From Tunisia to Egypt to Libya, the seismic shift in the political landscape of Northern Africa is the most important story on the African continent today. But further south, in countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa, a different kind of emergency is occurring. International conservationists have called the killing of rhinoceroses, to harvest their horns, "the worst poaching crisis in decades." A steady increase in the rhino population has been a conservation success story. The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that black rhinos now number 4,840 (an increase of 600 animals over 2007 figures), and the more common white rhino have increased from 17,500 in 2007 to a population of over 20,000. Even today, the numbers continue to increase slightly every year. Reproduction is not the problem. The problem is that extremely sophisticated, well-funded crime syndicates are hunting rhinos in Africa for a market in Asia of people who believe that the horns can cure diseases, such as cancer. (Studies have shown that the horns have no such healing properties.) The poachers' scaled-up killing, coming at a time when governments are reducing their anti-poaching initiatives, threatens to reverse what has been a steady increase in the rhino population in Africa. In the past three years, 800 African rhinos have been killed for their horns. In South Africa alone, 79 rhinos have already been poached this year. According to South Africa's Mail & Guardian, the sense of urgency has increased because of "evidence that syndicates are stockpiling horns in anticipation of the extinction of the species." The poachers currently have the upper hand. They are better financed than private and public anti-poaching units. While the poachers use technology and helicopters to find and kill their prey, anti-poachers have struggled with funding to put gasoline in their land vehicles to pursue the rhino killers. Given the sophistication and organization of the syndicates behind the poaching, the public is reluctant to go to authorities when they have information about illegal activities. And justice can be slow. In Mozambique, for example, no poacher has ever been convicted of killing a rhino. Greater cooperation is needed between conservationists, police, judges, private wildlife agencies and the public sector. Governments and philanthropists must fund anti-poaching efforts to provide them with the same technological tools that the poachers can easily finance from the sale of rhino horns. Although the arrest of poachers has increased, the rates of conviction must be improved and the punishments must be more severe. Finally, authorities in Asian countries, including Vietnam and China, must collaborate more closely with their peers in African countries to identify, prosecute and convict the suppliers of rhino horns in Asia. With nearly one rhino being killed every day, there is no time to waste.