Currently there is huge interest in the plight of the rhino, which is extremely encouraging, until you analyze the situation, and then it becomes enormously depressing. There are a number of different factions interested in the rhino, each for their own reasons. These factions are:- Poachers, Farmers and Wheeler Dealers, the Government, the Media and the general Public. This document outlines some of the seriously detrimental effects of their interests in the rhino, and proposes potential solutions.
This document is an appeal to anyone who considers him/herself to be a rhino lover to find ways to improve the lot of our rhinos as they are in desperate need of help.
POACHERS:
Poachers kill indiscriminately with no regard to pregnant females and lactating mothers and this has huge negative impact on rhino population growth. Existing rhino owners want to sell their rhinos and no one wants to become a new rhino farmer, because people are scared that their rhinos will be poached. This gives the people who want to go illegal a gap and our rhinos get a double and triple whammy.
SOLUTIONS:
Anti-poaching personnel and equipment would be beneficial, particularly for farmers who can’t afford the expense. Anyone providing help to farmers on an anti-poaching basis would be helping the rhino. However, anti-poaching is a very expensive undertaking and we need to find ways to offset this so as not to discourage the farmer further. Some conservationists are estimating that to effectively protect our rhino from the increasing number of poachers will cost as much per annum as the rhino are currently worth, which is surely not a sustainable exercise.
Teaching the world that rhino horn does not have any medicinal value could help, but this will take a long time and meanwhile, no matter what we do, the people who are making money from the illegal trade in horns will continue to acquire rhino horn by poaching and killing.
Blocking the current supply line is a near impossibility as there are innumerable conduits - There are probably more than 1001 small ships at any one time around our coast line (trawlers, long-liners, yachts, etc). Then there are 1000’s of containers being exported to the East every month, not to mention bulk carriers of scrap iron, minerals, coal and then of course passenger ships, planes, not to mention via other countries especially in Africa and probably some conduits we could never even imagine. So the British government’s statement “We are therefore working with the international community to identify what measures are needed to strengthen enforcement along the supply chain, from range state to consumer country” is doomed to fail before it even starts
.
We cannot close enough conduits to make any meaningful difference and to stop poaching is nearly impossible – as one example, if the army is successful in the KNP the poachers will simply move out to private farms.
The current situation is that we are forcing the people who want rhino horn, to kill in order to get it, when we have many 1000’s of horns in our stockpiles to supply them.
PUTTING HORNS INTO THE SUPPLY LINE WITHOUT KILLING A RHINO WILL SAVE RHINO LIVES AND ENSURE THEIR FUTURE EXISTENCE
The only way that this can be done is to legalize the trade in rhino horn as this will give the people who require horn a new avenue to acquire horn legally. This will decrease the return to the poacher and, coupled with anti-poaching, increase the risk. Currently the poacher is the main supplier, but legalization will attack this source and stop most of the killing to give us time and muscle to work on the rest.
FARMERS AND WHEELER DEALERS WHO DON’T CARE FOR THE RHINO
Outfitters, farmers and dealers who get permits to kill rhinos are negatively affecting our rhino population. Even though they argue that this is their livelihood, they should be encouraged to keep their rhinos alive and save the horns until such time they can be used along with our other stockpiles to heavily swing the market against the poachers.
There are also a lot of farmers who do not want to be bothered with the huge amount of red tape involved in selling a rhino. They are scared of going to jail if they dehorn the rhino and sell the horn illegally because then the rhino would be walking around on the farm without a horn. In order to make money the farmer then takes a short cut and contacts an illegal dealer. They shoot the rhino, bury the carcass and the farmer puts the cash in his pocket - no VAT, no income tax and no one ever hears of this tragic tale.
THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT, TO CHANGE THE OWNERSHIP OF A RHINO HORN THE ONLY LEGAL WAY IT CAN BE DONE, IS TO KILL THE RHINO!
