![]() Rhino horns are sought after for social status and medicine, and even trophies are hunted down. Trophies may then be exported to certain African countries under specific conditions (a non-detriment finding by the exporting country is required beforehand). Though bringing these rhinoceros-hunting trophies (including horns) hunted in South Africa home as personal property is authorised by CITES, their sale is not. It also demonstrates that effective conservation, management and monitoring plans and programs are in place in a number of African range states, meaning that some populations are recovering enough to sustain limited off-takes as trophies. And it generates benefits that can be invested in conservation. It provides both livelihood opportunities for rural communities and incentives for habitat conservation. This allowance recognises that well-managed and sustainable hunting is actually consistent with and contributes to conservation efforts. It allows, for instance, limited hunting of Appendix II and I species, including, under exceptional circumstances, of endangered white and black rhinoceros Though the international rhino horn trade has been forbidden since 1977, CITES recognises some exceptions. Prior to the 2000s, and up until 2007, pressure on consumer countries (Yemen, Korea, Taiwan and China) to stop the rhino trade helped reduce poaching activity, leading to an increase in the African rhino population.īut demand for rhino horn surged in the mid-2000s, chiefly in Vietnam, because of rumours that a government official suffering from cancer went into remission after its use. For all other African range states, the white rhino is listed on appendix I: all trade of this endangered species is forbidden, except for non-commercial purposes such as scientific research.Īppendix III contains species that are protected in at least one country, which has sought assistance in controlling their trade. The white rhino, which is not necessarily threatened with extinction, is an appendix species II for South Africa and Swaziland, meaning the trade there must be controlled in order not to jeopardise the animal’s survival. Using a system of permits and certificates delivered under special conditions, CITES regulates the market for rhinos and about 35,000 other wild species, categorised into three groups according to the level of protection required. With support from Interpol, Europol, the World Customs Organisation and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), CITES applies the ban on rhinoceros-horn trading. It is among the most highly developed criminal activities confronting the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a 1977 international agreement signed by 182 countries. ![]() Today, there is clear evidence that organised crime groups have taken over this illicit market. In 2014, this trade was estimated at between US$10 billion and US$20 billion. Each year, it affects tens of millions of specimens of animals and plants. Controlling a lucrative criminal marketĬriminal trade in wild animals constitutes one of the world’s largest illegal markets, according to the UN, along with drugs, counterfeit products and human trafficking. In truth, rhino horn is simply a formation of keratin, a protein found in human nails and animal claws, with a few amino acids and minerals, phosphorus and calcium. Prices are skyrocketing: up to US$60,000 a kilo, which is more expensive than gold. While there is no scientific evidence for such medicinal properties, these unfounded beliefs are feeding soaring Asian demand for powdered rhino horn. More recently, it has been prescribed as a cancer treatment and an aphrodisiac. ![]() Rhino horn, highly valued in China and Vietnam, is used in traditional Asian medicine to treat fevers and cardiovascular disease. Over the last few years, as many (or more) rhinoceros have been killed in South Africa than are naturally born in Kruger National Park and on private farms put together. In 2015, a total of 1,342 white and black rhinos were poached across the continent. Rhinos poached by African country in 2006-2014.
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