Free Republic

Poachers have broken into a French zoo, killing a four-year-old white rhinoceros and sawing off its horn. Keepers found the dead animal, named Vince, in the African enclosure of the zoo at Thoiry, west of Paris, on Tuesday morning. It had been shot in the head and its large horn removed with a chainsaw. The poachers fled before they could remove the animal’s second horn, either because they were disturbed or because their equipment failed, police said. Authorities described the incident as the first of its kind in Europe. The poachers forced a grill at the rear entrance to the...

Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) said she voted for Donald Trump in her state's Republican primary on Tuesday. (SNIP) She will also face a primary challenge from fellow Rep. George Holding (R-N.C.), who currently represents the state's 13th district.

Rebel soldiers are slaughtering the Northern White rhino and selling the horns to buy arms, reports Susan Bisset One of the world's rarest rhinos has been hunted almost to extinction by rebel troops in Congo. There are now only 22 Northern White rhino alive in their last remaining wild refuge - down from 30 last year. Unless urgent action is taken, the rhino will be extinct within months, conservationists say. The Northern White (Ceratotherium simum cottoni), a sub-species of the white rhino that used to be found across central Africa, is being killed by rebel troops for their horns, which...