“I would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Bavaria Brewery and to each of the participating retailers for their commitment to SanParks,” acting SanParks chief executive officer Abe Sibiya said on Tuesday in Pretoria.

Bavaria Breweries and five big retailers including Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Spar, Massmart and Shoprite Checkers group raised the money over a period of four months.

The money would go towards training and equipping rangers to save rhinos.

Sibiya said 3072 rhinos had been poached in South Africa since 2000.

He said 58% of the rhinos had been poached from the Kruger National Park.

More than 200 rhinos had been poached this year.

Sibiya said SanParks had conducted educational programmes on various platforms to educate people about rhino poaching.