerman-Berman has been overwhelmed with positive support after her passionate letter to Eric and Donald Trump Jr expressing her disgust over their hunting antics and proudly posing with their trophy kills.

A number of Muscovy ducks have been taken from a farm in Lichtenburg, North West, where a pâté was being produced from their livers, the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) said on Friday.

A Durban undertaker who embalmed a dead baboon at a private mortuary in the city and then stored it in a coffin among 35 human bodies, says he does not believe his actions were a health violation or a sign of disrespect to anyone.

More than 100 rhinos have already been killed by poachers in South Africa this year. If this rate of killing continues, the total number of dead animals could be at least a third higher than last year when the “record” of 448 was set.

The figure of more than 100 was confirmed this week by Environmental Affairs department spokesman, Albi Modise, who said he did not have the exact number to hand.

He said minister Edna Molewa would be announcing on Sunday the latest measures to tackle the unprecedented rhino poaching scourge and that she would also give the most up-to-date number of slaughters then.

On February 29, SA National Parks (SANParks) announced that 80 rhinos had been lost to poaching since the beginning of the year across the country – 43 in the Kruger National Park alone – while 50 arrests had been made.

But there have been a number of incidents since then.

These include the arrest of Joseph “Big Joe” Nyalunga at the beginning of March, when police officers allegedly found four rhino horns behind the seat of his Colt bakkie in Hazyview, Mpumalanga.

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For 12 hours the huge beasts slowly made their way through the Zululand bush until they reached the house of the man they loved – to say good-bye.

The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) observatory in Jonkershoek is proof of how several organisations can work together to create greater benefits for South Africans and for generations to come.

A campaign to sensitise South Africans to extreme weather conditions is well underway in the continued spate of bad weather which has killed people and destroyed houses and road infrastructure.

The Department of Energy has highlighted some of the lessons it learnt during the climate change conference, COP17, in December.

 PetroSA is to fund an eco-schools programme aimed at encouraging environmental responsibility among the youth to the tune of R4.5 million.

An urgent meeting has been held by top government officials in South Africa and Mozambique in a bid to find practical solutions to the scourge of rhino poaching.

A Chinese national, who was arrested on Monday after being found in possession of dried abalone, will appear before the Bellville Magistrate's Court today.