A legal trade in rhino horn could be twice as big as illegal one

30 October 2017

By Adam Popescu

What is the best way to stop the illegal trade in rhino horn? A new analysis claims South Africa could, legally and sustainably, produce enough of it to meet current demand. But conservationists say it might not prevent poaching.

About 25,000 rhinos remain in Africa, most of them white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum) in South Africa. However, since 2008 the nation has experienced a wave of poaching. As of July, 529 rhinos have been killed there this year. The main purpose is to obtain rhino horn, which is sold in China and other Asian countries as a traditional “medicine” and a trophy.

Such killings take place despite a ban on the rhino horn trade. So in 2013, Duan Biggs at the University of Queensland, Australia, and colleagues suggested creating a legal trade in the horn. Rhino horns can be removed without killing the animal and grow back in a few years, so, in principle, ivory can be obtained sustainably. The idea is to flood the market with a “responsible” product, cutting the price of ivory and reducing the incentive to poach.

In April, South Africa ended its eight-year moratorium on trading rhino horn, and some local rhino owners have since started selling. The biggest mogul is breeder John Hume, who has 1500 rhinos and a cache of more than six tonnes of ivory, and who helped end the moratorium with a lawsuit. Hume says his life’s mission is saving rhinos. He partly funds his work by sawing off horns and selling them at auction. In August, he sold 500 kilograms online.

Many conservationists are unconvinced. But until now we haven’t even had the answer to a basic question: how much rhino horn can be sustainably supplied.

Continued  

Rhino horn smuggled as jewellery

By Victoria GillScience reporter, BBC News

18 September 2017

Criminal networks smuggling rhino horn out of Africa are turning it into jewellery to evade its detection in airports, an investigation has found.

Wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic revealed an "emerging trend" of making and smuggling beads, bracelets and bangles and rhino horn powder.

The lead investigator told BBC News the trade in rhino horn was now "morphing" into a market for luxury items.

At least 7,100 rhinos are estimated to have been killed in Africa since 2007.

Today, about 25,000 of the animals remain.

Julian Rademeyer from Traffic explained that the production of rhino horn "trinkets" mirrored some of the patterns seen in the trade in ivory.

"It's very worrying," he told BBC News. "Because if someone's walking through the airport wearing a necklace made of rhino horn, who is going to stop them?

"Police are looking for a piece of horn and whole horns."

Continued  

Rhino horn sales: banking on extinction

Paula Kahumbu: The sale of rhino horn in South Africa won’t help save rhinos, but it will benefit organised crime

Paula Kahumbu

Paula Kahumbu is CEO of the NGO Wildlife Direct and a campaigner for elephants and wildlife.

Friday 25 August 2017 06.05 BSTLast modified on Friday 25 August 2017 11.50 BST

South Africa has just launched the first ever legal rhino horn auction. If you are based in South Africa and would like to buy some rhino horn you can place your bid here.

This is not a government auction, although it is sanctioned by the South African government. It has been organised by private rhino rancher, John Hume, who took the government to court and won the right to sell 265 rhino horns weighing about 500 kg. Trade in rhino horn is illegal in most countries, but the black market value of one kilogram is said to be USD 100,000—more than the price of platinum.

The astronomical price of rhino horn is driven by demand in Asia that has fuelled the current epidemic of rhino poaching in South Africa. Rhino deaths from poaching have risen from almost zero ten years ago to more than 1,000 per year since 2013.

Rhinos are listed on Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which means that horns cannot be legally taken out of South Africa into any other CITES member state. So this auction is targeting buyers in South Africa … even though there is no market there for rhino horn. What is going on?

Read on

Rhino horn auction to go ahead in South Africa after court lifts ban on sales

Breeder John Hume to take advantage of court ruling lift ban on domestic trade to sell horns trimmed from the 1,500 rhinos on his ranch 

Associated Press in Johannesburg

Monday 26 June 2017 17.14 BST First published on Monday 26 June 2017 14.15 BST 

A rhino breeder in South Africa is planning an online auction of rhino horns to capitalise on a court ruling that opened the way to domestic trade despite an international ban imposed to curb poaching.

