Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Phila the Rhino arrives at Johannesburg zoo her new temporary home for the next six months

Phila who has a lot in common with the Rap star 50 cent
in that they have both been shot nine times

Phila a brave Rhino who like a cat has nine lives

Faan Coetzee of the Endangered Wildlife Trust said Monday that 5-year-old Phila will stay at the zoo until she recovers from her wounds, which may take six months.

Although she had been dehorned so she'd be less attractive to poachers, Phila was shot twice in the wild and seven times in captivity at a game farm.

Conservationists say rhino poaching has increased dramatically because of high demand for rhino horn in Asia, where it is used for medicinal purposes.

South Africa, which hosts more than 90 percent of the world's rhino population, has been losing some 20 rhinos per month.

A South African community group has mounted a campaign to get 50 Cent to adopt Phila-because Phila, like 50 himself, has survived being shot nine times. "Many Men." It was poachers who shot Phila, in two separate incidents this past summer, both attempts to harvest her valuable horn.

"We want to ask him if he wants to become the godfather of our rhino so that he can create awareness worldwide about rhino poaching," said Andre Snyman of the anti-poaching organization, eBlockwatch.

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