Pretoria - The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said transparency and regular communication about the status of rhino and rhino poaching is vital to track the impact of efforts made to conserve rhinos and reduce the impacts of the illegal wildlife trade. WWF was responding to the release of the rhino poaching numbers for 2021 by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) on Tuesday. The DFFE said as many as 451 rhino were poached in South Africa last year - 327 within government reserves and 124 on private property. WWF said the latest poaching numbers confirm the ongoing threat to our rhino populations. "The latest rhino poaching numbers from South Africa confirm the ongoing nature of the threat to the world's rhino populations, regardless of the brief respite in poaching pressure in 2020 due to lockdown restrictions".