South African judge rejects ban on rhino horn trade

There is a great danger that the South African government would buckle to pressure from the rhino owner lobby to push for the legalisation of the global horn trade at the Convention on worldwide Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to be held in South Africa in 2016, the organisation said. “Reopening the national rhino horn trade will make it even harder for already overstretched law enforcement agents to tackle record rhino poaching”.

Judge Francis Legodi said the government had failed to follow the correct procedure when it brought in the moratorium on domestic trade.

The Environment Ministry said that the Court’s order would be suspended as soon as the Government lodged its appeal.

The case underscores the determination of a powerful group of game farmers in South Africa to legalize the worldwide trade, arguing it is the only way to save the species. One of them, John Hume, has four metric tons (4,000 kilograms) of legally obtained rhino horn and his investment in rhinos and their horns is worth tens of millions of dollars, according to court documents. Trading in horn will not save rhinos – it could hasten their extinction.

The court heard that rhino horns sells for $65,000 (£43,000) per kg on the Asian black market where it is believed to have medicinal properties. In China, rhino horn bracelets and other items have become status symbols for wealthy people.

The court found that the state, which introduced the ban in an effort to stem illegal poaching of animals in the wild, had not carried out sufficient consultation before it imposed the restriction. “And slowly you get so far into it, you can’t get out”.

Last night WWF applauded the South African government’s decision to appeal the lifting of the domestic ban on trading rhino horn.

At the end of August, 749 rhinos had been poached, 544 of the protected animals inside the famous Kruger National Park. “It’s not whether we supply the trade but the way we supply the trade that is the problem”.

The department clarified that the judgment does not relate to the worldwide trade in rhino horn for commercial use, as this is still prohibited.

He said a better solution would be to reduce the demand for horn. “I would just hope that the world understands that if I don’t sell rhino, my whole rhino herd would be dead within the next ten years”.

However, legalising the market for rhino horn will not help solve the problem, and could very well accelerate poaching.

“Prior to 2009, the amount of poaching in South Africa was extremely low”.

More than 1,200 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa alone in 2014, and the deadly estimate for 2015 is predicted to exceed that number. Originally coveted for its perceived value in traditional medicine, claims in recent years that it can cure cancer have resulted in a huge escalation in demand and fuelled the current poaching epidemic, even though there is no evidence for its potency.