Rhino Horn Trade

Information & discussion on the Rhino Poaching Pandemic
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Rhino Horn Trade

Post by RogerFraser »

FB Post :Michele Pickover shared a link to the group: Save Our Rhino

Changes to the laws relating to rhinos in South Africa have been published for comment as follows:

1. Norms and standards for the marking of rhinoceros and rhinoceros horn and hunting of rhinoceros for trophy hunting purposes published and GN 304 in GG 35248 of 10 April 2012 withdrawn (GN 961 in GG 41913 of 21 September 2018) (p255)

2. Draft Regulations relating to domestic trade in rhinoceros horn, 2018 published for comment (GN 986 in GG 41919 of 21 September 2018) (p4)

3. Draft notice prohibiting the carrying out of certain restricted activities involving rhinoceros horn published for comment (GN 987 in GG 41919 of 21 September 2018) (p24)

4. Draft notice amending the alien and invasive species list and the lists of critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable and protected species published for comment (GN 988 in GG 41919 of 21 September 2018) (p29)

Here’s the link to the gazette:https://www.environment.gov.za/sites/de ... n41919.pdf

And attached:


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Re: Rhino Horn Trade and hunting Gazetted

Post by Richprins »

\O Rog!


At this rate private rhino are going to be the only ones left. 0*\


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Re: Rhino Horn Trade and hunting Gazetted

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O/


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Re: Rhino Horn Trade

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Their Future Is Dark. The Rhino Horn Trade in 2019

BY MEGAN CARR - 16TH AUGUST 2019

15thAugust 2019

Attention: The Minister of the Environment, Forestry and Fisheries

“Their Future is Dark” THE RHINO HORN TRADE 2019


The history surrounding the demand for African rhino horn is complex. During the European colonial era trophy hunting was largely responsible for the decimation of the rhino populations, for decades thereafter the uncontrollable illegal rhino horn trade between Africa and Vietnam and China is to blame.

Traditionally, once removed the horn was polished to a beautiful translucent hue and carved to make magnificent ornaments, or the horn was ground down into a fine powder and used in traditional Asian medicine, but increasingly rhino horn is now being used as a status symbol to display success and wealth.

Recent studies published in May 2019 by Professor Vu Hoai Nam Dang and Professor Martin Reinhardt Nielsen from the University of Copenhagen have further determined that the discerning consumers prefer rhino horn that is derived from wild rhino not farmed rhino. Furthermore, Douglas Cookes and James Blignaut point out that game farms may harvest horn every 1.5 years, whereas for poachers it is optimal to kill a rhino and harvest its horn, even at very low rotation intervals: “This suggests that, even if a rhino poacher encounters a dehorned rhino, it is still optimal to kill the rhino and take what is left of the stump. This casts further doubt on the effectiveness of a legalized trade”.

Seventy-percent of the world’s remaining rhino population live in Southern Africa. We are therefore the key role player in determining the future of the species. The enormous responsibility to conserve this species rests firmly with us.During the five-year period 2012-2017 51% of the white rhinos population have been obliterated from the Kruger National Park and a further 26% from other state-owned parks.

Despite this alarming decline of rhino numbers and instead of using this unique opportunity to harness exacting tourism and job creation, South Africa has chosen to trade in rhino horn which benefits only a few private owners. Information about the state owned stockpile of rhino horn is unfortunately not freely available. South Africa has undergone a period of systemic political corruption commonly referred to as state capture Various state owned rumors abound about the possible pilfering of the stockpile, urgent transparency in this regard is imperative.

We, the undersigned organisations and individuals belonging to the Wildlife Animal Protection Forum South Africa, are not confident that those in favour of legalizing the domestic or international trade in rhino horn trade prior to 2017 have adequately considered and or resolved the complex issues at hand. We do not not support the domestic or the international trade in rhino horn.

The international legal trade in rhino horn is regulated by the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES). The international trade of rhino horn has been banned since 1977. Individual countries are able to determine their own laws about the domestic trade of rhino horn. At the CITES Conference of the Parties (CoP) held in 2016, Swaziland tabled a last minute proposal to unban the international trade in rhino horn. This proposal was overwhelmingly rejected 100-26 with 17 abstentions.

