This horrific picture shows the bloody wound poachers left on a rhino so they could snatch less than an inch of its horn in a deadly attack.

Hunters tore into the 20-year-old white rhino's face in South Africa despite it previously being 'dehorned' for its own protection.

The attackers killed Bella, who was a mother to four, in Kragga Kamma Game Park in Eastern Cape.

Bella (pictured) was murdered by poachers who ripped what left of her horn off in the brutal attack in South Africa

Bella - pictured with what was then her youngest calf, Belita, in 2008 - had most of her horn removed after this picture was taken to deter poachers

Keepers say her youngest, Tank, was seen this morning trying to befriend another mother and calf while mourning his dead parent in the protected site.

He was injured but this is likely to have resulted from being pushed away by the mother rather than being the work of poachers.

Ayesha Cantor, who runs the park, put out a heartfelt message on Facebook about the tragic death.

'Its just so unreal, for 1cm of horn - we cannot comprehend the waste of it all,' she wrote.

Tank - pictured with his mother - was also injured in the attack and has since been spotted grieving for Bella

'We have always been acutely aware that these rhino are everyone's rhino, that we are merely their custodians, this has been evident in your outpouring of emotions.

'Thank you dear friends, we know that you are as devastated by this as we are.'

The white rhino is the only one of the five types not to be endangered, but is classified as 'near threatened' by conservationists.

Tank (pictured) was this morning seen trying to bond with a new mother and calf following the slaughter

This year the species suffered a devastating blow when the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, died in March.

He was suffering from a degenerative muscle and bone condition linked to age when keepers in Kenya found he was unable to stand up and made the decision to euthanise him.