The sale of rhino horns by breeder John Hume, to be held in August, will be used to “further fund the breeding and protection of rhinos”, according to an auction website.

Hume has more than 1,500 rhinos on his ranch and spends over $170,000 a month on security for the animals, in addition to veterinary costs, salaries and other expenses, the auction website said.

“Each rhino’s horn is safely and regularly trimmed by a veterinarian and capture team to prevent poachers from harming them,” it said, adding that Hume has a stockpile of more than six tonnes of rhino horns.

Read on  

South African court gives green light to domestic trade in rhino horn

Court dismisses government bid to uphold seven-year ban on domestic trade in rhino horn - but global ban remains in place

Reuters

Tuesday 24 May 201611.50 BST

South Africa’s supreme court has dismissed a government bid to uphold a seven-year ban on the domestic trade in rhino horn, an industry group said this week.

The decision has no bearing on a ban on international trade in rhino horn. Potential domestic buyers could include those who see rhino horn as a store of wealth that could appreciate in value and those who want it as a decoration.

Thousands of South African rhinos have been slain in recent years to meet demand for the horn in Asian countries, where buyers consider it an aphrodisiac, a cure for cancer or treatment for hangovers.

“Legal finality has now been achieved,” Pelham Jones, chairman of South Africa’s Private Rhino Owners Association (PROA), told Reuters, saying trade could resume this year.

Around 5,000 rhinos, or about a quarter of South Africa’s population, are in private hands. Rhino horn can be harvested as it grows back and it can be removed from a tranquilised animal.

The government has not revealed the size of its rhino horn stockpile but the PROA estimates its members have around six tonnes and reckons the state has close to 25 tonnes. The combined 31 tonnes could fetch $2bn by some estimates.

A spokeswoman for South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs said it would comment later in the day on the ruling, which was made on Friday.

It was not immediately clear if the department would now appeal to the constitutional court, the top court in the land.

Supporters of rhino horn trade say the money earned could be used for conservation and to pay for security. Opponents counter that a legal trade could tempt poachers who kill rhinos to launder their “blood” horns with clean supplies.

Read more …  

Swaziland unveils plan to legalise rhino horn to pay for anti-poaching efforts

Leaked document shows proceeds from the sale of 330kg stockpile would be used to protect country’s 73 white rhinos from poaching

Karl Mathiesen

Thursday 28 April 2016 16.40 BST

Last modified on Thursday 28 April 201620.57 BST

The kingdom of Swaziland has made a surprise proposal to legalise the trade in rhino horn in order to pay for anti-poaching measures.

In a leaked document addressed to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), Swaziland’s anti-poaching body said it wanted to sell the country’s 330kg stockpile of horn collected from naturally deceased animals and confiscated from poachers.

It said the sale to the traditional medicine markets of the far east would generate $9.9m, which would be used to protect the tiny landlocked country’s 73 white rhinos from poaching.

Swaziland proposed to sell a further 20kg each year, raising $600,000, by harvesting horn from living herds. Rhino horns regrow after being cut.

The Cites Management Authority of Swaziland, which made the proposal, said the 39-year-old ban on trading rhino horn had failed. It cited the poaching crisis in neighbouring South Africa, where 1,175 rhinos were killed in 2015.

“At present 100% of the proceeds from the sale of rhino horn are taken by criminals, while rhino custodians pay 100% of the costs of rhino protection and production yet they desperately need funds to cover these costs,” said the authority.

Analysis Can legalised trade save Africa's last rhinos from poaching?

A South African court decision to lift a ban on trading rhino horn has divided conservationists. In the race against poachers a solution must be found quickly – but the wrong decision could be catastrophic

Contacts directly involved in the drafting told the Guardian that they had formally lodged the proposal with Cites. It will now be formally discussed and voted on at the Cites Conference of Parties in Johannesburg in September. The bid is likely to fail, because the majority of parties have little appetite for a legalised trade, preferring to focus on dampening demand in the Asia.

Continued ...

