“RHINO HORN MORE VALUABLE THAN GOLD” Business Report, Wiseman Khuzwayo

Sensational comments like these sell newspapers, yes - but they are non-factual and expose the already-vulnerable rhino to all the “gold diggers” out there that might just try and make that promised extra buck ……. have a cut of the “gold rush” that reporters publicly announce with headlines.

The ‘wise man’ refers in his article to the poachers seeing the rhinoceros as their way to get rich quick, indirectly placing the ‘big golden carrot’ in front of those to whom the risk was previously not worth the return, now?

Our Southern African rhino poaching statistics are frightening - the numbers published scary, not to mention the unrevealed or undiscovered carcasses. The media is quick to point fingers and prosecutors take action against vets whose paperwork is not to their standards, but what about ‘paperwork’ like these bringing negative attention to the rhino?

This disaster is spreading into neighbouring countries and the urgency for conservation has tripled considering the statistics (2008 = 83: 2009 = 122:  2010 = 333). What is proactively being done to prevent the current course of pushing our rhino to extinction? 

Help protect our rhino from the onslaught for their HORN! There are large stock piles of horn in storage -  already removed from live or dead animals. HORN that can be removed from a live and healthy animal with no ill effect (“like cutting large nails”, a vet quoted) and re-grow so our grandchildren can see a rhino, alive and well in its natural state and surroundings!

ENDANGERED SPECIES: TRADED TO DEATH

• Tigers are killed for their skin and bones,
• Sea turtles for their shells and flippers,
• Leopards for their skins,
• Elephants for their tusks,
• Otters for their pelts,
• Bears for their coats, gall bladders and claws,
• Seahorses for medicine and souvenirs,
• Exotic birds are removed from the wild,
• More than 11,000 wild plant species removed from the wild for botanical and pharmaceutical medicines.

Sadly these are but a few!

And the cause of our plea - our Rhino, are killed for their horn despite the fact that of all the endangered species hunted for products - be it fauna or flora - the Rhino is the only one that needs not be killed to harvest the product in demand.

The Rhino horn is not a true horn and is made of thickly matted hair that can be removed from the rhino with no ill effect to the animal. It re-grows to a substantial length within four years. Despite these facts, Rhino horn – a product that has been in human demand for centuries – may only be legally acquired if a hunting permit has been issued to kill the animal. More so, large stockpiles of “dead horn” exist in the state and private sector that can be introduced into the market. Each of these horns in stock piles represents one less rhino killed!

We need to get through to the authorities and legislative bodies who choose to ignore these facts - before it is too late!

STATISTICS SHOWS: NO TRADE = MORE POACHING

Dr. Richard Emslie, Scientific Officer IUCN SSC African Rhino Specialist Group, presented statistics to the recently held ministerial rhino summit illustrating that the horrendous increase in rhino poaching directly correlates with the dramatic clamp down on permits issued to Vietnamese hunters. Hunting would have been mainly males, poaching has included pregnant cows and calves thus affecting our ability to increase our rhino numbers in the future.