The rhino is certainly one of the most endangered large mammals in Southern Africa and it is definitely threatened with extinction and yet the very people who should be saving it i.e. CITES and our nature conservation authorities are helping instead to push it to extinction.

The Rhino (uniquely amongst our large animals) grows its horn again if it is cut off, in other words you can cut it off with no ill effects to the Rhino and in two or three years time you can cut it off again. The Rhino lives for up to 40 years so why would you want to kill it at any stage during that 40 years but most Rhino in this country are killed long before they even reach the half way mark.

It is a fact that anyone who wants a permit to take a Rhino horn out of this country must kill the Rhino first. The only exception is if you export the live rhino with its horn intact. Either way this country loses a rhino which we can simply not afford as it is one of our most valuable natural resources. It has now been proven that when nature conservation stopped issuing permits to Vietnamese, poaching rocketed. Yet we have so much horn in state coffers and being carried on live rhinos in the private sector all of which could be used to reduce poaching without harm to the rhino!

It is a fact that the majority of rhino hunters in this country are pseudo hunters and they do not want to kill the animal, they only want the horn. But our regulations (national and international) force them to kill the animal to get a permit to export the horn.

The government and CITES could dramatically immediately reduce the poaching by legalizing the trade in the Rhino horn.

It is time we did something to stop this atrocious slaughter…we need your voice!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

“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!
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2011 at 2:38 AM

    As a caretaker of Rhino and also having had the experience of having one of my animals poached, I strongly feel that the Law Makers and supposed protectors of our wildlife, namely CITES and Dept. Nature Conservation begin to take responsibilty for what is happening. So many laws passed in the guise of protecting certain species have resulted in the near extinction of the very species that they were designed to protect. Its time the authorities consulted with the people who breed and care for these animals, not the so called "experts" who are appointed to serve on committees who do not have any idea of what is happening on the land. I cite the recent Lion Breeding fiasco as an example. Learn from past sucess stories, such as the breeding of Nile Croodiles, more of these animals exist within S.A than at any previous time in our history, thanks to a controlled breeding effort which allows trade. Unfortunatly, every animal needs to have a commercial value attached to it in order for it to survive as a species, by removing the opportunity to trade legally you condemn this species to eventual extinction. Take a look at what is happening to Wild Dogs.
    I fully support the idea that the stock piles of Rhino Horn held, be released into the market, its the only way to stop the poaching, bring this industry out into the open, this will drive away the "Fast Buck" seekers, as prices will stabilise and headlines such as the one posted at the beginning of this article will be a thing of the past.
    John Field.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 8, 2011 at 5:22 PM

    This is just madness. I am volunteering with http://www.nikela.org and they are really trying hard to fight against this.

    ReplyDelete

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“Did you know these rhino facts?”

  • • Rhino are endangered and nearing extinction due to relentless hunting and poaching
  • • Rhino populations have declined by 90 percent since 1970
  • • Rhino are classified in 5 species all of which are endangered. We have two species in Africa – the Black rhino and White rhino
  • • Rhino horn is not a true horn and is made of thickly matted hair
  • • Rhino horn can be removed from the rhino with no ill effect to the animal if done professionally
  • • Rhino horn regrows to a substantial length with in four years
  • • Rhino horn can only be exported as a hunting (killed rhino) trophy
  • • Rhino horn stock piles exist that could be sold to support conservation