Forgive the pun, but South Africa is finding itself on the horns of a dilemma. The rhino poaching crisis is completely out of control, supposedly despite “all measures” put in place to protect rhinos in Kruger National Park, the single largest remaining population of rhinos left in the world. We do not have independent estimates of the rhino population, but officials in Kruger publish survey reports that somewhere between 4,000 and 11,000 rhinos occur in the park (plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0045989). The international community is increasingly concerned with South Africa’s ability and will to implement best strategies to prevent rhino poaching. We would therefore advise the South African government to review all current policies and recent announcements supposedly contributing to rhino conservation. These include but are not limited to the following: 1. The government needs to urgently revise strategies to place rhinos in private hands as a means of conserving rhino populations. It is abundantly clear that all privately owned rhinos are commoditized for various income purposes that have little to do with conservation including sales to trophy hunters, amassing stockpiles of privately held rhino horns that continue not to be properly registered, and live sales of rhinos to very dubious destinations in Asia. We would expect the government to clearly state that rhinos placed in private hands are there for commercial purposes and do not contribute to conservation of wild rhinos. 2. The government needs to urgently and reliably inform the international community about how many rhinos remain in wild rhino strongholds like Kruger National Park. 3. There has been a steady and substantial flow of rhinos from the wild into private hands. The reason for this was to sell off excess rhinos from parks and reserves that had reached a “saturated” population. The other reason was that it made a lot of money for the national parks. These sales have not aided rhino conservation. The auction price for these rhinos has been maintained well below the commercial value of such rhinos for trophy hunting and lives sales abroad. Even with substantial poaching of rhinos in national reserves such sales of supposedly “excess” animals has continued, and there can be no more talk of a “saturated” population. 4. The South African government, doubtless lobbied by private rhino owners, has engaged in various levels of negotiation with CITES member states to gain acceptance of a proposed legalization of rhino horn. This proposed legalization is based on the highly rudimentary and ill-explored concept that existing stocks in South Africa would “flood” the market and decrease poaching. All recent indicators are that the rhino horn stockpiles in South Africa will not even make a dent in the demand, and will likely increase such demand. Also, this policy will confuse all parties now engaged in making rhino horn sales and consumption unethical (it is already illegal), as there seems to be a promise of a future legal supply. 5. The South African government needs to provide all information about private rhino stockpiles held by individuals, the extent to which such stockpiles have fed the illegal market in the past and actions taken against private stockpile owners who have traded on the black market. This information has been requested by CITES dating back to 2007, but to date there has been no public provision of compliance. 6. The South African government need to think long and hard about future policies for wild rhino conservation. Privately-held rhinos are not to be considered as part of South Africa’s contribution to global rhino conservation. Instead of reacting (to a failed extent) to the current rhino poaching crisis, South Africa needs to undertake pro-active measures to ensure the survival of rhinos without fanciful hopes that legalized horn sales will make any difference to poaching. 7. The South African government needs to realize that they are part of an African and international community of nations struggling to ensure the survival of rhinos. Individual actions such as a proposed legalization of rhino horns does not resonate with other nations with rhino populations increasingly subjected to poaching like India, Indonesia, Nepal, Kenya. If South Africa wants to be a major player in ensuring the conservation of rhino species, they must integrally consult and collaborate with all remaining rhino range states. Not one other range state is currently supporting any legalization of rhino horn trade.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:13:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015