SOLUTIONS:
With the help of the media, we need to educate the farmers and wheeler dealers about the long-term advantages of keeping their rhino alive and give them positive models of how small populations can grow to meaningful ones and how they will profit in the end.
Our government perhaps financed by countries which are against legalization could initiate a program to lend farmers money using their legally acquired rhino horn as security in order for them to utilize this money to protect their rhino herds. Therefore they will not need to kill their rhino as they are currently doing.
Again, the biggest influencer here will be to legalize the trade in rhino horn, as what farmer or wheeler dealer would kill his rhino if it was going to produce 1kg of horn per year for the rest of its life? Given that rhinos live to the ripe old age of 40 years!
THE GOVERNMENT:
Punitive government legislation has had a huge negative impact on our rhino population, making a rhino worth more dead than alive. This legislation is also responsible for turning farmers into illegal dealers because they do not want to go through the enormous barrier of red tape to sell or farm their rhinos.
Sable and buffalo numbers have out-stripped rhinos by far and this is not only due to the shorter inter-calving gap. It is because they have less punitive legislation applicable to them than to rhinos. A sable female currently sells at about the same price as a rhino female and a buffalo female sells at even more than a rhino female. Rhinos are more difficult to breed than these two species and they should be three times the price. This would encourage farmers to breed them but because of all of the reasons given in this paper the price of rhinos has been lagging behind the other so-called rare species. All of this is devastating for the rhino and it only tells us one thing and that is that farming with rhinos is unpopular.
To follow is an overview of the bureaucratic pitfalls that lie in wait for a rhino farmer (Author: Izak du Toit )
SOLUTIONS:
THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD ACT DECISIVELY AND PUT AN END TO THE KILLING OF ALL RHINOS. THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR INACTION, THE RHINO NEEDS HELP NOW AND THE GOVERNMENT IS IN A POSITION TO SUPPLY THAT HELP.
The biggest single thing the government could do for the rhinos is to propose at the next CITES COP (Convention of the Parties) in March 2013 that the trade in rhino horn be legalized. There is still time to do that now, but if the government delays much longer it will only be able to be proposed in 2016, by which time another 1000 or 2000 rhinos would have paid the highest penalty, that of their lives.
If trade in rhino horn were legalized, the government could open the door to profitable rhino farming by the sector or our population which desperately needs income, i.e. the communities and poor farmers not only in South Africa, but also in the rest of Africa.
The government could canvass the world NGO’s and donors to purchase rhinos and donate them to emergent black farmers and communities and teach these people to farm with rhinos. Rhino farming could alleviate the poverty of a large number of our communities if the government takes a decisive lead in the legalization process.
Unfortunately many government officials are generally against people making money from wildlife – and this inhibits our rhino population as the more people who make money from them, the more people would want to breed them.
Habitat loss and poverty are two of the biggest threats to our rhino population. Legalization of the trade in rhino horn will make a huge amount of habitat available which is currently being used for domestic stock and other wildlife and address the problem of poverty in poor communities by involving them in rhino breeding.
THE MEDIA:
This section of our community has (probably unwittingly) done an enormous amount of damage to protecting and increasing our rhino population.
The media has been publishing the price of rhino horn on the black market and mentions the price of 60,000 US dollars, 60,000 Pounds and 400,000 Rands per kg quite frequently. Africa Geographic had on the cover of its July Issue a bull’s eye honing in on a rhino horn with 60,000 dollars per kg over the horn. These figures may be close to a retail price in the East, but my information is that in this country the most a poacher would get from an illegal dealer is about R60,000 and this is already far too attractive for potential poachers. Why make it worse?
In general the person who pulls the trigger to kill a rhino is unsophisticated and very easily influenced by the mega bucks he envisages he will get for killing the animal. I do believe that the media could and should be much more influential in stopping this trigger-pulling.
Bad news is what sells, and maybe this is why the media has hardly touched on any of the positives which could flow from the legalization of the trade in rhino horn. Most reports are simply blaring out the gruesome aspects of rhinos being illegally slaughtered for their horn, and blurring the line between legal hunts and illegal killing. It is amazing to me how this sector, who profess to be rhino lovers, have not at least given legalization an objective hearing.
