'Heinous' poachers break into Paris zoo and shoot white rhino three ti
Poachers have shot dead a rhino after breaking into a zoo near Paris, hacking off its ivory horn with a chainsaw in the first such case in Europe.
Vince, a four-year-old white rhino, was shot three times in the head on Monday night at the rhinoceros enclosure at Thoiry zoo, situated at the back of the compound's African Animal Park Reserve.
Zoo keepers only made the macabre discovery of the dead white rhino, which had been a resident since 2015, on Tuesday morning.
Vince, a four-year-old white rhino, was shot three times in the head on Monday night at the rhinoceros enclosure at Thoiry zoo, situated at the back of the compound's African Animal Park Reserve.
Zoo keepers only made the macabre discovery of the dead white rhino, which had been a resident since 2015, on Tuesday morning.
Thoiry zoo described the attack as a 'heinous act' on its Facebook page.
“Vince was found this morning by his carer who, very attached to animals, is deeply affected," it wrote.
“This heinous act was carried out despite the presence of five members of the zoological staff living on site and surveillance cameras.”
It added: “The other two white rhino living in Thoiry, Gracie 37 years old and Bruno 5 years of age, have escaped the massacre and are safe and sound."