Posted on 21 August
2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa— A comprehensive
new TRAFFIC report into the rhino poaching
crisis in South Africa documents how poor
compliance over rhino horn stockpile management,
loopholes in sport hunting policy, and surging
demand for horn in Viet Nam created ideal
conditions for the involvement of sophisticated
criminal networks, leading to a dramatic
escalation in poaching in southern Africa.
Fake trophy hunts
According to the 176-page study, The South
Africa—Viet Nam Rhino Horn Trade Nexus:
A deadly combination of institutional lapses,
corrupt wildlife industry professionals
and Asian crime syndicates, as early as
2003, visitors from Viet Nam were regularly
taking part in “pseudo hunts” for white
rhino trophies in South Africa, interested
not in the hunt itself but only in the horn;
some of those participating in the hunting
reportedly did not even know how to shoot
a gun.
“A decade ago the first signs were on the
horizon of the forthcoming rhino poaching
crisis, but few then could have foreseen
the magnitude and ramifications of what
we face today,” said Dr Jo Shaw, a Programme
Officer with TRAFFIC and a co-author of
the report.
“However, with the surging demand from Asia,
people willing to pay high prices to get
their hands on rhino horn, and little fear
of capture by those smuggling horn, it was
perhaps inevitable that this ‘commodity’
would catch the attention of the hardened
criminal fraternity, creating a ‘perfect
storm’ for rhino poaching and horn trade.”
Although South Africa soon enacted a range
of regulations to stamp out “pseudo hunting”,
in response resourceful horn traders began
recruiting others, including Thai sex-workers
as “hunters”, to circumvent the new rules.
Meanwhile, criminals increasingly turned
to other sources for horns: in recent years
at least 65 rhino horns have been stolen
from public display within South Africa
with similar thefts carried out in the US
and in Europe.
In 2009, the government of South Africa
placed a moratorium on national sales of
rhino horns to prevent unregistered stocks,
so-called “loose horns”, from leaking into
trade—all international commercial trade
in rhino products is banned under the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Law-breaking
wildlife industry individuals have since
been convicted, with harsh prison sentences
handed out for illegally dehorning live
rhinos and the subsequent sale of the horns
to Asian buyers. In April 2012, South Africa
suspended the issuance of hunting licences
to all Vietnamese nationals while also introducing
other changes to tighten the loopholes allowing
“pseudo hunts”.
“The web of complicity has even drawn in
a small number of rogue game ranch owners,
professional hunters and wildlife veterinarians,
adding a new and challenging dimension to
the rhino poaching crisis,” said Shaw.
Record poaching rates
Rangers in South Africa are putting their
lives in jeopardy protecting the continent’s
rhinos. Although more and more resources
are being expended to protect the nation’s
rhinos, South Africa has witnessed a rapid
escalation in poaching of live animals,
rising from 13 in 2007 to 83 (2008); 122
(2009); 333 (2010) to a record 448 rhinos
in 2011. In early 2012, almost two rhinos
were being poached every day. By 17th July
this year, the total stood at 281 rhinos,
with a predicted loss of 515 by year end
if current poaching rates continue.
South Africa has witnessed a rising spiral
of organized, violent rhino-related criminal
activity, with hard-pressed authorities
hitting back with increased enforcement
efforts.
By 17th July this year, there had been more
arrests (176) in South Africa for rhino-related
crime than in all of 2010 (165), with middlemen
and those higher up the trade chain increasingly
being collared, including a number of high-level
arrests of Vietnamese nationals since May
2012. Rhino crime syndicates in South Africa
have been linked to other criminal activities
such as drug and diamond smuggling, human
trafficking and illegal trade in other wildlife
products such as elephant ivory and abalone.
Of 43 documented arrests of Asian nationals
for rhino crimes in South Africa, 24 have
been Vietnamese (56%) and 13 Chinese (28%),
with the remainder from Thailand and Malaysia.
Furthermore, at least three officials based
at Viet Nam’s embassy in Pretoria have been
documented as participants in the illegal
rhino horn trade, although the last such
case was in late 2008.
New user groups in Viet Nam
At the other end of the illicit trade chain,
the report identifies Viet Nam as the main
market, where demand for rhino horn continues
to rise and serrated rhino horn grinding
bowls are widely available for sale.
Four main user groups have been identified
in Viet Nam: the principal one being those
who believe in rhino horn’s detoxification
properties, especially following excessive
intake of alcohol, rich food and “the good
life”. Affluent users routinely grind up
rhino horn and mix the powder with water
or alcohol as a hangover-cure and general
health tonic.
Horn is also used as a supposed cancer cure
by terminally ill patients, who are sometimes
deliberately targeted by rhino horn “touts”
as part of a cynical marketing ploy to increase
the profitability of the illicit trade.
“The surge in rhino horn demand from Viet
Nam has nothing to do with meeting traditional
medicine needs, it’s to supply a recreational
drug to party goers or to con dying cancer
patients out of their cash for a miracle
rhino horn cure that will never happen,”
said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC rhino expert,
and a co-author of the new report.
“Ultimately the only long-term solution
to stamping out rhino poaching in Africa
and Asia lies in curbing demand for horn.
The fact that the Vietnamese Government
has not played a greater role in ensuring
such an outcome is problematic, but presents
an opportunity for decisive action beginning
now.”
Last month, a Rhino Working Group under
CITES was tasked with developing a demand
reduction strategy for rhino horn and called
upon the government of Viet Nam to table
a report on measures it is taking to address
the illegal trade.
“The only people benefitting from the current
rhino poaching crisis are those running
the criminal networks, who are making huge
profits with little fear of prosecution
in Asian markets,” said Milliken.
“This trade leaves a trail of carnage and
hapless victims—both animal and human—from
source to end-use market.”
Action needed from governments
The new report calls for a number of measures
to be taken to address the current crisis,
including for Viet Nam to “review and strengthen
legislation and penalties concerning illegal
rhino horn trade,” and to “employ effective
law enforcement strategies in the market
place.”
Ironically, the fate of South Africa’s rhinos
is now inextricably linked with market forces
in Viet Nam, a country that recently saw
its own Javan rhino population slip into
ignominious extinction, when the last individual
in Cat Tien National Park was shot and had
its horn removed in early 2010. The Javan
rhino is the most critically endangered
rhino species in the world with fewer than
50 individuals remaining in Java.
“South Africa has progressively scaled up
its response to rhino crime and there are
indications it can win this battle,” says
Mavuso Msimang, Rhino Issue Manager for
the South African Department of Environmental
Affairs.
“But we can only end the poaching and smuggling
if it is addressed along the entire trade
chain. We hope South Africa and Viet Nam
can actively collaborate to stop the illegal
trade in rhino horn.”
