From The Sunday Times March 7, 2010

China buys up African rhinos ‘to farm for horn’

Jonathan Leake, Environment Editor


RHINOS, among the world’s most endangered and iconic animals, are being farmed on Chinese wildlife reserves in order to harvest their horns, a report by international conservation monitors has suggested.

The monitors have found that China has imported 141 live white rhino from South Africa since 2000, far more than is needed for tourism purposes.

They have also gathered evidence that the aim of the purchases is to set up rhino farms.

“The suspicion is that these rhinos are being aggregated into herds and farmed for their horns, which are valued for medicinal purposes,” said Tom Milliken of Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network.



The revelation about China’s surge in rhino purchases is part of an official report to be delivered to Cites (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). A meeting has been organised in Qatar from next weekend to discuss the burgeoning trade in threatened animals and plants.

The report says: “Since 2000 Chinese data suggest 141 rhinos were obtained from South Africa. Reports of horn harvesting of captive rhinos in China have surfaced but need further verification. Clarification on the purpose of keeping large aggregations of captive rhino in China would be welcomed.”

The discovery has alarmed British and European Union officials, who plan to ask the Chinese to explain if they are allowing rhino farming.

Defra, the environment ministry, said: “There are allegations around horn harvesting of captive rhinos in China and these need to be investigated.”

Rhinos have suffered a catastrophic decline in numbers over the past 50 years. There are five rhino species, of which three live in Asia.

One of these, the Javan rhino, is close to extinction, with just 130 creatures estimated to be left, while the closely related Sumatran rhino numbers only about 300. Even the great one-horned rhino, found mainly in India, has only about 2,800 animals.

However, it is the fate of the more numerous African rhinos that is causing the most concern because of a surge in poaching, as well as exports.

Of the two African species, black rhinos number only about 4,200 while there are an estimated 17,500 white rhinos left. These days most are kept in reserves and wildlife parks, unlike a century ago when hundreds of thousands of animals roamed Africa.

The recent decline is, according to Traffic, almost all because of surging demand for rhino horn in Asian traditional medicine. Despite being made mainly of keratin, the same protein found in fingernails and hair, the ground-up horn is reputed to calm fevers such as malaria. There is also a renewed threat to rhinos from claims, said to be emanating from Vietnam, that the horn can cure cancer.

Rhino horn is now so valuable that Vietnamese embassy officials have been caught trying to smuggle horns back home. Similarly, South Africa has seen a surge in applications from Vietnamese hunters for licences to shoot captive-bred animals in private wildlife reserves.

Mark Jones, programme director for Care for the Wild International, a conservation charity involved with the Cites agreement, said all rhino species were fully protected under the treaty — so the aim of the Qatar conference should be to improve enforcement.

He added: “We would like to know what China is doing with all the live rhinos it is importing from South Africa but the increased reports of rhino poaching, particularly in South Africa and Zimbabwe, are very worrying too.”

Rhinos are just one of several species whose chances of survival could be determined by the talks. Others include African elephants, polar bears, bluefin tuna and hammerhead sharks.

One of the thorniest issues under discussion is the growing number of tiger farms in China, where about 6,000 of the big cats are held in captivity — compared with the 50 or so which are left in the wild.

Now I have a question: do rhino replace their horns after they are
removed? And second; do the chinese kill the animals to de-horn them or, tranquilize them? If they are not killed then it seems to me that they are using them as breeding stock. Rather see that than poaching! So, where am I missing the point?

It may be preferable to them poaching them out of Africa.

man you talk about opening a can of worms DAM YANKEE done it again

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Chick:
Now I have a question: do rhino replace their horns after they are
removed? And second; do the chinese kill the animals to de-horn them or, tranquilize them? If they are not killed then it seems to me that they are using them as breeding stock. Rather see that than poaching! So, where am I missing the point?

I don't know all the facts, but I tend to agree with Bryan. Like it or not, changing the Chinese want for the good is not a realistic option (we can try but it won't work).

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Chick:
Now I have a question: do rhino replace their horns after they are
removed? And second; do the chinese kill the animals to de-horn them or, tranquilize them? If they are not killed then it seems to me that they are using them as breeding stock. Rather see that than poaching! So, where am I missing the point?