Mozambique raids wildlife house of horror

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Kevin Heath

Mozambique police and wildlife officials have made their biggest wildlife bust ever after raiding a house belonging to a Chinese national. Hidden in the house of horror was 340 elephant tusks and 65 rhino horns.

“Undoubtedly, this is a case that is related to poaching. Some of the ivory tusks still have fresh blood, a sign that some animals may have been recently victimized, “said the spokesman for PRM in the province of Maputo, Emidio Mabunda.

The raid was undertaken on Tuesday on a house in Matola in Southern Mozambique. The operation culminating in the seizure involved 20 officers from various branches of the police and a team from the forestry and wild life department of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Information was gained from intelligence work with the local community which led the officers to a condominium in the Tchumene neighbourhood of the city. The Chinese had been living in the house for about 3 months and his cover was that he earned money from recycling cans. The owner of the house is not connected with the investigation.

In total the haul is estimated to have a value of US$19 million. It is estimated at least 170 elephants and 65 rhino died from this one consignment. Part of the haul had already been packaged ready for export. As well as the haul of tusks and rhino horn the officials also recovered a collection of finished ivory products.

Continued ...

Rhino horn demand down in Vietnam

Demand for rhinoceros horn in Vietnam has dropped by almost 40 percent since the launch of a public education and awareness campaign in August 2013.

The campaign was jointly implemented by the Humane Society International (HIS) and the Vietnam Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

The year-long campaign focused on targeting people in Vietnam’s capital city, Ha Noi, by engaging stakeholder groups to help spread messages against the use of rhino horns.

These included the 800,000-member Ha Noi Women’s Association, the business community, university students, the scientific community, leading health experts and school children,. Who all received copies of HSI’s book I’m A Little Rhino as part of their curriculum.

read on ...

Rhino horn smuggling ringleader jailed for 70 months

Wildlife trafficker Zhifei Li has been sentenced to 70 months in prison for his role in trafficking 30 rhinoceros horns and numerous other rhino horn and elephant ivory artifacts from the US to China. The sentence is one of the longest ever handed out in the US for wildlife crime.

Zhifei Li, who owns an antique business called Overseas Treasure Finding in Shandong, China, admitted he was the “boss” of three antique dealers in the US whom he paid to obtain wildlife items and smuggle them to him via Hong Kong.

His arrest in January 2013 happened when he was caught purchasing two endangered black rhinoceros horns from an undercover US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) agent during “Operation Crash”. This was a US nationwide effort led by the USFWS and the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute those involved in the illegal wildlife trade.

Continued

Singapore and Thailand customs seize over 40kg rhino horn

January 2014: Customs officers in Singapore and Thailand have both recorded significant rhino horn seizures within a few days of one another.

Customs in Singapore seized eight pieces of smuggled black rhinoceros horn, weighing almost 22kg, in the luggage of a man travelling from Changi Airport to Vietnam. He was tried and convicted, on 16 January, to 15 months in prison. 

Just a few days later in Bangkok, on 19th January, Royal Thai Customs seized nine rhino horns weighing 21.8 kg from a transit passenger who arrived from Nairobi, Kenya, en route to Ha Noi, Vietnam.

Continued

Legalising the trade in rhino horn and a wilderness of greed

Those backing a legalised trade also stand to make huge profits, like chief pro-trade protagonist John Hume. Hume breeds rhinos for pleasure he says, because he loves the creatures and wants to save them. He believes that farming rhinos and harvesting their horns to meet the rising demand in the Far East, which has fuelled the current rhino poaching crisis, is the only answer to preventing the extinction of Africa’s rhino. Hume is backed by some serious pro-trade muscle headed by economist Dawie Roodt.

Roodt has made his name in government finance and monetary policy and is a well-known media commentator on financial matters. Roodt doesn’t like rhinos. He doesn’t like laws either, especially ones which stop people like Hume from doing exactly what they like with their private property. Which is what he regards rhinos as – property. “Laws are silly things invented by politicians,” Roodt said in a recent public debate on the legalisation of rhino horn trade at the University of Pretoria.

continued

Exposing myths: Chinese connections in African ivory & rhino horn markets

For the first time, journalists from mainland China worked with African journalists on an undercover investigation into the Chinese connection with ivory and rhino horns market in South Africa and Mozambique

Courtesy of Oxpeckers Center for Investigative Environmental Journalists (oxpeckers.org)

October 2013. Wildlife trafficking syndicates brazenly sell rhino horn and ivory at Chinese markets in Southern Africa's capital cities, in the face of global attempts to crack down on the illicit trade in endangered species.

