A Belgian zoo on Saturday it will shorten its rhinos’ horns to deter poachers after a white rhino was killed in France on Monday. The Pairi Daiza zoo’s officials said the move is to help protect the animals and its security personnel as well. Although the sale of Rhino horns is illegal, they are prized in East Asia, where the horn is believed to possess medicinal and aphrodisiac qualities.

The Belgian zoo is home to three adult rhinos and a baby white rhino. On Facebook, the zoo director Eric Domb described the incident in France, as a “first in Europe”, but one which is part of a “long line of rhino horn thefts from many European museums.” Investigating officials told the news agency that an organised trafficking ring could be responsible for the killing in France.

The director said the method was used by many zoos in Africa as a deterrent.

French police said poachers shot a four-year-old southern white male, named Vince, three times in the head at a French zoo in Thoiry outside Paris on Monday. They suspect the perpetrators cut his main horn “with a chainsaw”.

Rhino horns are sold for almost $60,000 per kilo (approximately Rs 39 lakh). With an average of 1,400 rhinos killed every year, the estimated population of 25,000 rhinos living in the wild is fast depleting.