Facebook logo Facebook icon Twitter logo Twitter icon Envelope Email icon

A zoo is taking drastic measures to protect their rhinos from poachers who’d otherwise seek to break into the zoo and harm the animals for their horns.

The Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic will remove the horns from its 21 rhinos as a precaution.

The drastic decision was made following the brutal killing of a rhinoceros at a wildlife park near Paris by assailants who stole the animal’s horn.

(App users can see tweet here)

Czech zoo saws off rhino horns to thwart poachers https://t.co/Xsp367IFDC pic.twitter.com/ILhsU442nG — Eyewitness News (@ewnupdates) March 22, 2017

(Tweet)

With their horns considered a cure in Asia for everything from cancer, colds and fevers to high blood pressure, hangovers, and other ailments, poachers have decimated rhino populations in Africa and elsewhere.

(See Metro for more)