In 2009 a ban of the domestic trade in rhino horn South Africa was introduced because of the poaching crisis. This ban was opposed by some private rhino owners including John Hume and Johan Kruger. Hume and Kruger successfully ligated against the ban. The High Court ruling stated that the incorrect due process was followed during the public consultation process by the Department of Environmental Affairs before imposing the ban. The decision taken against the DEA was upheld by the Constitutional Court. After defending the ban through all the legal processes it remains unclear why the DEA did not attempt to re-advertise its intention to ban the domestic trade in rhino horn with required notice period and circulation of information.

Instead, the DEA, under the leadership of Minister Molewa, chose to focus on developing new legislation which included setting out the requirements for the domestic sales of rhino horn. Numerous organizations in South Africa and internationally appealed against this decision.

A Committee of Inquiry was appointed by the DEA and tasked with producing a report on the viability of the domestic rhino horn trade in South Africa. Apparently the full report was completed in 2016 but only a summary report has ever been made available. We would appreciate access to full report in order for us to understand and evaluate the COI’s findings.

“The primary recommendation from the Committee was that the government should do everything possible to create an environment conducive for rhino conservation in South Africa, to effectively address rhino poaching and the illegal trade in rhino horn, and to reach a point where any potential trade in rhino horn would contribute to conservation outcomes”.

It is a well documented fact that the illegal killing of rhino and the illegal trade in rhino horn continues unabated across Africa and Asia. The rate of killing in parts of Africa has continued to increase dramatically over the past decade and this has threatened the continued survival of the rhino species and negatively impacted the ecosystems in which they live. The rhino poaching figures presented by the DEFF on the 31stJuly 2019 do not, we believe, necessarily represent a decline in poaching but rather highlight the fact that there are less rhino to poach.

The scale of the rhino poaching crisis poses a threat to the national security of our country and to the other range states. Rhino poaching fuels conflict and unrest, it destroys livelihoods, it promotes corruption and negatively impacts wildlife based economies and all conservation efforts.

Of the fifty-seven proposals to amend on the lists of species, two relate to the white rhino and will once again be on the agenda at CoP18 which will be held in Geneva, in Switzerland in August 2019. Parties attending CoP18 will once again address the contentious issue of the rhino horn trade with proposals to further restrict commercial trade, and counter-proposals intending to remove trade restrictions. Parties attending CoP18 will also consider a proposal on the establishment of a database for the storage and management of illegal trade data collected through CITES annual illegal trade reports.

eSwantini, formally known as Swaziland, has tabled a proposal to remove the existing annotation on the Appendix II listing of its white rhino population which would allow international trade in rhinos and their products including horn. Namibia has tabled a proposal to allow for a live animal trade in white rhino and for trophy hunting, in other words they have proposed to change the status of their white rhino population from Appendix I to Appendix II.

The legal domestic market in South Africa, we believe, is contributing to the poaching of rhinos in South Africa and in neighboring African countries. The legal domestic trade has undermined demand reduction campaigns and enforcement efforts and it has provided potential routes through which illegally obtained rhino horn might be laundered.

The domestic trade in rhino horn weakens the international trade ban under CITES. Over the past two years frequent shipments of farmed rhino horn from South Africa have been intercepted at international border and recently there have been large scale illegal shipments of farmed rhino horn intercepted within South Africa.

The poaching of rhinos and the illegal trade of rhino horn is an organized transnational crime, it is organized by criminal syndicates that profit from the sale of rhino horn and horn products to satisfy consumer demand principally in Asia.

We are in agreement with a number of parties to CITES in their request to destroy government stockpiles of rhino horn. Public stockpile destruction events have taken place in China, Czech Republic, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, USA and Vietnam.

In the interim we ask that the DEFF identify, mark, register secure stockpiles and declare the results. Rumors that South African state stockpiles might have been compromised during State Capture period abound, South Africa’s conservation reputation is at further risk.

