The continued refusal by the government of Botswana to allow game rangers to carry firearms, coupled with the country's secrecy on poaching statistics and other wildlife data, is baffling conservationists. On 25 September, as Botswana marked a belated World Rhino Day, former president Ian Khama - a renowned wildlife conservationist - took to his Facebook page to share his thoughts. "For Batswana [the people of Botswana], there is nothing to celebrate because in recent times we have seen how poachers roam our wilderness as if free to do so, and have gone about with little hindrance slaughtering this wildlife icon," the former president (2008-2018) stated. "The poachers have managed to reverse many years of hard work, time and resources that once made this country, until recently, a safe haven for rhinos and all wildlife." A week later, Khama was back on social media to share pictures of carcasses of three rhinos that had been poached within a week. This shows the extent to which poaching has grown in the southern African country, which until recently was celebrated as a success story in wildlife conservation and could go for years without losing a single rhino.