DO WE LEGALISE THE TRADE IN RHINO HORN?

 

 

The poaching of rhinos is escalating exponentially and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is currently being asked to legalise the trade in Rhino horn.  Proponents for the lifting of the ban argue that rhino numbers have increased due to rhino farming and that legalizing the trade will stop the poaching. But will this be the case?

             Retired Lawyer Chris Mercer of the Campaign Against Canned Hunting points out that any scheme to legalise the trade in rhino horns rests upon the assumption that governments can be un-corrupt, efficient (doing things right) and effective (doing the right thing). He cannot imagine a shakier foundation for a legal trade in rhino horn. To remain in power some African governments buy patronage, he says, and corruption is therefore endemic.

This statement seems to be borne out by a recent international comparative study of conservation and environmental issues by Yale University and the UNEP which placed South Africa 124^th out of 132 countries, thus reflecting badly upon South Africa's ability to conserve its natural resources.  Coupled with the fact that China, the main user of rhino horn for 'medicinal purposes' is increasingly getting a foot hold in Africa, he paints a bleak future indeed. 

Rhino breeders like John Hume feel that the answer is legalization of the trade and the continued breeding of rhinos in captivity in what Mercer described as factory farm conditions. Using a purely economical argument which disregards the fact that rhinos are sentient beings, Hume's ume'sHvision is that we "breed enough rhinos to supply the market with horns that come from live, breeding herds of rhinos and fill our game reserves and wilderness areas with horned ones."  This will not only serve the ongoing demand for medicinal purposes but also cater for hunters. He openly boasts: "The horns which I've removed are stored in banks and have increased in value like no other asset owned by myself."

             But this vision is debunked by Michele Pickover, author of Animal Rights in South Africa, who published a well researched document on the issue.  She points out that when considering the legalization of the trade in Rhino horn it is important to look to the results of lifting the ban on elephant tusks following similar arguments, that elephant numbers had increased sufficiently and legalizing the trade would stop poaching.  In fact, the opposite occurred and what we learned from the elephant ivory trade is as follows:

            Cites is an international agreement signed by 175 governments, including one of the world's major markets for illegal wildlife products - China.  After several years of polarised discussion and debate, CITES in 2008 granted China approved buyer status in the controversial sale of stockpiled ivory from Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. 

The argument was that a legalized, controlled trade in specimens of naturally deceased, managed and culled elephants could be used to flood the market and thereby lower demand, so reducing illegal trade and easing pressure on wild populations of endangered species.  Two years after this stockpile sale took place, environmental investigations revealed that, far from flooding the market with legal ivory to reduce demand, the sale of the stockpiles simply fuelled the demand for illegal ivory, spurring a massive increase in the poaching of elephants. Up to 90 per cent of ivory on sale came from illegal sources and prices had increased. The illegal ivory simply got laundered onto the market under cover of the 'legal' ivory.

Turning to rhinos, the species that has already teetered on the brink of extinction once in the past 30 years is once again facing a total onslaught. The current crisis has an added dimension not seen before – the involvement of organized criminal syndicates in countries which are neither range states nor major consumer markets.  This suggests the demand for rhino horn is currently at an all-time high.  What the ivory issue has taught us is that a legalized trade can never be properly monitored or regulated because the principal markets for rhino horn, including China, have failed spectacularly to fulfill commitments and has been abysmal at implementing an ivory regulation and control system.  If China cannot implement a control system designed specifically to address the problem (while at the same time satisfying demand) how on earth can it even be considered a suitable candidate for introducing a similar system for rhinos?

The organization TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce), formerly in favour of legalizing the trade in horns, have now done an about turn and concurs with Pickover's views.

There is a battle ahead – the illegal trade in wildlife and their by-products is an industry worth billions, being second only to the illegal trade in drugs.

 

 

Beatrice  Wiltshire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GARETH PATTERSON - WILD LIFE WARRIOR

 

 

                             

The cruel bow hunting of animals has always been abhorrent to most and a recent  undercover video of a lion, bow hunted in 'canned' fashion and showing on You Tube has once again caused an international outcry. So it was timeous that Gareth Patterson, Warrior for the Wild, award winning author, environmentalist and independent wildlife researcher, should visit the Helderberg as guest of the U3A in the Strand Town Hall on Wednesday 8^th May.

      His talk entitled Inspiration from the Wilds – a life with the lions and elephants of Africa was a condensed version of his latest autobiographical book which describes his work with both lions and elephants.  In the latter case Gareth went on to prove that the Knysna elephants, considered functionally extinct, still existed. 