China is responsible for an estimated 70% of the world trade in ivory, and research by the international wildlife trade monitoring organisation Traffic indicates that nearly 80% of the reported seizures of illegal rhino horns in Asia between 2009 and late last year happened in China.

The recent influx of Chinese immigrants to Southern Africa has seen the market grow. Who are the Chinese people involved, and how do they go about buying these illegal products?

Bruma flea market and New Chinatown

Chinese journalists on an undercover assignment discovered that the Bruma flea market and nearby New Chinatown in eastern Johannesburg are the hub of the illicit trade in rhino horns and ivory in South Africa. Transactions between African sellers and Asian buyers occur relatively openly and daily.

From 9am to 5pm, sellers hang around the entrance to the Bruma flea market and eagerly surround Chinese people as they approach. "What are you looking for? Do you want xiangya? I have," says Mike, a seller who hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Read on

Rhino poaching hits new levels in South Africa

Poaching increases as South Africa pushes legal rhino horn trade

September 2013. The latest figures from South Africa show that the total numbers of rhinos killed by poachers this year has already surpassed the total for the whole of last year, which was itself the worst ever year on record. 688 rhinos have been killed so far this year in South Africa alone, compared with 668 in the whole of 2012. The Kruger National Park is still by far the worst effected region, having lost 418 rhinos, but Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces have shown the largest increases.

At the current rate, we can expect another 270 rhinos to be killed in the rest of the year, implying that more than 950 rhinos will be killed in South Africa this year, though by some measures (see below) the poaching rate is actually increasing, so the total could edge near the 1000 mark.

18 rhinos per week being killed

The poaching of rhinos in South Africa has increased by more than three rhinos a week on average since Environmental Minister Edna Molewa called for a legal international trade in rhino horn, according to analysis by the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

Poaching has increased since South Africa called for rhino horn sales

From January 1 to March 13, 2013, an average of 15.36 rhinos were poached each week in South Africa. On March 14, Minister Molewa revealed her support at the meeting of the member nations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Bangkok, Thailand, for a legal international rhino horn trade. CITES has long banned such a trade.

Continued

Irish man to be extradited to Austria over rhino horn thefts

Irish gang were targeting European museums 

August 2013. THE Irish high court has ordered that a man suspected of stealing rhino horns from museums, auctions and shops across Europe should be extradited to Austria to face trial.

The man, John Quilligan from Rathkeale, is thought to be part of a gang that targeted rhino horns across Europe. 

Europol have been investigating links between an Irish gang and rhino horn smuggling for at least 2 years. The investigation was launched after a spate of robberies around Europe where rhino horns were stolen from museums and antique dealers. The gang members are almost all from the town Rathkeale, just south west of Limerick, in Ireland.

Europol stated "Significant players within this area of crime have been identified as an Irish and ethnically-Irish organised criminal group, who are known to use intimidation and violence to achieve their ends. To source and acquire rhino horns, the group has targeted antique dealers, auction houses, art galleries, museums, private collections and zoos, resorting to theft and aggravated burglary where necessary. To sell specimens, they have exploited international auction houses in the UK, France, USA and China. Elements of this group are also involved in a variety of other serious crimes across the European Union such as drugs trafficking, organised robbery, distribution of counterfeit products, tarmac fraud and money laundering. Outside the EU, they have been active in North and South America, South Africa, China and Australia."

Arrested in Switzerland

Two members of the gang were also arrested in Switzerland in 2012 in possession of counterfeit cash totalling 120,000 Euros, and they are also thought to have been under investigation in the USA in connection with the smuggling of rhino horns.

