Farming Endangered Species To Extinction - Part 2

Warnings about, a) The dangers of the Ivory Trade and export of hundreds of elephants to China. b) Rhino Farming in South Africa and live rhino export of hundreds of rhinos to Asia.

The decision, at CoP17, not to place elephants on App1 to give elephants full protection was a devastating blow to countries where poaching is a serious threat because of corruption, trafficking and the huge demand for ivory. The door has been left open for further export of African elephants to Asia and domestic trade in ivory. The door was also left open for rhino farming and for plans to continue for trade in rhino horn to be legalised. The dangers of permitting 'regulated' or domestic trade of ivory and rhino horn are explored here.

The sale of stockpiles of ivory stimulated unsustainable demand

One off sales of ivory stockpiles were permitted in 2002 and 2008 - after the ban on trade in ivory had drastically reduced demand and elephant poaching had been falling for a decade. Elephant populations in hard-hit areas were beginning to recover when the one-off sales were permitted by CITES. As a result of those sales of ivory from stockpiles - to Japan and China - demand was re- stimulated and since demand has increased around 30,000 elephants are now poached, annually, across Africa. The tusks of around 30,000 elephants that were added to legal stocks and trophies - to meet demand - shows that the ever growing level demand is already unsustainable. Demand needs to end, urgently, to stop the elephant poaching crisis. An elephant census just published shows that African savannah elephant numbers have now fallen to around 352,000.http://elephantswithoutborders.org/w…/great-elephant-census/

Fortunately, on the 2nd June 2016 the US banned the sale of all ivory apart from a few very limited exceptions. https://www.theguardian.com/…/us-adopts-near-total-ban-on-c…

China has also said that all domestic trade in ivory will be phased out. Most of the ivory being sold in China now has been illegally sourced and, as a consequence, CITES should have called for the ban an all tarde some time ago. http://africageographic.com/…/elephants-rejoice-china-end-…/

It came as a shock to most, therefore, when the US and EU went against their resolve to vote to upgrade African elephants to App.1 of CITES listings which would have given them full protection.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/…/elephants-ivory-trade…/

It appears that this decision was reached in order to avoid a reservation being placed by Namibia - if trade in ivory was banned.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37541378

This exposes yet another huge flaw in the CITES system of regulating trade in endangered species. The permit system is also open to abuse, enabling traffickers to launder poached wildlife products into legal stocks.http://www.independent.co.uk/…/the-eu-s-ruling-has-sentence…

Farming rhinos to harvest their horns for trade will not save wild rhinos.

Until the late 1990’s wildlife ranchers in South Africa bought rhinos, at auctions from National Parks, in some cases for eco ranching or, as in most cases, for the purpose of trophy hunting. The trophy permit system was used to make purchasing rhinos, to breed outside National Parks, worthwhile – thus extending their range, creating buffer zones and ensuring that large areas of wild habitat are protected from other land use or development. Only a limited number of trophy hunting permits were allocated annually.

Farming rhinos in much larger numbers than required for trophy hunting began in South Africa in the mid 1990’s, to 'harvest' their horns for domestic trade. The question that needs to be asked is – where are all the rhino horns that were sold domestically? Rhino horns sold domestically should still be in South Africa since there is a ban on international trade of rhino horn. It would be in breach of the CITES ban on international trade if the rhino horn sold domestically has left South Africa.