Wehereby formally request that the Minister re-considers the negative impact of the domestic rhino horn trade in South Africa which includes the export internationally of rhino horn for “personal purposes”.

We have attached the petition signed more than half a million people asking for the ban on the domestic trade of rhino horn to be re-introduced in South Africa.

SIGNED

Global March for Elephants and Rhinos Organisation

OSCAP

Ross Harvey

Elephant Reintergration Trust

BAN ANIMAL TRADING

SAFFR

Beauty Without Cruelty South Africa

Voice4Lions

Humane Society International Africa

Animal Welfare Reform

Landmark Foundation

EMS Foundation

Global White Lion Protection Trust

Animal Law Reform

Sea Shepherd South Africa

Future 4 Wildlife

Baboon Matters

Vervet Monkey Foundation

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Re: Rhino Horn Trade

Post by Richprins »

The above assumes trade will be detrimental, while MANY believe it would be a solution, including the majority of wildlife workers, IMO.

This article sums it up perfectly, by a proper organisation of media:

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/special ... ino_files/

Extract:


During his dread slideshow of rhino mutilations, wildlife veterinarian Dr Pete Rogers, sweaty in his overall and close to tears of exhaustion after a day chasing poachers through the boiling bush, unleashes a volley of rhetorical questions when Daily Maverick asks about possible legalisation knock-ons. Could an incremental outward shift in the demand curve among a potential market of hundreds of millions of Asian consumers — and their diaspora — mean the end to the park’s dwindling rhinos? Do we even understand the fundamental nature of Asia’s shapeshifting demand, what fuels it and how to reduce it?

There’s no other way to put it: after performing rhino immobilisations since the start of the poaching crisis, this man is gatvol.

“Armchair conservationists love to talk about ‘demand reduction’. Reduce demand? How are you going to reduce demand? I want to vomit when I hear those words!” he spits at the room. “Imagine putting a bag of $200,000 under a tree in the veld, and telling people, ‘Don’t touch it!’ That’s exactly the same as having horned rhino on your property.”

If the tragedy of the commons is razing our natural heritage, this sense of desperation gives us the tragedy of dispossession, one in which the actors may be willing to entertain whatever it takes to wrench the rhino, their dwindling operational coffers and their sanity from evisceration.

Rogers’ frustration may not be misplaced, but demand-reduction campaigns to challenge controversial ideas about medical science — such as the so-called curative properties of horn — do matter. Sensitivities over cultural imperialism — the view that the West should work harder to accommodate differences in medical opinion with the East — also need to be weighed up against the significance of our global natural heritage. Awareness initiatives designed to reduce demand in the East for shark-fin soup claim effective results.

But, as the original purveyor of the two-tone khaki shirt might have said, whoever he (or, hey, she) was, “Mens klim nie op die preekstoel as die koeël eers deur die kerk is nie.” Don’t get on the pulpit once the bullet’s torn through the church. Or something like that — it’s moot whether rhino demand-reduction campaigns can work fast enough, but perhaps they would carry more moral authority if the West made an example of its own quackeries. Lining cat-litter boxes everywhere with astrology manuals would not be a bad start.

“If it’s not trade, what is it? Give us another solution,” pleads Rogers, throwing down the gauntlet.


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Re: Rhino Horn Trade

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BUSINESS MAVERICK
Quo vadis South Africa’s rhino rancher supreme?
By Ed Stoddard• 22 August 2019

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A rhino is drugged before its horn is removed at John Hume's farm in Mpumalanga. (Photo: Gallo Images / Rapport / Conrad Bornman)


John Hume, the owner of the world’s largest private rhino population, has almost run out of finance to maintain his herd. He is planning to sell off a Mpumalanga nature estate next month and it might be the last roll of the dice for a man who gambled on rhino horn becoming a tradeable commodity.

More than 1,700 white rhinos roam John Hume’s ranch in North West, which makes him the biggest private owner of the species by far. The global population of all five rhino species is about 25,000, so he owns about 7% of the rare creatures.