I think it might be a good thing if it would reduce rhino poaching. I know you can dehorn them without killing them, and maybe not even tranquilizing them. The rhino horn is just hair fuzzed together, it is not even attached to the skull. A sharp blow will dislodge it - or so I have been told. I am not sure if it grows back.

We have given China the economic power to buy whatever they want. Combined that with the fact that they don't give a damn about the opinion of UN, EU, animal rights groups, CITES, or anyone else CITES can have all the meetings they want. China will do what China wants to do.

I agree that maybe it will reduce poaching.

If it is successful, best thing that could happen to the rhino...

Due to the price of horns, they'll breed the rhino till the increased supply makes the prices drop enough to make poaching unattractive.

And there will be a steady reservoir of rhinos for reintroduction in places where it's been poached to extinction.

quote:

Originally posted by Philip A.:
If it is successful, best thing that could happen to the rhino...

Due to the price of horns, they'll breed the rhino till the increased supply makes the prices drop enough to make poaching unattractive.

And there will be a steady reservoir of rhinos for reintroduction in places where it's been poached to extinction.

Absolutely right!

As an added bonus, it'll mean I don't get any more of those half arsed enquiries from China and all stations east asking for rhino hunts where they want to shoot umpteen on a single trip and can they take their trophies home in their hand baggage.......... it'll also mean I don't have to waste my time politely telling them to voetsak!

quote:

do rhino replace their horns after they are
removed? And second;

The horn continuously grows. Not sure about the rate. I will find out about the rate.

quote:

The discovery has alarmed British and European Union officials, who plan to ask the Chinese to explain if they are allowing rhino farming.

I can see it now..........

CITES Director: "Mr. Chan, are your countrymen importing Rhino's for the purpose of using their horn for the production of some ridiculous hearsay aphrodisiac? Surely you've heard of Viagra?"

Mr. Chan: "Ah, no! You be mistaken Mr. Director. We only have Rhino so school children have look at big animal from Africa....you like fry rice?"

CITES Director: "But Mr. Chan, the paper trail shows positive evidence that's exactly what your doing!"

Mr. Chan: "Oh no, I tell you, long time ago, when Great Wall was built, we make fried rice and noodle. You want some?"

I look forward to reading all the double talk that comes out of this tale.........LDK

Sounds like a good business. I wonder how they would do in MT"

I wonder what the Chinese would charge you to hunt one of those rhinos after they knock the horns off of 'em. If it's as cheap as some of the other stuff they sell us, maybe I'll jump in on one of those $1,000 rhino hunts. Would Walmart be your booking agent?

Wonder if it would count toward your "Big Five" with SCI.

As far as I'm aware, Rhino Horn grows back fast.
I might look at stocking my old mans poperty with this animal..

Hey, I have a better idea. If the keratin in the horn is the very same thing as found in fingernails and hair, just have the Chinese government offer to pay each Chinese a certain amount per pound for their fingernail and hair clippings, grind the damned stuff up and sell it. If every Chinese saved their fingernail and hair clippings we could save the rhino!

Good idea. If they can breed the stock and farm sufficient quantity of horn the poaching trade will eventually cease.

If anyone can make it work the Chinese can.

Since the Chinese started bear bile farms the poaching in Canada seems to have dropped off. Although the wild stuff is still more sought after than the farmed stuff. i think they should raise all the animals they can and quit poaching the worlds endangered species.

The thing is though that they truly believe in the power of some of these items. I've seen copies of letters sent to Canadian officials requesting bear gall bladders. They were a plea for help as they thought that they would die without this "medicine"

I'd rather they farm the sh##t than poach it.

the chef

quote:

Originally posted by Philip A.:
If it is successful, best thing that could happen to the rhino...

Due to the price of horns, they'll breed the rhino till the increased supply makes the prices drop enough to make poaching unattractive.

And there will be a steady reservoir of rhinos for reintroduction in places where it's been poached to extinction.

Very true!

One very sad problem with the re-stocking of Rhino is Trypanosomiasis (African Sleeping Sickness). The native large animals of Africa were always considered immune to it.

