Rhinos being killed too quickly in Kenya

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Another story of poaching in an African nation and it's all starting to become very clear, Africa has a serious problem with poachers. It seems like every other day through my research online I'm coming across another story involving poaching / poachers. Whether it's an arrest of suspected poachers, or the slaughter of endangered species. Poaching is a monumental issue that will inevitably lead to the extinction of elephants, rhinos, and several big cat varieties. 

Rhinos were in serious trouble back in the 90's in Kenya. Dropping from nearly 20, 000 rhinos in the 70's to approximately 400 by the 90's, it was evident that drastic measures had to be taken to save this entire species. Flash forward to 2017 after years of severe cracking down on poaching, and we're looking at approximately 1250 rhinos remaining. Although this is a step in the right direction, we're talking about an 800 rhino increase in what could be over twenty years. That's a great deal of effort and time for such a small increase, and I believe that to be because of continuous illegal poaching.

Poaching is a very frightening topic for me. Frightening because I can't fathom how anyone could slaughter an animal that risks complete extinction, and frightening that money will push someone to the point that they risk their own lives and the lives of an entire species. It's just despicable behaviour that completely disregards life and attempts to capitalize on murder. There's nothing more evil than profiting of of death in my opinion.

Now, I recently discussed a story about Kenya and their impending sentences of capital punishment for the conviction of poaching. They said that despite life sentences helping to deter, poaching was still a serious problem. They apparently see the death sentence as their last ditch effort to completely end poaching altogether. Although I completely disagree with killing anything or anyone really, I find myself torn on this topic. 

The reality is, we're protecting an entire species from going extinct. Seeing as the numbers are so very low, when do drastic measures take precedence over decency? The lines are kind of blurred to me. I would never ever want to see someone put to death, but have they not earned severe punishment given the severity of the situation? This is why I'm torn, I feel like if you're willing to jeopardize your future, put yourself and others in harm's way, and attempt to slaughter an animal that could be wiped off of the face of the planet, you obviously don't have any regard for anything other than greed. So if life imprisonment is not enough of a deterrence, tha  what is going to work?


What do you guys think? Do you think capital punishment is the answer when we talk about the abolishment of a species? I want your opinions!

HAPPY VEG