Spotlight
networks used as illicit supply chains. Hume believes this is tantamount to fiddling while Rome burns. “The slaughter of rhino in the Kruger and other parks and private reserves continues. If we carry on down this path there will be no rhinos left in Kruger in five years’ time. Why do we want to wait and let the slaughter continue, why not replace the poached illegal horn with a legal product that comes from live rhinos which continue to live and breed?”
failed the rhino. “Legal sale of horn will save the life of wild rhino. If supply is regulated there is no reason to kill rhino,” says Jones. Hume says free market principles would then apply. “If there is too little horn for demand, the prices go up. It works with all the products in the world, so why can’t it work with rhino horn?” Hume argues. Every legal horn carries a unique identity number, so it can be tracked.
Too many grey areas
The trade of rhino horn is an emotional and complex issue. Many NGOs making a living from the crisis are against trade, while other organisations agree with legal trade in principal, but argue that there is a lot of work to be done before trade could become a reality. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international organisation working in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment, is against the idea. “The contention that legal trade would lead to a reduction in rhino poaching and illegal trade in rhino horn hinges upon assumptions,” says WWF SA media manager Andrea Weiss. “WWF does not believe that a well-managed legal trade is feasible without negative impacts for wild rhinos at this time given the unacceptable levels of rhino poaching, the scale of illicit activity and the extent of illegal domestic markets in Asia.” The WWF says it “requires a greater understanding of the demand for rhino horn as a status symbol and for its perceived medicinal value to be confident that any future trade could have positive consequences for rhino conservation”. It also requires more information about the criminal
Reducing the demand
Many argue that reducing the demand for rhino horn is the answer. Richard Thomas, global communications coordinator for TRAFFIC, a leading nongovernmental organisation working on trade in wild animals and plants, says legal trade might stimulate an increase in demand. “Rhino horn use can be curtailed. At various times in the past 60 years or so, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Yemen were all major horn consumers, but attitudes towards consumption have changed
over time,” says Thomas. The debate will continue to generate heat, and without testing legal trade it would be difficult to say what the impact would be. However, with rhino being killed at an alarming rate, increasing security costs, a depreciating asset and solutions slow to come to the fore, one can simply ask how long can debate continue with little action before rhino disappear from the planet completely. If you are keen to find out more about Hume’s project and assist, email johnhume@ platinumrhinocbo.co.za
Pitter patter of little feet
The Little Rhino Orphanage supports the rhino calves from Buffalo Dream Ranch that cannot be raised by their mothers. Some mothers are unable to provide milk, die or even abandon their young. This happens in the wild too, but it is not as closely monitored, with most of the abandoned calves being killed by predators, says Claudia Adrione, manager at the facility. At the time of our visit, the
orphanage cared for a total of 50 rhino calves. Of those, 15 babies relied on milk, and 35 were weaned. The babies are all accompanied by rhino their own age, or a sheep when very young. As the calves age, they receive less and less human interaction and are moved further from human activity. Eventually, the youngsters are reunited with the wild rhino on the ranch.
Rhino calf sketch (p7): Graham Kearney Left top: Wild rhino roam freely at the captive breeding facility at Buffalo Dream Ranch. Left middle: A rhino killed for its horn somewhere in a protected area in South Africa. Scenes like this have become commonplace. Above left: Rows of feeding bowls in an area demarcated for supplementary feeding during the drought conditions on Buffalo Dream Ranch. Top right: Rhino calves are cared for at the Little Rhino Orphanage. Below: Some of the calves at the orphanage are very young. They are always placed with a companion and never on their own. Photos: René de Klerk and Petro Kotzé
Summer Issue 2019/2020 | Safari News | Page 9