Once the CITES ban on international trade in rhino horn had been enforced, in the early 1990's, markets were closed, demand fell away and poaching had become negligible. There was no need or logic in the plan to start farming hundreds of rhinos to harvest their horns for trade - while a ban on international trade in rhino horn was in place to close markets and help end the senseless demand.https://www.savetherhino.org/…/tackling_the_demand_for_rhin…

The trophy hunting permit system had worked - until it was abused by unscrupulous professional hunters and notorious traffickers to get rhino horn ‘trophies’ onto the market - breaking the ban on international trade - and re stimulating demand in Vietnam. Demand would have ended if it had not been supplied - and if demand elimination campaigns had been given full backing instead at the time. http://africageographic.com/…/killing-for-profit-a-review-…/

The ban on international trade of rhino horn was broken from around 2002 when pseudo hunting began and was only stopped in 2012. Rhino horn was also reported to have been leaked onto Asian markets - from theft of stockpiles and via domestic sales - smuggled out by criminals and trafficking syndicates onto black markets. A moratorium was implemented on domestic trade of rhino horn in South Africa in 2009 in response to growing evidence that criminal networks were exploiting the domestic trade loophole to buy up stocks of rhino horn from game farmers and smuggle it out of the country to be sold on Asian black markets. Some horns were even smuggled out in diplomatic pouches by officials in the Vietnamese embassy in South Africa’s capital.http://magazine.africageographic.com/…/rhino-horn-trade-so…/

Farming rhinos to harvest their horns during a ban on international trade in rhino horn should never have been started or permitted. It would have been far better to have destroyed all stockpiles of rhino horn and given full Government support and backing to efforts being made, internationally, to end all demand for rhino horn. Encouraging demand in insatiable Asian markets by allowing the farming of hundreds of rhinos, stockpiling their horns, selling live rhinos to Asian Zoos, planning for and proposing that international trade in rhino horn should be legalised, sends signals to speculators that buying poached, wild rhino horn is a good investment. It catches the attention of trafficking syndicates looking for markets and clients to supply! Poaching is out of control and seems unstopable.The message needs to be sent out that owning and using rhino horn is no longer socially acceptable to help end demand, stop speculative buying and end the poaching crisis. http://www.takepart.com/…/chinese-investors-are-driving-sla…

Emphasis should have been put on securing the safety of rhinos inside National Parks at a time when demand for their horns had been discouraged, markets were closed and poaching was negligible. Surplus rhinos from National Parks should have been sold - and re-located with funding from leading NGO's - to countries where rhinos had become extinct due to demand for their horns - not sold to be farmed and dehorned - or exported to Asia! http://edition.cnn.com/…/wo…/bringing-rhinos-back-to-uganda/

Rhino farming in Asia

The push to expand rhino farming for the purpose of harvesting their horns for trade has led to rhinos being exported to Asia from South Africa with the intention of establishing large rhino farming bases there. For example, permits had been granted for 150 rhinos to be exported to China from South Africa between 2006 and 2012 - even though the environment is totally inappropriate for African Southern White Rhinos.http://annamiticus.com/…/rhinos-from-south-africa-to-vietn…/

In March 2013 a large shipment of Southern White Rhinos was reported to have been exported to Pu’er National Forest Park in Yunnan province, southwest China. The Mekong Group claims the rhinos are being imported for scientific research purposes. But this is most likely a commercially operated project – similar to the one started in Hainan province - owned by a subsidiary of a Chinese arms manufacturer - not an academic study.http://phys.org/ne…/2013-06-african-rhinos-china-forest.html

The importer, has invented a rhino horn-scraping tool, approved by China’s State Forestry Administration, despite the fact that China, a CITES member, agreed to the ban on all trade in rhino horn in 1993 to end demand. http://www.traffic.org/…/time-magazine-exposes-plans-for-ch…

China’s own Asian rhinos - a different species - were hunted to extinction because of the huge demand for their horns.

The conditions that rhinos, farmed in Asia, are kept in and the food sources are not suitable for African Southern White Rhinos either. Secret footage shows that the rhinos are kept in bare earth enclosures or small, cement floored pens. The habitat in Asia is not suited for rhinos that come from the savannah’s of Africa either.

