Anti-poaching campaigners mistakenly kill Rhino.

Anti-poaching campaigners accidentally kill rhino they were using in game reserve demo

Animal rights campaigners accidentally killed the rhino they were using in a demonstration to raise awareness of the threat to the endangered species from poachers, it was revealed today.

The anti-poaching activists invited journalists along to view the rhino in a South Africa reserve being sedated today so vets could treat its horn with dye and insecticide as well as insert tracking and identification devices.

But the demonstration took a disastrous turn when campaigners couldn't revive the male rhino, in his mid to late 20s, after the procedure had been completed.

Lorinda Hern, spokeswoman for the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve, said: 'It's sad for us; it's the loss of another animal. It's a death that I still chalk up to poaching.'

The private reserve near the South African capital, Pretoria, began treating horns to make them unattractive to poachers after losing a pregnant rhino and her calf to poachers in 2010.