Poachers play dirty to get what they want

July 19 2009 at 11:23AM



By Eleanor Momberg

The South African trophy hunting industry is being used to bypass the moratorium on the trade in individual rhino horns.

The government last year introduced the moratorium to allow enforcement and conservation agencies to align their protocols for dealing with the rhino horn trade after it came to light that hunters were applying for permits to shoot rhino but that the hunts never took place.

Instead, the permits were used to export poached rhino horns through legal channels.


A year after the implementation of the moratorium, the Professional Hunter's Association of South Africa (Phasa) advised its members last week not to "book and conduct hunts with nationals from Vietnam or other Far Eastern countries" until the government had "removed this abuse of the SA legal system".

Peter Butland of Phasa said evidence from enforcement and trade monitoring agencies showed a direct link between the export of rhino horn from recent legal rhino hunting by Vietnamese, rhino poaching on private and state land, cross-border smuggling, the theft of rhino horn from stockpiles and museums and Far Eastern syndicates.

The hunting and conservation fraternity's concerns about the link between trophy hunting and the escalating rhino horn trade came as SANParks said it would not suspend the sale of excess rhino stocks as long as national legislation and policies permitted. Between 200 and 350 white rhino are up for auction this year.

"SANParks will continue to sell and distribute these animals in accordance with our management strategies," said David Mabunda, SANParks chief executive.

His statement followed the suspension last week of the sale of 200 rhino to John Hume, a game farmer, purchased under last year's quota. That suspension was implemented because 10 of the 72 rhino translocated to North West province as part of the purchase had died - the cause of which was still to be determined.


Denying the rhino he had purchased would be hunted, Hume had said that he removed the horns of all rhino on his properties and stored them in the hope that the international trade in rhino horn would be legalised some time in the near future.

The removal of the rhino horn, he said, deterred poachers, but did not stop hunters from China and Vietnam coming to South Africa to legally participate in a trophy hunt in order to secure a rhino horn for sale once they returned home.

Hunting bodies and the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) expressed concern about the practice as it created a link between the legitimate trophy hunting industry and demand for rhino horn.

Butland said: "We do not want to be part of anything that is illegal, that is linked to crime syndicates or to organised crime in the Far East. It is of extreme concern to us."

Jan van Niekerk, the SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association chief executive, said it supported the sale of rhino to approved institutions that contributed to improving conservation.

But, he admitted, there were unscrupulous people who abused the system, including foreign hunters partaking in legal trophy hunts just so they can access the rhino horn.

Yolan Friedman, chief executive officer of EWT, said the trust was very nervous about the sale of rhino from conservation areas to hunting operations given that a link was being created between trophy hunting and rhino horn hunting, which was feeding the market at a time when rhino poaching had reached a 15-year high.

It remained unknown what was causing the present spike in demand for rhino horn, traditionally used as an aphrodisiac in the Far East, and as dagger handles.

"This is creating a lot of problems around bona fide trophy hunting. We question the systems that are in place to check whether the industry is being used to feed the rhino horn market, which is insatiable.

"It is a question of what they do with the horn once it gets to the other side."

Because people wanting rhino horn in the East were able to access them through the trophy hunting industry, it was driving up the prices.

Hunters' associations confirmed that two rhino were hunted in South Africa by trophy hunters from Vietnam last year at R1 million each.

While EWT, like the World Wide Fund for Nature and SANParks, was not opposed to trophy hunting as it contributed to conservation through wildlife management, the new trend was leaning towards hunting becoming a financial tool only.

SANParks denied this, saying the sale of rhino was scientifically determined.

The South African rhino population was healthy.

There were between 9 000 and 12 000 rhino in the Kruger National Park and more than 4 000 in private hands.

Mabunda said SANParks did not have anything against hunting or hunters as long as they did not hunt in national parks.

Morné du Plessis, chief executive officer of WWF South Africa, said rhino conservation was not cheap, particularly with the constant threat of poaching.

"Thus, it is not unrealistic for a management agency to dispose of animals at a market-related price in order to generate funding to reinvest in the conservation management (including security measures) to ensure the safety of primary founder populations."


This article was originally published on page 2 of Sunday Independent on July 19, 2009