The Demand for Rhino Horn Needs to be Satiated

The Demand for Rhino Horn Needs to be Satiated

Gold. Diamonds. Rhino horn. What do these three things have in common? They are all extremely sought after luxury goods. Rhino horn is currently one of the most expensive luxury goods in the world, selling for about $60,000 per kilogram. Each rhino horn itself is approximately 1kg-3kg, so an entire horn can sell for upwards of $150,000. Poaching rhinos and selling their horns is illegal, so the attainment and trade of them is done through highly organized criminal networks. The entire operation involves a chain of criminals including those who do the poaching of the rhino all the way to the merchant in the black market who sells the item to the consumer.

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Unfortunately, the networks that are used for rhino poaching are very well hidden. Local people in Mozambique get information on the whereabouts of rhinos, often without knowing who sends them the information. They then cross the border into Kruger National Park to hunt the rhinos; a majority of the time the rhinos have their horns cut out of their faces while they’re still alive, and then are left for dead. After cutting out the horn, the poachers cross back into Mozambique to give their loot to the kingpin, who again is oftentimes unknown to them. The horn may trade hands a few times until it ultimately leaves the country. More often than not, the horns are sent on a plane departing from Mozambique headed to East Asia to be refined and sold.

A black market is tucked away in the corners of Ho Chi Minh City. The atmosphere of the market is sharpened with eagle cries, and screeching baby gibbons who were taken from their poached mothers; in every corner there seems to be pacing leopard cubs, hanging dried bear gallbladders, carved ivory, and rhino horn in many shapes and forms. The biggest market for rhino horn is in Vietnam and China. It is sold in black markets that specialize in illegal wildlife trade—or from seemingly harmless tailor shops, jewelry stores, or pharmacies. Thanks to the countries’ burgeoning middle class and newfound wealth, the desire for rhino horn is exploding. Although the rhino horn has been scientifically proven to have no medicinal benefits, consumers purchase the horn for traditional medicinal reasons, to ‘cure’ a variety of ailments ranging from cancer to psoriasis. Others buy them as status symbols, to flaunt how much disposable income they have. Lastly some people suppress hangovers with the rhino horn, substituting it for a common painkiller.

The structure of the supply-chain is what makes stopping the trade so challenging. The poachers on the ground, and the vendors of the black market can be most easily located and arrested. However, these criminals have the least control within the entire operation. Oftentimes, they do not even know the name of the man who works directly below or above them. Additionally, the kingpin is frequently well connected to the local police and government officials, making it extremely challenging to actually see the arrests follow through into convictions. This is the reason it is essential to curb the demand for rhino horn by reducing the unwarranted desire.

If the demand for rhino horn continues at this rate, all of the rhinos will be poached in the near future. However, if we hope to save the rhinos before they are completely extinct, the focus has to also be on the consumer countries. There are already quite a few anti-poaching brigades in place to protect the rhinos in Africa; however if there is still demand for horn, poachers will get around these obstacles. Government officials need to see the harsh reality that these creatures face when they are dehorned. While these images are extremely disturbing—they do make changes. We have seen this in the past with images of children in war torn countries, with abused and mistreated captive animals, and now with poached rhinos. The traditional medicinal values will likely lessen in importance as the current generation ages, however the status symbol and the drug uses of the rhino horn will likely persist. As long as they are seen as luxury items, they will be desired.

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My generation, the youth, needs to spread awareness to the consumer countries that rhino horn is just a giant fingernail, made entirely of keratin. To a rhino, its horn is priceless; it shouldn’t be a status symbol for humans. The huge demand for these horns overestimates their actual worth, falsely making them appear to be a luxury good. These poor gentle animals are driven to extinction for having giant fingernails on their nose. What is the value of greed? Is the value of greed necessary to have the rhino deaths start outnumbering the births as early as 2016? Consumers need to become enlightened that their self-image is fueling a massive extinction of one of the gentle giants of the world.

Written by Intern Erica Taylor

One thought on “The Demand for Rhino Horn Needs to be Satiated

  1. It is so important to educate the youth, they are gentle & innocent. By going to the schools you can get to a huge number of people, kids care. Please just spread the word and educate as many as possible x

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