South Africa last week launched a special wildlife crime unit to tackle a dramatic surge in rhino poaching, driven by demand for the animal’s horn in Asia for use in traditional medicines.

Rhino poaching has doubled this year in South Africa, with 227 slaughtered so far compared to 122 in all of last year.

Environment Minister Buyelwa Sonjica convened a two-day “rhino summit” to bring together police and wildlife experts, and unveiled a new crime-fighting unit to crack down on poaching.

“The National Wildlife Crime Investigation Unit will, among others, react immediately when a serious wildlife crime has been committed and be able to detect and investigate smuggling of wildlife and wildlife products,” she said.

“It should shock us all that to date about 227 animals have been killed illegally,” she added.

The new unit will bring together national and provincial wildlife authorities, who will then coordinate with police to act swiftly in new cases of poaching.

Trade in rhino horns is banned internationally, but black market demand has fuelled a rise in high-tech poaching with marksmen darting the animals from helicopters and then hacking off the horn while they lie unconscious, according to police.

The animal is simply left to die.

Alarmed by the growing number of rhino deaths, South Africa has arrested scores of people – many of them Vietnamese – on poaching charges.

The horns are coveted for medicinal and ornamental use in East and Southeast Asia, where it is used to treat fever and high blood pressure.

The East Asian economic boom has powered the demand of rhino horn, with buyers willing to pay up to $2,500 (€1,900) for a single horn, which can weigh up to 11 kilos.