Last year, my son inspired me to draw a rhinoceros, one of his favorite animals. I ventured to study the animal and was horrified to learn about illegal rhino poaching. The images of decapitated, scalped, tortured and macerated rhino heads and faces for the purpose of harvesting their horns for Chinese Traditional Medicine just horrified and angered me. Instead of illustrating "cute" and "charming" rhino drawings, I decided to express my disgust for the abomination of illegal rhino poaching. There are only 5 extant rhino species and in 2010, the last Vietnamese Javan rhino was poached, rendering it extinct in Vietnam. 2013 was the bloodiest year for rhino poaching when 700 rhinos were killed in Africa. More bloodcurdling information is this - "A survey of 720 people in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City published earlier this month, found that typical buyers were "educated, successful and powerful individuals" and use rhino horn as currency in networking." Yet, above all these are the efforts of many organizations and individuals who work hard to save the rhino. 2013 was a very good year for Nepal, there was zero poaching of rhino, elephant or tiger. This is remarkable considering that Nepal borders China and is near Vietnam. God save these sentient animals and help those who help save them. These individual pen and ink illustrations measure 14"x17" on Paris Paper.
