The Poacher's Moon

Book excerpt: When wildlife conservationist Richard Peirce learnt about the targeting of three private game reserves in the Western Cape in 2011 and the butchery of some of their rhinos, he embarked on a crusade to raise public awareness about the horrors of rhino poaching. This is the story of Higgins and Lady, two rhinos from the farm Fairy Glen that defied the odds by surviving a brutal attack. Peirce keeps the reader spellbound as he recounts the series of attacks and their aftermath in chilling detail: the unbearable savagery, suspect police work, shady characters, mysterious happenings and death threats. Reading like a crime thriller, this account of dogged survival, compassion and triumph – along with desperate strategising to outwit the poaching mafia – will have wide appeal. Colour images throughout, taken as the drama unfolded, bring the subject even more vividly to life.