A rhino has been shot dead by poachers who broke into a French zoo overnight.
The animal, named Vinny, is reported to have been shot up to three times and had his horn cut off with a chainsaw.
Keepers at the Thoiry Zoo found him this morning.
According to the BBC, a kilo of the horn could catch as much as $60,000 dollars on the black market.
Horns from Rhino's are very popular with poachers, with as many as 100 killed in the wild every month, however this is understood to be one of the first cases of poachers breaking into a European zoo.
There were two other rhino's in the enclosure, which are understood to have escaped any injury.
