Czech zoo burns rhino-horn trove

DVUR KRALOVE, Czech Republic — A Czech zoo burned some 74 pounds of rhino horns with an estimated black market value of more than $2 million on Tuesday in a protest against a rhino horn auction in South Africa.

The Dvur Kralove Zoo, 70 miles northeast of Prague, is home to 19 rhinos, the largest group of its kind in Europe. Dozens of visitors applauded Tuesday’s ceremonial burning, which took place under the presence of heavily armed customs officials.

Earlier this year, the zoo removed the horns from some of its animals as a precaution to prevent criminals from stealing them for sale after assailants broke into a wildlife park near Paris in March, killing a rhino and stealing its horn.

A kilogram (about 2.2 pounds) of rhino horn is sold for some $65,000 on the black market with rhino horns considered a cure in Asia for everything from cancer, colds and fevers to high blood pressure, hangovers, impotence and other ailments.

Poachers have decimated rhino populations in Africa and elsewhere.

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