The judge refused Quilligan's bail. A European Arrest Warrant was issued in Vienna last January for his surrender.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/irish-rhino013.html

Czech rhino horn smuggling gang arrested

24 rhino horns seized

July 2013. Czech customs and police have arrested a rhino horn smuggling gang. 16 people were arrested and charged with smuggling, and 24 rhino horns were seized.

It appears that the gang members posed as hunters in South Africa, where they shot the rhinos on game farms; the horns were then imported to Europe, sometimes using fake documents. The gang planned to export the rhinos to Asia but it appears that they have been seized before they could complete the shipment.

This is not the first time rhinos have been shot, supposedly by ‘big game hunters' who turned out to be working for smuggling syndicates. South Africa changed their rules after discovering that rhino hunting licences had been awarded to Thai prostitutes posing as hunters. Possibly as many as dozens of rhino were shot, not by the Thai girls who thought they were on safari, but by ‘professional hunters. The horns were then given export licences before being shipped to the gang leaders in Asia.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/czech-rhino-horn.html

$1 million dollar plus fine and 42 months in jail for smuggling rhino horn

Wildlife agents seize hoard of cash, jewellery, gold and rhino horn from defendants

May 2013.

Vinh Chuong "Jimmy" Kha, 50, and Felix Kha 26, were sentenced in Los Angeles to serve 42 and 46 months, respectively, in prison for crimes related to illegal international trafficking of rhinoceros horn.

$1 million plus fine
In addition to the prison sentences, the two defendants were ordered to pay a total of $20,000 in criminal fines and pay a $185,000 tax fraud penalty and assessment. In addition, Jimmy Kha's Win Lee Corporation was ordered to pay a $100,000 fine. Jimmy and Felix Kha, along with Win Lee Corporation, were also ordered to pay a total of $800,000 in restitution to the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, a statutorily created fund that is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to support international efforts to protect and conserve rhinos and other critically endangered species around the world. The defendants previously abandoned their portion of interest in $2 million worth of rhino parts and vehicles seized in the investigation.


The Khas are among several individuals charged so far with federal crimes as a result of "Operation Crash," an ongoing FWS-led investigation of the black market rhino horn trade named for the term used to describe a herd of rhinoceros.


"The Khas engaged in egregious criminal conduct by taking the horns of a species on the brink of extinction and making millions of dollars in the illegal trade in rhino horns," said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The Khas sentence sends a strong message that those who violate the law by illegally trading in rhino horns will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."


Continued

The wrongs and rights of the USA granting an import licence for rhino horn

WHY IT IS WRONG TO IMPORT RHINO HORN INTO THE US 

· There is a huge outcry in Africa and most of the world about the current desperate state of rhino poaching in Africa, where more than 1000 rhinos will probably be killed this year alone for their horn. There is an on-going campaign around the world to stop this slaughter, but what kind of message does it send to China & Vietnam, the principle markets, when the USA states that they must stop importing rhino horn, but it is OK for the USA to do it 

· The US Fish and Wildlife Service states that Namibian Government's 'Game Products Trust Fund' received a contribution of $175,000 to authorize hunting that resulted in the taking of the 34-year-old male rhino, and that the 'Money accrued from trophy hunting of black rhinos directly funds conservation efforts for the species.' Whilst that may be so (It is a separate debate to be had about hunting paying for conservation), the money went into that fund FOR SHOOTING THE RHINO, NOT IMPORTING THE HORNS. The fund received that money 4 years ago when the animal was shot. 

WHY IT IS RIGHT TO IMPORT RHINO HORN INTO THE US 

· The rhino that was hunted was passed breeding age, and was a potential threat to younger, healthy rhino. 

· Rhino conservation efforts in Namibia receive a considerable boost from the funds generated by the hunt. 

John Jackson, of Conservation Force, is a strong advocate of hunting as a force for good in conservation, and apparently played a key part in getting the licence granted by the USFWS. 

