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PARIS (Reuters) - Poachers broke into a French zoo, shot dead a rare white rhinoceros and sawed off its horn in what is believed to be the first time in Europe that a rhino in captivity has been attacked and killed.

The four-year-old male white rhino called Vince was found dead in his enclosure by his keeper at the Thoiry zoo and wildlife park about 50 km (30 miles) west of Paris on Tuesday morning after an overnight break-in, the zoo said.

Police, who were investigating the crime, said the rhino had been shot three times in the head and one of its horns had been sawn off, probably with a chainsaw.

Global trade in rhino horn is banned by a U.N. convention and its sale is illegal in France.

But demand for the horn is strong in newly-affluent Asian countries such as Vietnam, where it is prized as an ingredient in traditional medicines, and African authorities have struggled to counter rampant poaching.

Fething savages. Hopefully instant karma does it's thing to those responsible.

This is disgusting. I hope the guilty parties are found and killed...slowly.

What the actual ferh?

Like we should just surgically remove captive rhino horns at this rate. It seems to be the only thing that can stop them at this rate.

 welshhoppo wrote:
What the actual ferh?

Like we should just surgically remove captive rhino horns at this rate. It seems to be the only thing that can stop them at this rate.

Instead start an educational campaign in the countries where rhino horn anbd similar products are sold. Kill the market for keratin. The Chinese don't like to be thought of as backward, it hurts their pride and this could be exploited.

Better yet:
This can be achieved from the backdoor by flooding the rhino horn trade with fake rhino horn made from human hair. Make the end user doubt the product. So eventually .... They got their rhino horn from Europe or Africa, ok, there is now a 90% chance is compacted human toe nail clippings, have people cut their nails on YouTube, send the clippings and have them shipped out to China through the same channels but this time under police supervision. The entire trade is illegal and covert anyway so it should be easy to intercept the supply chain and contaminate the stock. Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City authorities (the two largest markets) could be gajoled into cooperating.

A good media campaign complete with ridiculing the health benefits (which actual medical professionals will be happy to cooperate with as rhino horn doesn't cure cancer, but other products can help).

Conservartion is only part of the chain and thanks to piss poor coordination a problem that shouldn't really exist remains a lucrative black market trade.

As for the Thiory attack, people know that France has piss poor intelligence security, numerous recent attacks have told everyone that plainly. The sort of crap that occurs in Africa happening in France shouldnt surprise anyone really.

This had to be an inside job. Where was the security? where was the other zoo personnel. Multiple gunshots? A chainsaw?

 Frazzled wrote:
This had to be an inside job. Where was the security? where was the other zoo personnel. Multiple gunshots? A chainsaw?

I don;t know. I have a feeling most Zoos don;t spend a lot on security because who breaks-in to a zoo and poaches animals? It is pretty much incredible to even think about.

 Easy E wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
This had to be an inside job. Where was the security? where was the other zoo personnel. Multiple gunshots? A chainsaw?

I don;t know. I have a feeling most Zoos don;t spend a lot on security because who breaks-in to a zoo and poaches animals? It is pretty much incredible to even think about.

Shotguns/rifles are not quiet, chainsaws are not quiet. Forget the security, where were the other zoo employees? Oh yea, they were paid off.

Does it make me a horrible American to have more sympathy for this Rhino, and angrier at the people who did it than I am over the theater SYG situation in other thread? As a big believer in animal conservation this pisses me off to no end. I think Frazzled may be on to something. This kind of thing doesn't just happen without help. I mean there are no black ops poachers running around France and capping animals.

If poachers are so hard up for Rhino horns that they are breaking in to zoos to steal them, I believe we need to start having armed security guards. Or let the lions run loose at night.

Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of zoos and aquariums, however they are very important for protecting endangered species. They are vital if we plan on reintroducing these species back in to the wild to have any real chance of population growth. I think because of this, these species deserve better protection, even in countries where one would not expect this type of thing. Remember, stupidity knows no borders.

If France had better gun control this never would have happened!

Sadly there's horrible people everywhere in the world, choosing greed over respect for life (and rare endangered life at that).

I knew a guy who worked in a reserve in Zimbabwe, where poachers come in armed with AK-47s and shoot at the wardens. So they in turn were armed with AKs, Bren guns and Webley revolvers. The Chinese medicine market is serious business.

 Frazzled wrote:

 Easy E wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
This had to be an inside job. Where was the security? where was the other zoo personnel. Multiple gunshots? A chainsaw?

I don;t know. I have a feeling most Zoos don;t spend a lot on security because who breaks-in to a zoo and poaches animals? It is pretty much incredible to even think about.

Shotguns/rifles are not quiet, chainsaws are not quiet. Forget the security, where were the other zoo employees? Oh yea, they were paid off.

Overnight, I wouldn't expect there to be much more than a single security guard...

Just dreadful. Fething scum.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
This is disgusting. I hope the guilty parties are found and killed...slowly.

That's extremely excessive.

This sort of thing should help though.

Crispy78 wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 Easy E wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
This had to be an inside job. Where was the security? where was the other zoo personnel. Multiple gunshots? A chainsaw?

I don;t know. I have a feeling most Zoos don;t spend a lot on security because who breaks-in to a zoo and poaches animals? It is pretty much incredible to even think about.

Shotguns/rifles are not quiet, chainsaws are not quiet. Forget the security, where were the other zoo employees? Oh yea, they were paid off.

