The Sun Is Setting On Africa’s Rhino Population

The poaching of Africa’s rhinoceros population continues to make headline news. We are only halfway through 2012 and already the number of rhino killed illegally is pushing close to the 300 mark. Rhino horn is estimated to reach up to $80,000/Kg on the black market at the moment making poaching an extremely profitable pastime. Rhino horns are even being stolen from museums! The horn is sent to countries such as Vietnam and China where it is prized as an important ingredient in traditional medicines, the increase in poaching in recent years seems to be linked to a claim that rhino horn can cure cancer. Other traditional medicinal uses include treating fever, rheumatism, gout, and other disorders. According to the 16th century Chinese pharmacist Li Shi Chen, the horn could also cure snakebites, hallucinations, typhoid, headaches, carbuncles, vomiting, food poisoning, and “devil possession.” (However, it is not, as commonly believed, prescribed as an aphrodisiac).

Unlike the horns of most animals, which have a bony core covered by a relatively thin layer of keratin, rhino horns are keratin all the way through — although the precise chemical composition of the keratin will vary depending on a rhino’s diet and geographic location. Rhino horns are not, as once believed, made simply from a clump of compressed or modified hair. Recent studies have shown that the horns are, in fact, similar in structure to horses’ hooves, turtle beaks, and cockatoo bills. The studies also revealed that the centres of the horns have dense mineral deposits of calcium and melanin — a finding that may explain the curve and sharp tip of the horns. The calcium would strengthen the horn while the melanin would protect the core from being degraded by ultraviolet radiation from the sun. As the softer outer portion was worn away over time by the sun and typical rhino activities (bashing horns with other animals, or rubbing it on the ground), the inner core would be sharpened into a point (much like a wooden pencil).

As far as actual scientific proof of any medicinal value to the horn goes, there is nothing, in fact even the government of China have gone as far as signing the CITES treaty banning the sale of rhino horn, and removing rhinoceros horn from the Chinese medicine pharmacopeia, administered by the Ministry of Health, in 1993. In 2011 in the UK, the Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine issued a formal statement condemning the use of rhinoceros horn.A growing number of Traditional Chinese Medicine educators have also spoken out against the practice.

Despite all this the demand for horn remains high, fuelling the poaching crisis we are experiencing. 2012 has seen a large number of arrests in South Africa, yet the crisis continues…

Rhino Poaching In Today’s News:

A male white rhino marking his territory in the wild, a pretty good representation of most peoples views on poachers...

Rhino poaching is again in the news today, but for once it seems to be some better news:

Firstly from the Times Live news site:

SA rhinos at mercy of global smuggling network

Petty hunters, corrupt wildlife officials and Asian traffickers have all been snared in South Africa's crackdown on rhino poaching as special prosecutors battle syndicates feeding the trade in horns.

More than 160 people are currently before the courts, exposing the complex supply chain stretching from South African parks to Southeast Asian consumers, said Joanie Spies, a prosecutor with the Rhino Project.

"Slowly but surely we're moving upwards and getting higher people who did not pull the trigger," Spies told AFP.

The National Prosecuting Authority set up the team to help combat the dramatic surge in poaching that has seen more than 200 rhinos killed so far this year.

The cases have exposed corruption within the systems meant to protect the animals.

Private game owners, national park rangers and veterinarians have been arrested. Authorities have also caught pilots who flew helicopters to spot and dart the rhinos, and both small-time and professional hunters who shot them.

"There is a great level of organisation involved," Spies said.

Some rhinos are shot by small-time hunters hoping for a lucky break by capturing a horn that sells for more than its weight in gold in Asia, where it is used in traditional medicine.

Not all of these hunters know what they're doing. One man in April sawed off a horn from a fibreglass rhino serving as decor at a safari lodge.

Other rhinos are killed by professionals who have helicopter support in tracking and darting the animals before hunters shoot and de-horn them.

Whoever does the shooting, the horns can end up in the hands of the same Asian kingpins, Spies said.

Vietnamese and Thai nationals have been arrested for trying to smuggle horns abroad.

In one case, Thai national Chumlong Lemtongthai faces trial for colluding with a South African game farm owner to stage legal trophy hunts.

He is accused of hiring Thai strippers and prostitutes as hunters who posed with the massive beasts' carcasses to document the kills to obtain some of the handful of legitimate export licenses for mounted rhino horns.

Authorities say he bought horns at around 65,000 rand ($8,400, 6,400 Euros) a kilogramme and resold them for up to $55,000 a kilo.

Horns typically leave the country through Johannesburg's international airport, or through the port of Beira in neighbouring Mozambique, where oversight is lax.

The horns may transit in shipping containers or air travellers' hand luggage in Asian cities like Hong Kong.

Customs officials in Hong Kong say they have seized 52 horns over the past five years. Last November 33 horns were found in a single container marked as carrying "scrap plastic." It had come from Cape Town.

The biggest market for the horns is currently Vietnam, watchdogs say.

"The resources that you would require to coordinate getting poached horns from South Africa to Vietnam means there is little doubt there are large, organised syndicates involved in that," Naomi Doak of conservation group TRAFFIC told AFP in Vietnam.

So far, prosecuting the top levels of such syndicates has been an elusive goal. Cracking a syndicate requires piercing through three or four layers of crime, Spies said.

Cases that have gone to trial in South Africa have landed stiff penalties.

Three Mozambican poachers were handed 25-year sentences in January after they were detained with fresh horns, rifles and an axe in the world-famous Kruger National Park, where much of the poaching happens.

Spies said South Africa is stepping up its efforts by creating a combined task force of police, military, prosecutors and environmentalists.

"You get better convictions, better sentences," Spies said.

And from Eyewitness News:

Hawks raid home of alleged rhino kingpin

Jacob Moshokoa | 09 May 2012

POLOKWANE - A team of police officers gathered outside the home of alleged rhino syndicate kingpin Dawie Groenewald in Polokwane on Wednesday morning.

The Hawks and national police are seizing Groenewald’s assets as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged rhino poaching charges laid against him.

The home of Groenewald located in an upmarket Polokwane suburb, is busy with police recording each and every appliance as part of the ongoing investigation against him.

Police said they will now visit the alleged rhino syndicate's other property in the hope of seizing valuable assets including a helicopter and luxury cars.

Police plan to recover R55 million worth of assets.

(Edited by Clare Matthes)

All this is still only makes a small dent in the amount of poaching but at least it is a start…