Rhino farming in South Africa, and now Asian countries too - plus the push from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland to propose the legalisation of trade in rhino horn in the near future – and export their stockpiles of rhino horn - fuels speculative stockpiling of poached rhino horn, drives consumer demand and stalls the closure of illegal markets.https://cites.org/…/f…/eng/cop/17/WorkingDocs/E-CoP17-68.pdf

The point that farmers who sell live rhinos to Asia seem to miss is that China and Vietnam could now farm hundreds of Southern White Rhinos imported from South Africa to produce their own supply of rhino horn products. China is likely to circumvent CITES and turn a blind eye to ‘regulated trade’ restrictions which it had totally ignored with the trade of ivory and tiger products. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1QMWUOCWrw

China will be able to sell their own rhino horn stocks and products ignoring any restrictions put in place to control trade and demand by a cartel. And the farming of both tigers and bears in China, for trade of products from them, has not stopped poaching in the wild – it has simply increased demand and led to more poaching of wild tigers and bears across their range. This is why there needs to be a Global push to end all senseless demand for rhino horn – not encourage it. http://jamillsauthor.com/2015/01/history-repeating-itself-with-rhino-farming-in-china/

Vietnamese Zoos have also been aggressively importing South African rhinos. Vietnam’s last native rhino was killed for its horn in 2010. The Vietnamese Government claims they are importing African white rhinos for educational purposes. But the fear among conservationists is that they are being bred in anticipation that the lucrative trade of rhino horns will be legalised in the near future. https://www.enca.com/…/vietnam-rhino-breeding-raises-conser…

“We are concerned. There are too many rhinos here for a Zoo and we now suspect they are breeding for farming,” said Douglas Hendrie of Education for Nature Vietnam.

The risks, to wild rhinos, of legalising rhino horn trade - internationally or domestically - are great. There are 90 million people in Vietnam and over 1.38 billion in China. If supply of farmed rhino horn cannot meet the huge potential demand in many Asian former consumer countries, wild rhinos, across their range, would be put at even greater risk of extinction. The demand for wild rhino horn will not stop if trade of farmed rhino horn is legalised in any case - because wild rhino horn is more highly valued and full length horns will be saught after as status symbols. http://breakingthebrand.org/farmed-rhino-horn-not-seen-as…/…

Although selling rhino horn is illegal, making money off live rhinos isn’t, and rhino breeders have been working to export live rhinos to Vietnam. As reported in a Nat. Geo. article recently,last fall, a private rhino owner in South Africa, Mr. John Hume, entered negotiations to sell up to a hundred rhinos to a company in Vietnam called Vinpearl, owned by Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam’s wealthiest man. It’s legal for a South African to export live rhinos with government approval, but it’s unclear what kind of life the rhinos would be headed to. According the rhino breeder's farm manager, wild rhinos each need nearly a thousand acres, but this rhino farmer has a captive-breeding permit allowing him to keep one rhino per 7.5 acres as long as he provides them with supplementary food. Vinpearl’s Safari Park, part of its five-star resort on Phu Quoc Island in the Gulf of Thailand, had allocated a fraction of that to a massive rhino-breeding operation. ( National Geographic Magazine Article August 2016: Special Investigation: Inside the Deadly Rhino Horn Trade.) http://annamiticus.com/…/chinas-rhino-horn-farming-scheme-…/

https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/fm-fox/2016-07-15-the-crooks-behind-rhino-slaughter/

On December 7, 2015, a representative from Vinpearl, accompanied by the Vietnamese ambassador to South Africa, met with South African authorities to urge approval of Mr.Hume's export application. In a letter, the Department of Rural, Environmental and Agricultural Development for South Africa’s North West Province stated: “Vinpearl intends to import at least 100 rhino, which will be kept on an enclosure of 15 hectares [37 acres]. Vinpearl aims to have the largest number of rhino in the world in a safari park/zoo, and wants to breed rhino.” Thankfully the government denied Mr. Hume's application.' http://www.nationalgeographic.com/…/dark-world-of-the-rhin…/

To get around restrictions it appears that Thailand is being used as a transit point by others so that exports to Vietnam can continue without detection. Bangkok Bird Park Breeding and Research Centre is listed as the importer on an application to export white rhino to Thailand in 2012. The shipper is listed as Bester Birds and Animal Zoo Park CC. A Thai Cargo air waybill shows that rhinos were sent from Johannesburg to Ho Chi Minh City via Bangkok. The exporter listed was Mystic Monkeys and Feathers Wild Animal Park in South Africa.

