The level of poaching of rhinos in southern Africa is fast reaching critical levels. Internationally-coordinated efforts are urgently needed if the world is to save one of the world's most charismatic mammals, said Care For the Wild International (CWI) in a press statement. “Sadly, rhino horn is highly prized as a component of traditional Asian medicine,” the international wildlife organization said. Despite consisting of keratin, the same component of human fingernails, there is a belief in parts of Asia that powdered rhino horn can help cure fever, rheumatism and gout. In Vietnam it is believed by many to be a cure for cancer. “Because of this, powdered rhino horn can fetch prices in excess of US$20,000 per kilo. With vast profits to be made, rhino poaching has escalated alarmingly in recent times, particularly in southern Africa,” CWI continued. Reports of the death and mutilation of rhinos arrive on an almost daily basis. By the end of September this year, 210 rhino poaching incidents had been reported in South Africa, the same number as had been poached in the years 2006-2009 combined. Losses to poaching in Zimbabwe are reported to have exceeded 100 since 2008. Poachers have become increasingly sophisticated and frequently use helicopters and modern veterinary drugs to obtain horns, showing no concern for the welfare or conservation of the animals. “The poaching syndicates involve people from all kinds of backgrounds; in September 2010, South African authorities claimed to have recorded a significant success against a well-funded crime syndicate, with the arrest of 11 people suspected of poaching rhino in Limpopo, which included professional hunters, two vets, a pilot, a game hunter and a businessman,” the organization continued. In spite of some successes in identifying and charging members of poaching syndicates, the reports of rhinos dying at the hands of poachers in Southern Africa continue. Worryingly, South African authorities are said to be considering whether to allow some legal trade in horns from white rhinos through “horn harvesting” and “rhino farming”, in an attempt to “saturate” the market with “legal” rhino horn and decrease the pressure on remaining wild rhinos. There are several examples where high value products from wild animals are “farmed” (bear bile, for example), with the intention of generating a supply of legal product. There is, however, little or no evidence that such activities reduce demand for the equivalent products from fee-living wild animals, or have any positive impact on the conservation of the species concerned. Large volumes of ivory products are traded legally each year (including those derived from mammoth ivory, and products derived from elephant ivory taken before the 1989 CITES ban), yet an estimated 30-40,000 African elephants continue to be slaughtered annually for their tusks. BM
