South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs issued the
new statistics in a statement Wednesday. The statistics show
that 395, the majority of the killings, have taken place at the
expansive Kruger National Park in South Africa's northeast. From
the 1990s to 2007, rhino killings in South Africa by poachers
averaged about 15 a year. However, the number has soared as
buyers in Asia now pay the U.S. street value of cocaine for
rhino horn. Rhino horn is made of keratin, a tough protein found
in human fingernails. There's a belief in Asia that taking
ground-up horn cures diseases. However, no medical evidence
supports that.