Animal groups renew calls for lifting ban on rhino trade
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E-mail Xinhua, July 11, 2012
Calls emerged on Tuesday from the ongoing International Wildlife Management Congress for lifting a ban on rhino trade as a way to curb rhino poaching.
Voicing despair at the "catastrophic" rhino poaching crisis, some participants said new strategies have to be found as a matter of urgency.
Lifting the 30-year-old ban on rhino trade could be an effective way, the Wildlife and Environment Society said in a proposal presented at the conference in Durban.
The Ezemvelo KZN (KwuZulu Natal) Wildlife also urged the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to lift its ban on rhino horn trading.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is working on a proposal to be presented to CITES next year, conference sources said.
There have been renewed calls for legalizing the sale of the country's massive rhino horn stockpiles in a bid to curb rhino poaching. Supporters argued such legalization could help drive down soaring black market prices and reduce the need to poach or kill living rhinos.
Although the South African government has ruled out the possibility for lifting the ban, the South Africa National Parks was "willing to consider" the proposal, according to the local newspaper Mercury.
Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edina Molewa indicated earlier this year that one of the biggest hurdles to lifting the ban was that South Africa needed formal support from prospective trading partners because any attempt to overturn the ban on trade will require a two-thirds majority of all CITES members.
If South Africa is able to persuade CITES to overturn the trading ban, it will take two years to introduce a system of controlled and legal trading in rhino horn, Mercury said.
Over 95 percent of Africa's remaining rhinos were wiped out within 20 years since the 1977 ban. In South Africa, more than 1, 000 rhinos have been slaughtered in just four years. Every year the death rate climbs steadily, despite the government pledges to tackle horn poachers head-on. Since the beginning of this year, 251 rhinos have been poached in the country.
But opponents to legalizing rhino trade argued the move will not help stem rhino poaching but will rather encourage more poaching.
Outraged South Africa Citizens Against Poaching said last month that opening up rhino trade will boost an increase in demand for rhino horns, thus pushing up rhino horn prices and leading to the killing of more rhinos.
The International Wildlife Management Congress, which began on Monday, emphasized on the wildlife scientific management in the world by integrating global efforts into an effective protection, such as endangered species recovery, wildlife population management, trans-border cooperation and conservation, natural resource use and sustainability.
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