Rhinos today – then what?

Rhinos today – then what?

After spending nearly a month in the South African bush, I have become more and more intrigued with the rhino horn poaching issue. After extensive research on the matter, I have found that it is a real crisis and if things keep progressing at this rate, the rhino will go extinct within the next decade. Before coming to South Africa for my Youth 4 Africa Wildlife (Y4AW) internship, I had no idea that rhino poaching was in such a critical state, which I think is one of the biggest problems. A lot of South Africans do not know the severity of the situation, so of course, this uncertainty and ignorance to the subject matter extends to an international level as well. South Africa has, by far, the largest population of rhinos in the world, which only adds more pressure to national rhino conservation projects. It is estimated that at the current rate, rhino deaths will overtake the births between the years 2016 and 2018; thus leading to their extinction within approximately 10 years. So, what is so attractive about rhino horn and why has its popularity seemed to increase all of a sudden? What exactly is poaching, and how does it differ from hunting?

The highest demand for rhino horn comes from Asian countries, particularly Vietnam, and it is used in traditional Chinese medicine because people have been tricked into believing that rhino horn holds medicinal properties. It is also being used as an aphrodisiac and a “cure” for several diseases, including cancer. The truth is rhino horn is made of keratin, which is the same component our fingernails are made out of, and, I am sorry, but I personally have never heard of anyone using nail clippings to cure cancer. Of course, just as some people like to believe in prayer; if there is enough belief, there is bound to be a positive psychological response. Then again, praying is not causing anyone any harm, but poaching is causing the potential extinction of a magnificent species. Increased beliefs come with increased demand. More demand means more poaching, and more poaching means less rhinos. Less rhinos mean the price is going to rise because there is more demand and less supply. When supply is limited, people are more attracted to it because it becomes harder to find. This brings us to the other thing rhino horn is used for – as a status of wealth and success.

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Since rhino horn is becoming more and more scarce, the price is rising and so is the demand. We have to remember that Southern Africa has high levels of poverty, so if a criminal gang, or syndicate, comes and offers someone with a low-income a large sum of money to go and hack off a rhino’s horn, it seems like a very attractive offer. I come from Caracas, Venezuela, which is one of the top kidnap capitals of the world. In a country where ¾ of the population lives in poverty, kidnapping is a very attractive option because it offers a big profit relatively fast. There are risks involved, just as there are in poaching, but the consequences seem worth it because the government is lenient. I found the kidnapping situation back home is relatable to the poaching issue here, because I understand why people would consider getting involved in this illegal activity. Let us assume you are a man with little or no income and you have a family to support. Along comes a gang leader and offers you a large sum of money to go into a national park or private game reserve one night and hack of a rhino’s horn. This means immediate profit for you. It seems very hard to say no, right? The difference between my situation back home and the situation here, is that back home the kidnappers are unlikely to run out of humans to kidnap, but here in South Africa, rhinos are going to run out very soon if poaching keeps going at current rates. Once the rhinos are gone, then what?

Trade in rhino horn has been illegal for years. The only way to legally move rhino horn across borders is as trophies from professional hunts. This is the main difference between poaching and hunting; the legal aspect. A trade ban has been in place for many years, but there are no sufficient levels of enforcement or enough political will. There is a lot of debate revolving the issue of whether legalizing the trade would actually help the rhinos. Legalizing trade of rhino horn would mean that people would no longer have to look to the black market for rhino horns, and the price would no longer be up to the corrupt black market seller. The Private Rhino Owners Association (PROA) has recently argued that it needs to sell the horn to generate funds for conservation efforts. “Just about 1000 rhinos were killed on private land since 2008 – that’s R400m worth of rhino lost, plus R300m spent on security to protect them.” This may sound like a valid argument, but let us put it into perspective. Let us use pirated movies as an example. Selling movies is totally legal, but pirated movies still exist. Pirated movies are cheaper than original movies, and yet still provide a profit for the black market dealer. The same thing would happen with legalized rhino horn trade. There would be a market value for rhino horn, but black market sellers would still go in, hack off rhino horns and sell them on the “down low” for a cheaper price and gain profit. Legalization of trade is not the solution. Stricter punishment is needed to bring the fear factor into the current illegal poaching situation.

I feel as if society does not take this issue seriously because they think it does not directly affect them. “Oh, rhinos are going extinct, that’s terrible, but that has nothing to do with me.” This could not be farther from the truth. Rhinos are considered an umbrella species, meaning that if we protect the rhinos, we also protect many other species interacting with the rhinos, such as birds, reptiles, insects, and plants. Birds and insects help with the dispersion of seeds and pollination of plants. We as humans largely rely on plant products and by-products. So, in this sense, extinction of the rhino would directly affect us. Also, rhinos attract a lot of tourists. Tourism contributes greatly to South Africa’s economy. If we start killing off The Big 5, less and less people are going to want to visit because South Africa will slowly become less and less attractive. This translates into less profit for the nation, less jobs and increased poverty; again, directly affecting everyone. Protecting the rhinos, and all species in general, should be considered a priority in this and other countries. Rhino poaching is not only killing off one of The Big 5, it is also contributing to corruption; and corruption certainly affects EVERYONE.

The situation is truly critical, seeing that there are only around 5,000 black rhinos and a little over 20,000 white rhinos left on this extraordinary continent. A reported 1,215 rhinos were poached last year in South Africa, which is a 21% increase in poaching from the previous year. This figure is staggering! If the rate keeps going like that, it would be surprising if they even make it another 10 years. Rhino horns CAN be removed without killing the rhino, but of course, traditional Chinese medicine wants the base of the horn which is attached to the animal’s face and that is why they practically have to hack off the entire animal’s face in order to get their desired product, which again, has absolutely no proven medicinal properties. It is sad to think that we are killing off this marvelous species for no apparent reason. If rhino horn were truly curing cancer, it would be a totally different argument because then at least there would be validity to the issue.

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Once we have polished off all the rhinos, then what? Elephants’ ivory? Lions’ teeth? Are we really going to kill off The Big Five and completely ruin South Africa’s biggest source of tourism? One cannot expect things to change without actively causing the change. We cannot expect to get different results if we keep doing the same things we are currently doing. Hopefully, the rhinos will not have to go extinct in order for people to realize that what we are doing is not working. I understand that we are the dominant species and I also understand that some species ultimately have to suffer in order for another species to prosper, but what we are doing is not prospering – it is taking advantage of another species for our own wealth; a wealth that is only contributing to corruption and deaths – deaths of all animals including us.

– Ana (Anilu) Nagel

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