Now with the removal of Rhino from the Fly-Belt (Tsetse fly is the vector) and experimental re-introduction...we are finding out that naive animals are not immune.

There are few if any remaining Blackies from the Zam Valley left in southern Zim now (due to poaching). I think but am not sure that there may be some Blackies left in "the Strip" in Namibia that still possess natural immunity.

So...Black Rhino may never roam the fly-belt ever again. No matter if they are preserved in other areas.

Can they be 'salted' like they used to do with horses?

Another crippling blow to African Entrepreneurship. Next thing you know, it'll be Elephants.

As the American representative of the UAPA* I must protest, in the most vociferous terms, the export of African jobs to China.

Rich

*UAPA: United African Poachers Assn.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Can they be 'salted' like they used to do with horses?

Horses nor cattle ever survived very long in the fly-belt...no matter what was done.

quote:

Originally posted by Philip A.:
If it is successful, best thing that could happen to the rhino...

Due to the price of horns, they'll breed the rhino till the increased supply makes the prices drop enough to make poaching unattractive.

And there will be a steady reservoir of rhinos for reintroduction in places where it's been poached to extinction.

If done right, this could be a great thing. That said, when the eco-politics comes into play, it'll be interesting to see if it turns into a total goat-screw.

Lane,

I guess I'm wrong but I thought Bell, Fitzpatrick & others wrote about livestock staying salted pretty much for all their lives unless taken out of tsetse areas for long periods?

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Lane,

I guess I'm wrong but I thought Bell, Fitzpatrick & others wrote about livestock staying salted pretty much for all their lives unless taken out of tsetse areas for long periods?

Steve,
I am NOT a Trypanosomiasis expert by any means...although I am trying to get up to snuff for our Africa research.

I am unaware of any preventative measures that worked for very long...and I am not sure what you areferring to as "salting". Just feeding salt???

I reviewed notes a while ago. And my literature confirms my thoughts. I just emailed Raoul DuToit in Zim to ask.

Please describe what "salting" means and I will find out the answer.

I thought "salted" just meant that they had survived in the area of the sickness, not that anything particular had been done to them.

Sorry chaps. I didn't make myself clear.

Salting means when an animal has been exposed to the disease and then recovered. It then develops a natural resistance to the disease and can then survive in the fly belt for the rest of it's life.... although I get an idea they can lose the resistance if removed from the fly belt for a period of time.

I'm going from memory but am 99.9999% sure the early settlers/explorers/hunters etc such as Bell and Fitzpatrick etc set great store in their salted horses and cattle etc.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Sorry chaps. I didn't make myself clear.

Salting means when an animal has been exposed to the disease and then recovered. It then develops a natural resistance to the disease and can then survive in the fly belt for the rest of it's life.... although I get an idea they can lose the resistance if removed from the fly belt for a period of time.

I'm going from memory but am 99.9999% sure the early settlers/explorers/hunters etc such as Bell and Fitzpatrick etc set great store in their salted horses and cattle etc.

There is so much variation in how this disease manifests itself in domestic livestock no good conclusion could be drawn from those writings.

It is a well known fact that almost NO domestic livestock can tolerate (everything gets infected that stays long enough)trypanosomiasis for any great length of time. Exceptions are Pygmy Goats and N'dama Cattle.

As we write...that theory is being tested in Rhino reared in fly-free environment. They are allowing little bits of exposure to Tsetse flies over time gradually increasing exposure. The Jury is still out. However...I can tell you that there have been cases of Rhino dying from African Sleeping Sickness (Tryps).

Yes, the ol' ones paid high premium for "salted" mounts or oxes.

I guess that it's somewhat like for malaria, you develop a partial immunity to the parasite through exposure, but lose it if you stay in a malaria-free zone for long.

Although with trypanosomiasis, most patients wake up dead before to get used to it!

Lane,

I guess there must be a way for them to survive because they used to in the old days..... but I'm sure it ain't gonna be easy to find a way to do it again.

I'm just re-reading the Bell books and will let you know if I find any mention of salting etc.

quote:

I guess that it's somewhat like for malaria, you develop a partial immunity to the parasite through exposure,

Maybe...maybe not