French zoo welcomes baby rhino one year after poaching incident

France's Thoiry Zoo proudly showed their baby rhinoceros on Feb. 14, a welcome addition to the wildlife park one year after their four-year-old rhino was slaughtered by poachers. The three-year-old male named Unesco arrived at the zoo, situated near Paris, on January 25. Unesco, a wild white rhino, came from the Peaugres Safari in southern France, who baptised it as such after the nearby Pont d'Arc Cavern was recognised as a UNESCO heritage site. Unesco's arrival at the zoo came less than a year after a rare white rhinoceros named Vince was killed in March 2017 by poachers who broke into the park. Authorities have not identified the perpetrators and the incident is still under investigation. Unesco gets along with the park's two other white rhinos, zoo staff said, and security measures have been reinforced since Vince's killing to ensure the safety of more than 800 animals living in the park. Wild white rhinos are on the brink of extinction, since their horns are often coveted by poachers, with a kilo of rhino horn fetching 51,000 euros ($53,900) on the black market in 2015, according to a statement from the zoo. Only 20,000 white rhinos currently thrive in the wild, according to conservation group Save the Rhino. Thoiry Zoo will re-open on Feb. 17 after its scheduled winter closure. Credit: Reuters