The South African High Court decision to allow domestic trade in rhino horn to resume with immediate effect, has been greeted with dismay by conservation charities.
The ruling has been made as a South African Government Committee of Inquiry into the feasibility of international trade in rhino has yet to release its conclusions. Depending on the outcome of the Inquiry the government will decide on whether or not to make a submission at the Johannesburg 2016 meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Without a legal domestic market, it would be unlikely that CITES would allow the lifting of a ban on international trade on rhino horn.
“The question has to be asked: ‘Who is going to buy rhino horn in South Africa?’ This is all part of a bigger campaign to push for international trade and is driven purely by the economic motives of a few who wish to trade rhino horn” said Philip Mansbridge, UK Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
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