Overnight, I wouldn't expect there to be much more than a single security guard...

A zoo is a large area. There a large area for a single guard to cover, and a even if you hear/see could be 5 minutes to get there or more. rifles can be supressed too. A guard on wrong side of zoo may not hear anything.

Absolutely terrible. Are zoos going to require 24 hour airport level security now?

 jhe90 wrote:

Crispy78 wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:

 Easy E wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
This had to be an inside job. Where was the security? where was the other zoo personnel. Multiple gunshots? A chainsaw?

I don;t know. I have a feeling most Zoos don;t spend a lot on security because who breaks-in to a zoo and poaches animals? It is pretty much incredible to even think about.

Shotguns/rifles are not quiet, chainsaws are not quiet. Forget the security, where were the other zoo employees? Oh yea, they were paid off.

Overnight, I wouldn't expect there to be much more than a single security guard...

A zoo is a large area. There a large area for a single guard to cover, and a even if you hear/see could be 5 minutes to get there or more. rifles can be supressed too. A guard on wrong side of zoo may not hear anything.

I am guessing you are not familiar with how suppression works. A rifle can not be silenced as per the movies. Although it may make it harder to pinpoint the direction the sound is coming from, you can still hear it a ways off. Anything that moves faster than the speed sound can not be suppressed to the point of being stealthy as of yet. Maybe some day. Maybe they couldn't get to the shooter(s) in time, but if there was security that was not in on it, they most likely heard it.

In al likelyhood, the guards where not paid off, but asleep
So often, nothing happens, so they just go into their trailer, sleep.
Heck, at my amusment park, they would clock in, go home, then come back.
Night guards are fething jokes

 redleger wrote:


I am guessing you are not familiar with how suppression works. A rifle can not be silenced as per the movies. Although it may make it harder to pinpoint the direction the sound is coming from, you can still hear it a ways off. Anything that moves faster than the speed sound can not be suppressed to the point of being stealthy as of yet. Maybe some day. Maybe they couldn't get to the shooter(s) in time, but if there was security that was not in on it, they most likely heard it.

There are subsonic rifle rounds...

 Frazzled wrote:
This had to be an inside job. Where was the security? where was the other zoo personnel. Multiple gunshots? A chainsaw?

Zoos are generally large compounds...

I can see this happen to the St. Louis Zoo: see map.

It's sandwiched between a loud highway and a large park that closes at night.

Security is practically non-existent, at this Zoo anyways, that it used to be an old dare game to jump over the walls and take a picture (with timestamp) at middle of night.

That 3D printing story? Cool as feth.

 CptJake wrote:

 redleger wrote:


I am guessing you are not familiar with how suppression works. A rifle can not be silenced as per the movies. Although it may make it harder to pinpoint the direction the sound is coming from, you can still hear it a ways off. Anything that moves faster than the speed sound can not be suppressed to the point of being stealthy as of yet. Maybe some day. Maybe they couldn't get to the shooter(s) in time, but if there was security that was not in on it, they most likely heard it.

There are subsonic rifle rounds...

Aye, there are. Would you attempt to shoot a rhino with a sub sonic round? I would not but I could be in the minority.

300 AAC blackout subsonic at close range? I suspect it does the trick if needed. Shot placement is obviously important.

Forget security. I hear you, but just can't quite agree that there would not be people around to recognize, if not the rifle shots, then the chainsaw going.

You're also assuming that security guards are keen on confronting people with a friggin' rifle.

chainsaw you could hear yes, and true if supressed is still audible. It does rely on the guard being awake or if thr guard was inside a building.

If you got solid doors, double glazing etc you might not hear somthing.

It sounds stupid but possible.
You inside a modern solid building. The sound insulation is rather effective.

 jhe90 wrote:
chainsaw you could hear yes, and true if supressed is still audible. It does rely on the guard being awake or if thr guard was inside a building.

If you got solid doors, double glazing etc you might not hear somthing.

It sounds stupid but possible.

And I'd imagine any pen holding a rhino would have thick walls.

So sad. I wish they would just allow the sale of Rhino horns by game reserves. Sounds crazy, but part of the appeal to try an poach is the amount of money they go for. Drop the price, and you drop the desire to poach.

The crazy and sad thing is, the horn is made of the same material as our fingernails. The horns do grow back just as our nails do. That means all these idiots who are using the horns for some herbal remedy could accomplish the exact same thing by chewing their fingernails. Idiots.

I hope there is a hell, and I hope these poachers make it there.

@ KTG17

Amen. Also, that's not a bad idea. Think about it. Prohibition doesn't work. If people want something they are going to get it regardless of the deterrents or consequences. If they took the horns off the rhinos in the nature preserve and just sold them at a price that was practically giving them away, would this help stop the poaching? Normally I would be dead set against giving in to bullies/criminals/terrorists etc. but I can't think of another way to stop it.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 jhe90 wrote:
chainsaw you could hear yes, and true if supressed is still audible. It does rely on the guard being awake or if thr guard was inside a building.

If you got solid doors, double glazing etc you might not hear somthing.

It sounds stupid but possible.

And I'd imagine any pen holding a rhino would have thick walls.

Yeah. Heavy steel and concrete walls.
Animals are sometimes taken to night sleeping areas. There going to be strong enough to hold a rhino safely.
That's going to be rather solid.

Even a few inches of concrete would deaden sound well.