Stop South Africa From Legalizing Rhino Horn Trade
By Jessica NowickiTarget: South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs
Goal: To Stop South Africa from legalizing the trading of rhino horns
South Africa is home to 93% of the world population of rhinos, animals who are threatened by extinction. A more pressing threat to these rhinos is the poachers who target them for their horns, which they sell for up to $500,000 a piece on the Asian illegal market. Now, South African government is throwing around the idea of legalizing rhino horn trade.
The rhino death count from poaching this year alone is currently at 309, quite a leap from 2007’s death count of 13. Organized poaching syndicates have become more widespread as the demand for rhino horns has increased. People of China, Thailand and especially Vietnam have been fed the medically disproven myth that rhino horns are a cure for cancer. The Asian demand for these horns is unmatchable and high paying, so poachers constantly have work to do and an opportunity to make money.
International trade in rhino horns was banned in 1977 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) after a wave of poaching threatened to destroy rhino populations. South Africa, which still allows trophy hunting under a permit system, also imposed a moratorium on the domestic sale of rhino products and horns in 2009 following a dramatic upsurge in rhino poaching in over the past four years.
A controversial method of horn poisoning has recently been used to curb the demand for the horns. The poison does not harm the rhino, and is not lethal to humans but can cause extreme discomfort. In response to the idea of poisoning horns, the South African government came up with a plan to legalize the trade. Supporters such as Wildlife Ranching South Africa {WRSA) claim that legal trade would be tightly monitored and a way to raise funds for rhino conservation.
Opponents such as WWF International recognize that legal trade would increase demand for rhino horn products and make poaching even more profitable by creating avenues to launder illegal rhino horn.
Please help end this grievous practice rather than allowing the South African government to encourage it. To stop the whirlwind and ask the government of South Africa to reconsider their plan to legalize rhino horn trade please sign the petition below.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs,
I was appalled to learn that South Africa’s current plan to help save the endangered species of rhinos is to legalize the trading of their horns.
In 2007 poachers killed 13 rhinos. This year 309 rhinos have already been killed, due to a jump in organized poaching syndicates. The horns are being sold on the Asian illegal market because people in Thailand, China and especially Vietnam believe the medically disproven idea that rhino horns are a cure for cancer. Legalizing the trade would only increase demand for the horn products, making poaching even more profitable by creating avenues to launder illegal rhino horn.
Please help end this grievous practice rather than encouraging it.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
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22 Comments
Hi ,this is a horrible situation in our Country,I would be terified if it should be legalized,NO!!!vote from me!!I’d like (o know if its possible to put a tracer in the horn of each living Rhino and elephant?please notify me
By killing our animals and in this case the rhino, seeing as WE ARE ALL ONE……….we are watching ourselves slowly kill ourselves. Stop killing our animals!!!!!!!!!!!!! The wrath of God will be upon everybody if we don’t stop the grevious act!
By legalizing the rhino horn trade, you are signing on the extinction of wild rhinos. This is insanity. There will never be enough horns in the world to feed the greed. You will be undoing the decades long efforts of conservancy to tell the users that the horn has no medicinal value. You are bowing to the greedy rich who have nothing but their own selfish agenda in mind. And YOU KNOW whom I’m speaking of. SHAME ON YOU. May you choke on your nasty and murderous greed.
We already kill so much animals. Give it a break already!! I am fix’n go insane .
Eu gostaria muito mesmo que tivesse uma lei muito rígida de punição contra esses mal tratos. Mas infelizmente são pouquíssimas pessoas boas que vivem neste mundo. São várias as crueldades que vimos pela internet e nada acontece (ex. desse rinoceronte). Outro dia um motoqueiro arrastou uma cadela machucando-a as quatro patinhas, e a punição do monstro motoqueiro vai a julgamento tendo ele que pagar de R$100 a R$1000,00 (mais ou menos isso). E triste viu!
Humans are destroying everything with no pity.
God Almighty, the worlds being run by the devil it must be! animals need some divine intervention and us to keep fighting for them. i am sick to death of the slaughtering,butchering,skinning,and the evil rest of what the sick greedy bastards do to the animals on this earth !come on GOD please !!!
Human’s like to think of themselves as civilised and intellignent. The practise of brutal barbari acts of cruelty place this in question! Civilisation is a slow process of learning to be kind. Human’s require education to erradicate this ignorance that will see future generation’s miss the opportunity to see these wonderful creatures living. The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance – Socrates.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE???? SOUTH AFRICA SET THE RIGHT EXAMPLE… SHAME ON YOU!!!
Metan a la cárcel a éstos asesinos !!
Legalizing horn LOWERS demand, it doesn’t increase it! Rhino horn grows back like sheep’s wool. There so much horn stockpiled across Africa–if it was made legal that horn would flood the market, driving down the prices and demand. Farmers could harvest the horn without harming the animal. A hornless rhino is better than a dead rhino.
We will NEVER change the Asian market–these people have used rhino horn for thousands of years. Part of the current appeal of rhino horn is that it is SO EXPENSIVE and the “Ferrari factor” is driving the trade–the newly rich want to show off how rich they are. But why is this horn so expensive? Because it’s rare and hard to get. Make it easy to get and you will see the rhino numbers bounce back.
Currently, rhinos have disappeared across Africa, and they are currently disappearing from South African parks–their last safehold. Farmers can’t afford to keep them bc they need constant security. If they could sell the horn, they could afford to keep the animal. If farmers were selling the horn like sheep wool or chicken eggs, then our rhinos would stop disappearing from the parks and their numbers would bounce back.
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