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Saving the rhinos from greed
Conservationists propose horn trade to cut poaching
November 4, 1996
Web posted at: 2:00 p.m. EST (1900 GMT)In this story:
From Correspondent Mike Hanna
KWAZULU, South Africa (CNN) -- In South Africa's Pongola Valley -- where even a casual glance leaves the impression that time has stood still -- the past has been restored for those in the present and the future.
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Vivo's technical FAQ Karel Landman once farmed wheat and cattle in the valley, but now he has allowed the land to fall fallow, paving the way for nature to reclaim its own. And he has reintroduced animals that vanished from the area a century ago.
"In the end of the day when you look back at what you've achieved, it's a great feeling to see that you've contributed something to conservation by bringing back what people destroyed," Landman said.
One of those returning species is an animal that was on the brink of extinction -- the rhinoceros. Landman says that after 30 million years, the rhinoceros was finally doomed -- or nearly so -- by the greed and corruption of man.
Apart from an aggressive bull of its own kind, the rhino's only natural enemy is man. And the creature's horn, evolved for defense, has become the reason for its mass destruction.
In the past two decades more than 60,000 rhinos have been slaughtered for a horn that has become more valuable than gold. Poachers will be paid less than $100 per kilogram, but to some in Africa that sum is more than a year's income.
The wholesale price in cities like Hong Kong rises to more than $5,000 per kilogram. But on the streets of South Asia -- after the horn has been ground into powder and mixed with other ingredients to form a traditional medicine -- its value rockets tenfold to nearly $50,000 per kilogram.
Conservationist Clive Walker, whose private game farm is a popular spot for tourists eager to see rhinos in their natural habitat, makes a preservation argument that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago -- that the only way to save the rhinoceros is to establish a legal trade in the beasts' horns.
"The cost to governments to protect an animal like this is becoming so prohibitive," he said. But a legal horn trade "would release literally millions of dollars ... that could be put into the protection of these animals."
Wary of trade
An international ban on such a trade has been in place for 19 years, but George Hughes, the chairman of South Africa's Kwazulu Natal Park's board, said the strategy has "been a disaster."
"The demand went up," he said. "The prices doubled ... and the net result has been at tremendous outflow of rhino and the crash of rhino populations everywhere."
Everywhere except South Africa, where the bulk of the world's population of both black and white rhinos is found. In particular a breeding program at Kwazulu's Umfolosi Reserve has been critical in ensuring the animal's survival. Each year, conservationists tranquilize a select number of the animals to be sold to zoos and ranches for breeding.
But to sell the rhino for breeding purposes is one thing, and to legalize trade in its horn is another. And those proposing the trade admit they've encountered strong international resistance.
Walker says one of the main problems is the tendency of the rest of the world to want to dictate to Africans how to handle the wildlife that lives on their continent. Admitting that the idea of a legal trade is a sensitive issue, Walker notes that rhinos do not have to die for their horns.
Protection means jobs
Living rhinos also create jobs in remote areas, where local men are hired to track the creatures and try to keep them safe. To them, a dead rhinoceros is worthless. Reserve owner Landman says that he employs five times as many people as he did when he farmed and adds that the threat of poaching is greatly reduced when all who live in the area have a stake in the welfare of the wildlife.
"They see the animals as the source of income and won't let anything slip their eye," he said.
The incidence of poaching has dropped markedly in South Africa and other countries -- not only because the rangers have been successful, but also because there are so few rhinos left to poach. The few that are left, Walker says, "are in tightly patrolled sanctuaries" and watched closely.
Walker, who has raised motherless rhinos in his home, said the species' demise would cost humanity "something very special."
In the end, the campaign to allow legal trade in rhino horns -- an attempt to reverse a conservation policy built up over decades -- has at its roots a simple philosophy: that the world is a place of infinite variety, a range of species woven together in a complex web. And if one part should disappear, all that are left behind will be diminished.
Related stories:
- Tourism brings reason to protect rhinos - September 28, 1996
- Endangered 'unicorn' rhino born at D.C. zoo - September 20, 1996
- Taiwan de-listed as trafficker of rhino, tiger parts - September 11, 1996
- Rare baby rhino gets special care - July 6, 1996
- Breeding rhinos: Not an easy chore - March 2, 1996
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