Export of rhinos from South Africa to Asia is ongoing. In August 2016 - it was confirmed that export permits had been granted to Mafunyane ( Marnus Pretorius ) who is in the Brits area - to export eight rhino calves to Thailand. http://www.travelandtradesouthafrica.com/…/urgent-action-re…

Encouraging rhino farming for trade in Asia is not the right way forward because potential demand is huge and would soon become unsustainable. Wild rhinos will be put at even greater risk.

The example of vicuña is often given, by pro traders, as a success story of trade saving a species. But it was the ban on trade that saved the vicuña from extinction - not the resumption of trade. Populations recovered during the ban but now that trade is permitted again poaching has become a problem once more. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/…/150106-rhino-poaching…/

Rhino poaching began to rise slowly from around 2002, once traffickers saw demand for rhino horn was being re stimulated on the black market in Vietnam by traffickers supplying rhino horn from South Africa. In 2007 a rumour was spread, in Vietnam, that rhino horn cures cancer. Rhino poaching began to escalate suddenly. In 2009 122 rhinos were poached and that year a moratorium was placed on domestic trade of rhino horn because investigations revealed that rhino horn was being leaked onto the black the market in Laos and Vietnam during a ban on international trade in rhino horn. By the time rhino pseudo hunting was exposed and efforts were made to stop it, in 2012, trafficking syndicates were well established with networks and connections in place at every link in the supply chain. The rhino poaching crisis is now as bad, in South Africa, as it was in other range states before the international ban on trade to end demand for rhino horn was instated. Demand nowadays is far greater than it was before the ban was instated. In 1975 rhinos were being driven to the point of extinction because of demand in most range states before the economic boom in Asia. The levels of demand and corruption is far worse now. https://eia-international.org/vixay-keosavang-an-untouchabl…

There is too much corruption, too many trafficking syndicates operating, the value of rhino horn is too high and potential demand too great to stop rhino poaching through regulated trade nowadays. Closing markets to remove the investment value of rhino horn, eliminating demand and enforcing the ban is the best long term solution for saving wild rhinos, across their range, from extinction. Trade bans need to be enforced with the threat of global trade boycotts. Demand elimination programs and campaigns should be given full support and backing. Trafficking Syndicates and kingpins need to be stopped. China and Vietnam need to see that Trafficking Syndicates are a threat to all trade and need to be shut down.http://africageographic.com/…/cigarettes-kidneys-rhinos-co…/

It's wrong, on every level, that wild tigers, lions, bears, rhinos - and possibly even elephants - are farmed as livestock to produce luxury goods to encourage wealthy consumers to buy their body parts – or products made from them - as status symbols, investments - or as cures for illness when there are better, less costly alternatives. It encourages speculators to collect their own stockpiles from wild endangered species as investments - banking on their extinction in the wild!

These are key endangered species with vital roles to play in wild ecosystems - and the level of potential demand for products from them is unsustainable in markets the size of Asia - and worldwide via the internet. No wild tiger, lion, rhino or elephant will be safe - as long as demand for their body parts is encouraged. If demand is not eliminated the only tigers, lions and rhinos left will be on farms or in zoos. Rhinos, lions, tigers and elephants do not belong on farms, parks or in zoos! And bears do not belong in cages!

All endangered species need to be protected in the wild where they belong - and where they have roles to play in maintaining balance and biodiversity of natural ecosystems. Perhaps the best solution would be to give all key endangered species 'World Heritage Species' status - with many new sources of International Funding found for their protection inside their natural habitats. . http://africageographic.com/blog/cigarettes-kidneys-rhinos-common/