No, South Africa hasn't turned the tide on its rhino poaching crisis

2015 may have seen a small dip in the number of rhino poached in South Africa, but the level of killing is still double natural reproduction rates

The announcement that South African rhino poaching deaths fell slightly in 2015 adds a misleading gloss to another devastating year in which criminal gangs expanded their operations into new, even more delicate rhinoceros populations.

South Africa's environment minister Edna Molewa said on Thursday that 1,175 dead rhinos were discovered during the country's annual census of poaching activities - 40 less than the 2014 record of 1,215.