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Their Future Is Dark. The Rhino Horn Trade in 2019
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rhino horn
Selling rhino horn: It’s time to ask hard questions about the Department of Environmental Affairs
South Africa is playing a dangerous double game with rhinos and it’s time to ask why. The department doesn’t appear to have a clue how to save them from extinction. Last week the...
Has rhino poaching decreased, or are we running out of rhinos?
A strategic report on poaching just released by the Department of Environmental Affairs shows that fewer rhinos but more elephants are being killed. Of concern,...
Australians crush ivory possessions to protest slaughter of elephants
"The only value ivory has is on a living elephant," said Karen Pomeranz as she handed in six 20-year-old napkin rings to be crushed. "I was never comfortable owning ivory items....
Rhinos and elephants: Australia does what South Africa won’t
Australian MP Jason Wood, who introduced the motion last month, says an Australian domestic trade ban “is about stopping illegal poaching and illegal trading in elephant ivory...
Diplomats and Deceit – North Korea’s Criminal Activities in Africa
A new report by The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime lifts the lid on state-sanctioned North Korean criminal activity in Africa, exposing...
Rhino horns under virtual hammer: Comment on the proposed online rhino horn auction
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is watching with trepidation the brazen online rhino horn auction (www.rhinohornauction.com) that was supposed to open today on Monday, 21...
Department of Environmental Affairs clarifies that rhino horn may not be traded internationally
The Department of Environmental Affairs has noted with concern misrepresentation of facts on aspects associated with rhino horn trade. The department would thus clarify that the...
We can sell rhino horn, says Minister Molewa
File picture Parliament - According to the Department of Environmental Affairs, the time has come to sell rhino horn. Speaking in a Parliamentary portfolio committee on Tuesday,...
A look at Nambia’s rhino horn syndicates
It is not hard to spot the successful rhino poachers in Okahao: at a time when everyone else in Namibia was suffering the effects of a crippling, four-year-long drought, they...
Horns of a Dilemma: Mozambique poaching enriching North Korea’s leadership
The fatal breach in South Africa’s defence against rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park is Mozambique – and corrupt diplomats are continually widening it. According to a...
Event: Report launch on the illicit rhino horn trade – The Global Initiative – Jessica Gerken
The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, the WWF and the Geneva Environment Platform organised the Geneva launch of “Beyond borders: Crime, conservation and...
Will SA legalise rhino horn trade?
This week, investigative journalist and author Julian Rademeyer revealed that the decision to submit a rhino horn trade proposal to the Convention on International Trade in...
Markets of Death, Part Three: How China’s taste for wildlife feeds a killing frenzy
Africa’s extraordinary and charismatic wildlife is clearly under siege from the wrecking ball of Chinese demand. Heading the list of critically damaged species are elephants. As...
Justice system in the crosshairs as alleged rhino poaching kingpin goes to court
While poaching in KwaZulu-Natal is in fast forward, the prosecutorial system in some areas appears to have gone into reverse. Many of the worrying poaching cases are linked to a...
Markets of Death, Part Two: Blood Permits – how cheating officials undermine wildlife regulations
Poachers aren’t the only problem when it comes to wildlife trafficking. Also complicit are the very institutions and rules designed to protect animals, and the people that are...
Markets of Death, Part One: The Asian end of a grisly business
China’s desire for exotic animals, tastes and products will probably push wild elephants, rhinos, pangolins and many other species to extinction within the next 10 to 15 years....
Rhino Poaching in South Africa Declining, But Still Too Soon to Celebrate
South Africa has announced its first decrease in rhino poaching since 2007: “We are pleased to announce that for the first time in a decade the poaching situation in South Africa...
SA Chinese leaders against illegal wildlife trade
Chinese business leaders from the region and experts on China-Africa relations pledged their full support on Monday for intensified efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade....
Rhino horn trade central to draft government policy
A legal trade in rhino horns lies at the heart of a proposed new government policy for the conservation of white rhinos in South Africa, despite the fact that an official...
Experts: Trading rhino horn will only increase poaching risks
A group of international experts comprised of over 30 conservationists, academics, journalists, authors and lawyers from Africa, Europe, Asia and America has warned the Committee...
How poachers kill jobs
International tourism to Africa reached record levels in 2013, with 56 million tourists bringing in $34.2-billion (about R410-billion). Significantly, 80% of them came to see the...
International Statement sent to the Committee of Inquiry into a Possible Trade in Rhino Horn
To: Ms. M.E. Nana Magomola, Chairperson, Committee of Inquiry Cc: Minister Edna Molewa, Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) All rhinoceros species are threatened by...
Submission by Alejandro Nadal to Committee of Inquiry into a Possible Trade in Rhino Horn
INTRODUCTION Greetings to the Chair of the Committee of Inquiry and to all the members of the COI. I am Dr. Alejandro Nadal, Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies, El...
CRISIS MANAGEMENT: WORLD EXPERTS GATHER IN CAPE TOWN TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO RHINO POACHING
Cape Town – At a conference here at the end of May, experts from around the world gathered to discuss responses and solutions to the poaching crisis facing South Africa’s...
Let’s get real about the trade in rhino horn
A couple of weeks ago a report came out announcing that in 2014 the demand for rhino horn in Vietnam had dropped significantly when compared to 2013 - by 38% to be exact. The...
Are rhinos abandoned by all but South Africa?
It looks like South Africa is going to break another record: 2014 is set to exceed 2013’s 1,004 rhino poached. But sadly, it’s not as though the nation is sitting back and doing...
Officials on the horns of a dilemma
The conservation of wild animals is a wrangle that has divided opinion into two diametrically opposed camps, writes Adam Cruise. As today is World Nature Conservation Day, it is...
Are rhinos now a liability to South Africa?
I have recently read the May/June South African Journal of Science report on a Kruger National Park workshop aimed at finding a management solution to counter the escalation of...
Follow the ivory to get to the root cause of the poaching scourge in Africa
In his rebuttal of my previous story on ivory poaching and some of the hotly debated statistics currently in use by the scientific and academic community when it comes to...
Rhinos: It’s time for Plan B
In public debates about how to save our rhino, those who advocate ending the ban on trading their horns fail to acknowledge (if you'll excuse the metaphor) the elephant in the...