He also has a stockpile of five tonnes of rhino horn, harvested from his herd over the years in dehorning operations.

He has not had a rhino killed by poachers in well over two years, which makes his operation a conservation success story.

A real estate tycoon in a former life, Hume has one more major asset (after his horns, animals and working ranch): the 6,600ha Mauricedale Nature Estate just south of the Kruger National Park.

This week he said he would put this property under the hammer on 25 September 2019. A decade ago, the estate was valued at between R490-million and R523-million, but the current real estate market is chilly.

The sale move follows an unsuccessful appeal for partner investors in his rhino-breeding project.

“Our appeal for alternative funding and/or investment from the world at large has to date proven entirely fruitless,” said Hume, adding that the sale was a “final and desperate attempt” to keep his operation afloat. He has already sold other property assets to do just that.

Hume told me a few months ago that surging security and feed costs had put his project just months away from collapse. He had spent about $150-million of his own money over the past 25 or so years to grow the rhino herd.

The man has a passion for the animals, but he is also a businessman who has long lobbied for the lifting of restrictions on international trade in rhino horn. At going black-market rates in Asia – where red-hot horn demand is driving the current wave of poaching – his stockpiled five tons could conceivably fetch $275-million.

Hume’s latest move comes against the backdrop of the triennial meeting, being held in Geneva, of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), the UN convention that regulates global trade in wildlife and its derivatives.

At the meeting, Eswatini has proposed to down-listing of the conservation status of its white rhino population – which would allow it to trade its horn stocks internationally. The proposal is unlikely to gain traction, as was the case with a similar attempt in Johannesburg three years ago.

The pro and anti-trade arguments are well known, are being hashed out again, and do not need repeating here. But one point to be made is that “faunal” or “megafauna” privatisation has clearly aided conservation efforts. Without private initiatives such as Hume’s, there would be fewer rhinos on the planet.

A survey last year, conducted for the Private Rhino Owners’ Association, found that almost 7,000 white rhinos, or 46% of an estimated 15,200 national herd in South Africa, were privately owned. By contrast, populations in state parks, at the epicentre of the poaching crisis, have been falling. In 2010, the number of white rhinos in South Africa was estimated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature to be 18,800, with more than 14,000 on state land and 4,000 on private farms. The government-owned total number has since almost halved, while the private figure almost doubled.

Hume has certainly taken a gamble and is unlikely ever to get a return on his substantial investment in rhinos. But if he cannot afford to keep them any longer, will there be any takers for a significant chunk of the world’s rhino population?

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article ... r-supreme/


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World's Biggest Rhino Owner Bankrupted

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Hume to auction nature estate to save his white rhinos


In what seems a desperate last roll of the dice, a world renowned rhino breeder is selling off his beloved nature estate in an effort to save over 1 700 rhinos.

Landé Willemse


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John Hume, owner of the world’s largest private rhino population, has run out of finances to maintain his herd. Mauricedale Nature Estate, just outside of Malalane and only 15 kilometres south of the Kruger National Park, will go under the hammer on Wednesday.

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The estimated value of this property was between R490 and R523 million in 2008.

Hume, who allegedly sits on a stockpile of five tonnes of rhino horn from his dehorned rhinos, said it costs millions a year to safeguard and maintain the animals. He now claims bankruptcy. The rhino horn was harvested from his herd over the years during dehorning operations.

Hume confirmed that the sale is an effort to raise funds to save his 1 732 white rhinos and also to secure the future of this near-threatened species for generations to come.

“The buyer of Mauricedale Nature Estate will play a key role in securing the future of the iconic white rhino – a legacy that any nature lover can be proud of,” read a statement issued by Claremart Auction Group on behalf of Hume.


It is no secret that Hume’s rhino project on Buffalo Dream Ranch has been in dire financial straits for some time. This 6 600 hectare estate is Hume’s last remaining asset. Claremont Auction group confirmed that previous attempts to sell the property for R400 million to raise money to support the rhino project were unsuccessful.

