Page 28 - ATD28NOV2015

A28

SCIENCESaturday 28 November 2015

South Africa moves closer to legal trade in rhino horns

CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA In this file photo taken Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014 a darted rhino is blind-folded before being grounded for skin and blood samples to
Associated Press be taken, and microchipped, near Skukuza, South Africa, before being transported by truck to an area hopefully safe from poach-
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — ers in a bid to cut down on the numbers killed by poachers.
A South African court on
Thursday opened the way Associated Press
to allowing local trade
in rhino horns, alarming below 100, compared to nails. legal sellers could funnel said the push for a legal
some conservationists about 1,200 last year. Two South African rhino proceeds back into con- trade in South Africa was
who warned the ruling Also Thursday, the envi- owners took the South servation. part of a wider campaign
leaves rhinos even more ronment ministry reported African government to “This is not about making to legalize an internation-
vulnerable to poach- the arrests of 12 people, court seeking to overturn money,” Jones said. “This al market.
ers who are slaughtering including three police of- a moratorium on the do- is about trying to save an An international ban
them in record numbers. ficers, for alleged rhino mestic trade in rhino horn iconic species.” on the rhino horn trade
South Africa’s environ- poaching. imposed in 2009. One of Allison Thomson, found- has been in place since
ment ministry said it will South Africa is home to an them, John Hume, has er of an anti-poaching 1977. South Africa has
appeal a judge’s deci- estimated 22,000 rhinos, four metric tons (4,000 group in South Africa, said proposed that the Con-
sion in Pretoria to rescind more than 80 per cent of kilograms) of legally ob- she was bitterly disap- vention on International
a nearly 7-year-old mor- the global rhino popula- tained rhino horn and his pointed by the ruling. Trade in Endangered Spe-
atorium on the domes- tion. Poaching syndicates investment in rhinos and “South Africa does not cies of Wild Fauna and
tic trade in rhino horns, have increasingly target- their horns is worth tens of have a market for rhino Flora, which oversees the
meaning the ban is likely ed rhinos to meet rising millions of dollars, accord- horn domestically and the trade of wild animals and
to stay in place pending demand for their horns ing to court documents. opening of trade locally plants, discuss lifting the
the outcome of that ap- in parts of Asia, particu- Pelham Jones of the Pri- will only lead to the smug- ban at its next meeting in
peal. larly Vietnam. Consumers vate Rhino Owners Asso- gling of rhino horn by Johannesburg in Septem-
The ruling by Judge Fran- believe rhino horn, which ciation welcomed Thurs- criminal syndicates into ber 2016.
cis Legodi in the North is ground into powder, day’s ruling. He said a reg- the black market in Viet- South Africa’s environ-
Gauteng High Court in has medicinal benefits, ulated trade would “take nam and China,” Thom- ment ministry said a gov-
Pretoria stirred an often but there is no scientific away a lot of the exclu- son wrote in an email to ernment permit would be
acrimonious debate be- evidence to support the sive status of the prod- The Associated Press. required for any domes-
tween those who say le- belief. The horn is made uct” even if it doesn’t shut Another conservation tic trade in rhino horn in
galization will spur poach- of keratin, a protein also down the illegal market group, the International the event that there is no
ing in South Africa, and found in human finger- entirely. He added that Fund for Animal Welfare, ban.q
rhino breeders and others
who believe a regulated
trade that allows the sale
of horn stockpiles and the
harvesting of horns from
living rhinos will undercut
poaching.
Legodi said the South Af-
rican government had
failed to properly consult
the public before impos-
ing the moratorium in 2009
and also questioned its ef-
fectiveness, noting that
rhino poaching surged
to record levels after the
ban. “What disastrous
implications would be
brought about by the im-
mediate lifting of the mor-
atorium? I cannot think of
any,” Legodi said in a 39-
page ruling. He cited sta-
tistics showing the number
of rhinos poached in 2008,
before the ban, was just