A stockpile of illegal rhino horns seized by Czech and Slovakian law enforcement officers in September The first school believes that rhinos will only be safe once the demand for rhino horn is completely eliminated—or at least substantially reduced to unthreatening levels. The other two schools adopt a different approach and rather seek to offer consumers an acceptable substitute to illegal horn from poached rhinos.
Demand Reduction The demand reduction approach is currently advocated and supported by most nongovernmental organizations NGOs concerned with conservation and animal welfare, including international heavyweights such as the World Wildlife Fund WWF , Humane Society, and International Fund for Animal Welfare. WildAid is very confident of the celebrity-driven approach, claiming that it has already achieved substantial success with a campaign against the consumption of shark-fin soup, and that it is having a positive impact on rhinos, too.
Illegal rhino horn, along with ivory tusks and leopard skins, are seized at the Hong Kong Customs and Excise headquarters in August The large seizure of wildlife products originated in Nigeria, and was disguised as timber inside two containers. Rhino horn is in high demand in booming underground Asian markets, where it is sold for medicinal and ornamental purposes.
Whatever success these campaigns may be achieving in Asia, their proponents have so far been unable to convincingly demonstrate results that are significant or fast enough to end the current rhino-poaching crisis. It is unclear to what extent the campaigns matter to existing rhino horn buyers, and the reported success of the shark fin efforts may not be especially comparable or relevant.
This is because the demonization of shark fin soup is something fairly new, and to the extent that markets have shrunk, this could be considered analogous with the efforts to reduce rhino horn consumption in the early s. But even if the campaigns eventually succeed in achieving this, they manifestly fail to address the other challenge. Legal Trade In contrast to the proponents of demand reduction, a substantial majority of southern African rhino owners and managers, both private and public, advocate a different approach.
Not only are they skeptical that demand reduction can work, they are desperate to find sources of funds to cover wildly escalating security costs. And even if they are presently able to find such funds—currently often from shortterm donors—they increasingly find.
The incentives to supply horn often outweigh the incentives to protect the rhinos. For this reason, rhino owners increasingly support the potential re-establishment of a legal rhino horn market, supplied from existing stockpiles and future routine horn harvesting from selected animals. Proponents of legal trade point to the past success of the sustainable use approach and the extent to which managed commercial trophy hunting has boosted the economic incentives to breed and protect rhinos.
They see sustainable commercial supply of horns as a simple extension of this approach. Many rhino managers already routinely dehorn their free-ranging animals as a security measure, by sedating them and removing the portion of horn above the growth point. The animals experience no significant pain or obvious social disruption and the horn regrows, allowing for further harvests and accelerated horn production.
At present, most harvested horn is securely stored, adding to a South African stockpile that could already meet the equivalent of three to five years of current illegal supply based on the current rate of poaching. Those opposed to the idea of legalizing trade raise a number of objections, ranging from ethical to practical concerns. Ethical concerns need to be carefully weighed up against the current reality, in which both rhinos and humans are subjected to extreme suffering and daily deaths in what has become an effective violent war—the current situation is undisputedly morally repugnant.
Among the relevant practical concerns, perhaps the most significant are the potential for a legal trade to stimulate further consumer demand, for a parallel illegal trade to continue and possibly even benefit through laundering, and for rhino poaching to be displaced to. The practical concerns could be addressed to at least some extent through the design of an intelligent trading system. African Wildlife Detective. Solutions to rhino poaching What will help stop the slaughter of our rhinos?
How do we stop this slaughter? Why do rhinos need horns? Protecting calves Defending territories Foraging. Poachers seem to continue poaching hornless rhinos.
Chinese medicine quote " A tiny bit of powder is mixed with other herbs and gypsum to save a life and lower temperature". Establishing a database of all rhino horn DNA samples. Erecting an electric fence between Kruger National Park and Mozambique. Establish environmental courts to improve the rate of successful prosecution of couriers, and buyers.
Image credit: Hein Waschefort. Newsletters may offer personalized content or advertisements. Learn more. You can help the planet and yourself by avoiding sweets and pastries Daniel T Cross November 9, Global climate adaptation efforts are found wanting Daniel T Cross November 5, What rhino conservation needs is a full campaign that incorporates certain aspects of each possible solution. This campaign will show people that rhino poaching is harmful to the animal, and is a useless endeavour for the final party.
We need to protect our rhinos. You can help by donating to the Player Ntombela Foundation. You can find out more solutions to rhino poaching here.
Royal Rhino and Rhino Run Wines was inspired by the Player Ntombela conservation partnership to raise funds for rhino conservation. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.
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