The field work for this independent study lasted seven years, and necessitated that he cover thousands of kilometres on foot, following ancient elephant paths through the dense Knysna  forest and surrounding mountain fynbos. He wrote up his journey in his 2009 book The Secret Elephants.

      However, it is his 1998 book Dying to be Free which describes in detail the Canned Lion scandal which rocked the world through the 1997 British investigative television documentary The Cook Report.

      Gareth, known as "Ra de Tau," father of lions as he came to be called in Botswana, was born in Britain but taken over to Africa by his parents when he was just a small baby. He developed a deep love for Africa and considers this his home.

The late George Adamson of 'Born Free' fame had a big influence on him since his ninth birthday when his mother gave him a game reserve which she had made out of paper-maché . It had mountains and water holes and plastic animals and a little zebra striped land rover. e never imagined She also gave him George Adamson's first autobiography called "Bwana Game." Obviously as a child he never imagined that one day he would work for Adamson and then, after Adamson's murder by ivory poachers, would rescue his last lion orphans and eventually rehabilitate them back into the wild.

Living in the Botswana Tuli bushlands as a member of the pride of lions consisting of the  orphan cubs – the male Batian and his two sisters Furaha and Rafiki  was an intensely spiritual experience: "In that period I learned fellowship. I was totally immersed into their world and though I had studied them before that experience it really allowed me to enter the world of lions. I was seeing the world through their eyes. I was spending far more time in the world of lions than I was in the world of human beings.  It was a very privileged time," says Gareth.

But with that privilege came a lot of pain. There were several deaths.  He lost his Lion son Batian to trophy hunters and then Furaha and two of their cubs were shot. But Rafiki lived on to produce several litters and her descendants are still out there today.

Meanwhile, early in 1991 Gareth learned that for the past two years hunters in the Eastern Cape had used bows and arrows to kill lions- with the Department of Nature Conservation's approval, it seemed. Some time later an undercover videotape came to hand which showed the sickening scene of a 'canned' trophy hunt at the Marlothi game farm situated close to the Kruger National Park's southern boundary.

 A lioness, in the prime of her life and with three suckling cubs still dependent on her, was removed from an enclosure. Refusing to leave her cubs, she was 'hunted' on the other side of the electric fence, by a German client accompanied by a professional hunter. True to form the grinning client posed hunter style for a photograph with his trophy.  In the skinning shed, the milk was shown pouring from her teats.

 His rehabilitation into the wild of the Adamson cubs complete, Gareth set about gathering information about the 'canned' hunting industry. This necessitated visiting several lion breeding facilities and experiencing first-hand the lies, the cruelty perpetrated by this industry which also allowed canned hunts to be staged for clients who were either elderly, unfit or both and therefore required 'easy' hunts.

Having gathered the necessary proof, it was time to approach the investigative Cook report team in Britain who decided to send an undercover hunting team to South Africa. The wealthy but unwell 'client' was in fact to be Roger Cook himself, the programme's veteran investigative journalist. And so Roger Cook and his team entered the sordid and secret world of the canned lion industry right up to the point where the client was supposed to pull the trigger and shoot a drugged lion. At that point Cook revealed himself. 

The resultant film sent shock waves through the world including South Africa.  But the secret industry is clearly still thriving as shown by the recent video on You Tube.

Patterson's investigations showed the link between game farms, breeding facilities, zoos and circuses whence the lions for trophies are sourced. And also the lion baiting, where wild lions are lured from conservancies such as the Kruger National Park. The industry includes the petting of 'orphan' cubs at game farms by the general public who never stop to question what happened to the cubs' mothers or what happens to the cubs once they reach adulthood.

His investigations show how all hunting in South Africa is canned. and cannot be compared to hunting in the vast stretches of wild Africa one reads about in the history books.  "Game Farmsare small areas which have been stocked with wild animals bought at game auctions,"  he says.

A recent Supreme Court of Appeal ruling held that lion farming was Mero Motu i.e.  "a closed circuit" and that since no captive bred lions have ever been released back to the wild,  lion farming had nothing to do with conservation.

Gareth feels that what is needed is a shift away from the 'sustainable use' notion that drives the hunting industry today, the mindset of 'if it pays it stays' which condemns wild animals to be viewed in economical terms rather than having an intrinsic value.

If the demand dries up perhaps game famers might become motivated to form conservancies with their neighbours for eco-tourism by dropping boundary fences to create wild areas where the natural full spectrum of species, including the predators, can once again exist.  This is the world he would like to see.

Meanwhile, this strong but sensitive man who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder consequent to the horrors he experienced, but having spent seven restorative years in the Knysna forest on the trail of the Secret Elephants, is ready to take on the lion issue again, spurred on by his motto: "Never Give Up."   

 

Beatrice Wiltshire