Jackson said: "The hunting was part of a conservation plan. The import will double or more the price of the select, certified, post-reproductive rhino each year. The strategy is to generate $500,000.00 or more of essential conservation funds for each soon-to-die due to age or fighting rhino. American hunters pay more for what they can bring home as memorabilia - a lot more. Of course, all license or special fee revenue to the operating budget pays for most conservation worldwide. Are you sure you know enough to write an article?" Read the full Conservation force bulletin on rhino horn trophies

US allows Republican donor to import rhino horn from Namibia

On March 28, 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife issued a permit for the importation of a black rhinoceros horn shot in Namibia in 2009. (According to Business Week, the rhino was shot by David K. Reinke, a big donor to Republican political candidates). The granting of the licence caused an outcry in many circles, but others accepted it as part of a 'necessary evil', as the substantial amount of money raised will go back into rhino conservation. 

Conservation & trophy hunting

Many major conservation organisations are, in a very qualified way, in favour of strictly controlled and regulated trophy hunting when it further the cause of, and generates funds for, conservation.

The hunter's view 

Reinke himself is quoted as saying, by abc news, "My desire is to help save the rhino through a scientific method approved by the United States and other agencies," Reinke said. "It's all about conservation. 

Reinke also shot a spotted hyena, two Gemsbok, a kudu, a Damaraland springbuck, a zebra, a giraffe, and a 'free range desert lion (What other sort are there? Oh yes, canned.), and probably many more. We have no information about whether he imported these 'trophies' into the USA.

However, according to Conservation Force, "He is a very experienced dangerous game hunter who has taken all the Big Five (not black rhino) a number of times." We would like to know whether all these animals were shot purely because "It is all about conservation." 

Continued: http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/rhino-horn-import-usa.html

Sabi Sand poisoning all rhino horns to counter rhino poaching

A key additive to the Sabi Sand treatments is an indelible pink dye which exposes the presence of smuggled horns on airport scanners worldwide and warns consumers that the ground-up product is hazardous.

Extensive rhino horn poisoning to counter poaching upsurge

April 2013. Toxic infusions are the latest weapon to counter the thriving industry of rhino poaching in the big game areas adjoining South Africa's Kruger Park.

Consumers can become very ill
Consumers of the powdered horn in Asia risk becoming seriously ill from ingesting a so-called "medicinal product" which is now contaminated with a non-lethal chemical package. The 49,500 hectare Sabi Sand Wildtuin has launched the country's first large-scale operation to toxify the horns of its rhinos, together with an indelible pink dye which exposes the illegal contraband on airport scanners worldwide.

Many world famous safari properties on the border of the Kruger National Park are engaged in a costly struggle against relentless rhino poaching. The Sabi Sand Wildtuin Association of property owners this year will spend R6.5m on security operations to intercept and head off the incursions - a budget allocation which has tripled since 2008, when the crisis first came to the fore. These defensive strategies, undertaken with the police and SA National Parks (SANParks), are facing heavily armed and highly motivated gangs.

The poachers themselves, the starting point of the criminal traffic inside and around the Kruger Park, receive a mere fraction of the R2-2.5m value of each horn from the syndicates that plan the raids and export the material. Yet the size of their pay-offs in the neighbouring low-income communities is ample enough to keep the poachers safe from being identified.

Poaching stats
Intelligence is a prime asset in the escalating conflict. For this reason the numbers of rhino located in the area are kept confidential, as are the numbers lost to date. The national statistics are harrowing enough to the future of wildlife conservation and game tourism. The first spike in the incidence of rhino poaching was in 2008, when 88 animals were lost. This year more than double that number have been butchered in only the first three months.

Lorinda Hern of the Rhino Rescue Project, who has co-developed the ectoparasitacide treatment since 2011, measuring the horns for research purposes while Brent Leo-Smith assists.

The Sabi Sand Wildtuin Association's game-changing toxification campaign is as much about sending a message to the illegal trade worldwide as it is about rendering the rhino horns inside its perimeter both worthless and hazardous as traditional medicine.

Andrew Parker, 41, CEO of the SSWA, says that compromising the product is the most effective deterrent to the illegal market.

A key additive to the Sabi Sand treatments is an indelible pink dye which exposes the presence of smuggled horns on airport scanners worldwide and warns consumers that the ground-up product is hazardous.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/rhino-horn-poosoning.html