CAPE TOWN, South Africa, April 4 (UPI) -- South African officials say poachers have killed 203 rhinos in the country since the beginning of the year, with Kruger National Park the hardest hit.
Within the park boundaries 146 rhinos have been killed, the country's Department of Environmental Affairs reported Thursday.
In the latest incident in the park, rangers heard two shots and reacted with the support of wildlife officers using a helicopter.
"During a brief contact, one armed suspected poacher was arrested," a department release said. "A .375 rifle and silencer were recovered.
"A badly mutilated rhino cow was found alive close to the scene of the contact. The animal was bleeding profusely from having its horns, entire mouth, tongue, nose and eyes hacked off and had to be euthanized," it said.
Sixty people have been arrested since the beginning of the year, officials said, 36 of them in Kruger National Park.
