Commercial Rhino Poaching Thriving in South Africa, Thanks to Asian Demand For Rhino Horn
Exploiting loopholes
The Vietnamese are getting into the rhino killing business by exploiting loopholes in South African trophy hunting laws. Most notable is the incident involving Dwesa Nature Reserve.
Earlier this year, Dwesa Nature Reserve auctioned off the right to kill six rhino to the trophy hunting operation, African Scent Safaris. Afterward, it was confirmed that Vietnamese clients of African Scent Safaris killed two rhino and had the horns exported to Vietnam.
When it was discovered that Vietnamese hunt participants were having the horns shipped to Asia in order to sell them in the thriving illegal market, members of PHASA (Professional Hunters’ Association of South Africa) were advised not to “book and conduct hunts with nationals from Vietnam or other Far Eastern countries.”
Susan Lieberman, WWF species program director, explains the growing Vietnamese interest in rhino horn in a National Geographic article.
There is some mythology developing in Vietnam because somebody took rhino horn and went into cancer remission, or at least that is the information we’re getting.
But it is not, and never was, a cure for cancer.
The Guardian also reported that a Vietnamese diplomat took delivery of rhino horn outside the Vietnamese embassy in Pretoria; the exchange was caught on film.
It was further noted that
… there was growing evidence of Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai nationals’ involvement in the illegal procurement and transport of horn out of Africa.
Can education overcome superstition?
According to journalist Ben Davies, author of Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia, much of the wildlife trade in Asia is based on superstitions that have been in existence for generations.
If only it was ignorance fueling this bizarre obsession with wildlife, it could eventually be solved with education – much in the way it was in Europe.
In the case of Asia, however, vast increases in human population combined with growing affluence are driving ever-larger numbers of animals down the road to extinction.
Davies believes that the battle to control the illegal wildlife trade will eventually be won – or lost – in Asia’s classrooms.
In the meantime?
It is likely to take decades before Asian superstitions about wildlife are overcome by education. And the superstition surrounding rhino horn will be especially challenging: The rarer the animal, the more desirable its alleged “powers” become.
At the other end, arrests are made, yet poaching continues. The Guardian reported a number of arrests made in South Africa this year.
At least 14 poachers, all Mozambican, have been arrested and several illegal firearms seized in Kruger this year. Nationwide, 22 poachers were caught. In January an international rhino-smuggling ring was smashed and 11 people were arrested.
Commercial rhino poaching is thriving – and here we are still talking about “what to do.”
The issue of rhino poaching will be discussed at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, which will be held in Doha, Qatar March 13-25, 2010.
In the meantime, how many more rhino killings must we tolerate – just to satisfy “superstitions”?
Image source: Wikimedia Commons
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poaching is bad! :/
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