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Hume allegedly spends approximately R5 million a month in security costs alone to look after his rhinos. This along with paying for feed, veterinary care and staff, has seemingly made it impossible to continue with de facto situation.

Hume has repeatedly said that being able to sell off his stockpile would allow him to pay for the costs of keeping rhinos. He confirmed that his current situation is not sustainable and added that if he doesn’t get money to protect his rhino that they will be dead.

“I am using my life savings and it can’t last.”

Hume is probably best known for challenging the government’s 2009 moratorium on the domestic trade in rhino horn, an extended legal case that he eventually won in 2017. He also appeared in the 2017 documentary, Trophy, in which he shared his views on legalising the trade in rhino horn.
Website

Hume on several occasions stated that he believes a legal trade is the only way to stop the poaching crisis, claiming that the escalating security costs for rhino owners and managers of wild rhino populations are unsustainable.

He said that sourced rhino horn could one day meet demand from Asia, and that better law enforcement is unlikely to end the trade alone.

In August 2017 Hume held an online auction to sell an advertised 264 rhino horns. This was widely publicized and was even translated into Mandarin and Vietnamese.

Although the details of the auction were never made public, Hume stated he was disappointed with the sales. His lawyer, Izak du Toit, issued a statement that read: “The auction yielded fewer sales and fewer bidders than anticipated.” Hume blamed the government and adverse publicity for this.

In January 2019 Hume issued an urgent appeal through the Rhinos of Buffalo Dream Ranch Facebook page for assistance, as his rhino faced starvation due to the drought that has gripped the North West province during that time. Hume said that funds reached ‘Day Zero’ and called the situation “really dire”.

In January 2019 Hume send out a plea for assistance:

My name is John Hume and I own and operate a White Rhino Captive Breeding Operation in the North West Province of South Africa.
It has been no secret since April last year that I have been running out of the vital financial resources necessary to continue operations at Buffalo Dream Ranch. At the time my financial predicament became public knowledge, we only had reserves to carry us through to August of last year.
Through the very timeous and fortunate sale of some of our rhinos to Swaziland, we managed to extend our ‘Day 0’, and have kept our rhinos safe, fed and properly protected, until now.

However, the North West Province has been suffering a most severe drought, with little to no rain, and this has had a terrible impact on the natural feed available in our camps.

This has forced us to buy in supplementary feed way beyond normal volumes to keep our rhinos properly fed and healthy which has exhausted the lifeline received from the Swaziland sale much faster than we anticipated. We have now reached the inevitable Day 0 on our finances and we quite simply have no financial resources left to continue caring for our herd.

We have 1 642 Southern White Rhino, of which 300 are currently pregnant and due to birth over the next 16 months.
This equates to nearly 10% of the world’s remaining white rhinos.

No more money means no more feed deliveries from suppliers, and pressure on salaries for our nearly 100 staff, so vital for the care and protection of our rhinos.

The catastrophic impact of this scenario will be slow, but sadly steady starvation of these beautiful African animals, and them all being left at the mercy of poachers.

So, this is an urgent appeal for help. We are heartbroken at the situation, and desperate to save our rhinos.
I am now 77 years of age and need to start thinking about handing over this vital heritage project to the next generation of great rhino custodians and I am thus totally open to any suggestions or proposals that might offer a solution to our current financial predicament.

These solutions could include a sale of the project in its entirety, sale of a share in this project, rhino ownership schemes, ownership in only the rhino population growth, funding of security only, or even just donations for feed. Whatever the solution, it needs to happen quickly to avoid the inevitable disaster described.


https://lowvelder.co.za/504792/hume-auc ... te-rhinos/


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Re: World's Biggest Rhino Owner Bankrupted

Post by Lisbeth »

He has gambled betting on an international sales permit and has lost. I almost feel sorry him.


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Re: World's Biggest Rhino Owner Bankrupted

Post by Richprins »

Whatever one says, there would be 1500 rhino less in the world if it weren't for him.


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Re: World's Biggest Rhino Owner Bankrupted

Post by Lisbeth »

True enough :yes: Could they be introduced into the wild? -O-


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