Vince (22 September 2012 – 5 March 2017) was a

Southern white rhinoceros The southern white rhinoceros or southern white rhino (''Ceratotherium simum simum'') is one of the two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other being the much rarer northern white rhinoceros). It is the most common and widespread subspecie ...

who was killed by

poacher Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

s inside a zoo in Thoiry near Paris, France.

Birth and life

Vince was born on 22 September 2012 at

Royal Burgers' Zoo Royal Burgers' Zoo ( nl, Koninklijke Burgers' Zoo) is a zoo in Arnhem, Netherlands, and is one of the biggest zoos in the country. Arnhem is a city that lies within the Veluwe, a nature park in the east of the Netherlands. The zoo is popular wi ...

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He was the second calf produced by 12-year-old Kwanzaa and her 20-year-old mate Gilou. Vince was born six weeks premature. On 6 November 2012 he was introduced to other safari animals at the Zoo. In March 2015, Vince and another rhinoceros Bruno were transferred to Parc Zoologique de Thoiry in France. He lived in an enclosure with two other rhinoceroses, Bruno and Gracie. The three animals bonded, and Vince and Bruno, who were the same age, often played together.

Killing

On 5 March 2017, Vince was shot three times and killed by a group of poachers. They removed one of Vince's horns by using a chainsaw, and partially sawed off his second horn. It is believed that this attack was conducted in order to collect the rhino's horns and sell them on the black market. Rhinoceros horns are used in traditional Chinese medicine and Asian cultures, and a single horn can be sold for up to $300,000 on the black market. On his death, Thierry Duguet, the head of the zoo, said "There has never been a case like this in a zoo in Europe, an assault of such violence, evidently for this stupid trafficking of rhinoceros horns". French Minister

Ségolène Royal Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 201 ...

called the killing a "criminal act".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vince 2012 animal births 2017 animal deaths Individual rhinoceroses Individual animals in France