SOLUTIONS:
The media could play an important role in encouraging people to breed rhinos by reporting on success stories of breeding and anti-poaching in South Africa. (I think that they owe it to the rhino to put the rhino’s well-being before their circulation numbers.) The Media can also play a huge part in influencing the government to take action (as outlined previously) that would safeguard our rhino population now and in the future.
Our media could also play an important role in educating the public who are interested, but not knowledgeable, on the problems that are facing the rhino. They could create an enormous amount of public involvement by publishing positive news, models and possibilities for increasing rhino numbers in the future. This could also help channel donations to charities that will benefit the rhino and not the people who are collecting the money.
The media could sponsor fair debates between pro- and anti-legalization opinion and this would also educate the public on the rhino issue.
THE PUBLIC:
There is a huge amount of public awareness of rhino survival, but unfortunately very little knowledge. Only a small percentage of the money that has been donated by the public has actually been applied to the plight of our rhino.
The idealist perspective that animals should not be touched and should be free to roam in wilderness areas is simply not practical. Our rhinos are being slaughtered and certainly the public must be made aware of this and educated about the difference between legal hunting, illegal hunting and poaching. I am convinced that 9 out of 10 members of the public, after having been presented with all the facts, will opt for legalizing the trade of rhino horn.
SOLUTIONS:
Educate interested and knowledgeable sections of the public to communicate objective and logical facts and figures to people who are not knowledgeable and equip them to make an informed decision. People will always have their own views and so it should be, but if they are in possession of the facts, and are informed about alternative solutions, we may get a lot more help for the rhinos from the public.
PEOPLE HELPING RHINO:
Anyone who stops a rhino being killed or breeds a rhino is the ultimate friend of the rhino.
Legalizing the trade of rhino horn will change the attitude towards rhino ownership of wheeler dealers and farmers who don’t care. They will also become guardians and breeders of rhinos.
Legalization will bring new breeders of rhino into the fold and it will make it possible for emergent black farmers and communities to be rhino breeders and achieve economic viability.
SUMMARY:
Current measures to save the rhino have failed, and continue to fail. There is no hope for the rhino if we continue doing what we are doing. It is time to change to a winning strategy.
Legalizing the trade of rhino horn will help almost every facet of the rhino woes and in my opinion it will give us the surest opportunity to avoid the extinction of this wonderful animal.
Dehorning will always be the choice of the owner and when we stop the killing and poaching, former dehorned animals could very easily and naturally become wild horned rhinos running in the wilderness – because, after 4 years you are not able to tell that a rhino had been previously dehorned.
Legalization will make it possible for the rhino to see dramatic increases in their numbers in the years to come and reverse the current trend of legal and illegal slaughter.
AND IF LEGALISING THE SALE OF RHINO HORN DOES NOT HAVE A DRAMATIC EFFECT ON THE KILLING OF RHINO?
WE CAN ALWAYS REVERSE IT!
The links below give more information about our rhino problems and please take note of the vicunas which is a direct parallel. These links showed that they recovered from between 5 – 10,000 to between 200 – 343,499 with sustained utilization.
WE CAN DO THE SAME FOR RHINO
TAKE MY HORN DON’T TAKE MY LIFE
Links to success stories
® Vicuña saved from the brink of extinction – a parallel to the rhino
® Black-footed ferret saved through captive breeding programme
® Whooping crane recovery through innovative ideas and human endeavours
Posts
They should change the law,
ReplyDeletethey should open the trade in Rhino horn it will induce a massive drop in price and that should help to some extent to make poachers think risk verse reward. They should only allow the trade from live rhinos that can be set up and the owner should provide proof with the horn as to how it was harvested that horn can then get marked and a clearance can be granted.This way a real value is attached to the animals and greater care will be taken in there well being.