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Rhino poaching reaches crisis point
Image: Tsavo National Park rhino warden
Hopes that camera traps will turn the tide

 Reports that more than 1,000 African rhinos have been slaughtered in the last eighteen months have prompted a race to install camera traps in poaching hotspots.

Rhino slaughter as a result of the soaring demand for horns has now reached crisis point, according to the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

It is hoped that camera traps deployed in problem areas could hold the answer. ZSL's field conservation director, Jonathan Baillie, says: "Rhinos are being massacred daily by gangs of armed poachers.

"This large-scale organised crime means law enforcers are being overpowered, but our new cameras will help turn the tide and put an end to this slaughter."

The camera trap project involves installing the cameras in Tsavo National Park, Kenya, from where they will send real-time information to rangers, allowing them to intervene.

The cameras are equipped with automated sensors and can detect passing vehicle vibrations, transmit images and even triangulate the sound of gunshots to provide accurate locations of poachers.

ZSL's camera trap project is a finalist in Google's Global Impact Challenge, which is open to public voting from May 22-31.

The project is dependent on the £500,000 Global Impact Award from Google. If successful, installation of the cameras is expected to be completed within months.

Click here for more information about the Global Impact Challenge.

Image credit: ZSL

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Practices urged to audit neutering data

News Story 1
 RCVS Knowledge has called on vet practices to audit their post-operative neutering outcomes.

It follows the release of the 2024 NASAN benchmarking report, which collates data from neutering procedures performed on dogs, cats and rabbits.

The benchmarking report enables practices in the UK and Ireland to compare their post-operative outcomes to the national average. This includes the rate of patients lost to follow-up, which in 2024 increased to 23 per cent.

Anyone from the practice can submit the data using a free template. The deadline for next report is February 2026.

Visit the RCVS Knowledge website to complete an audit. 

Click here for more...
News Shorts
RCVS pays tribute to well-loved equine vet

The RCVS and the Riding Establishments Subcommittee has paid tribute to well-loved veterinary surgeon and riding establishment inspector, Rebecca Hamilton-Fletcher MRCVS.

Linda Belton MRCVS, RCVS President, said: "I, along with my colleagues on the RESC, RCVS Council, RCVS Standards Committee, as well as RCVS staff, was very saddened to hear of the sudden death of Rebecca, or Becca as we knew her, last week.

"She was a true advocate for equine welfare and in her many years on the RESC worked to continually improve the quality and consistency of riding establishment inspections, all in the interests of enhanced horse welfare and rider safety."