Sell those horns!

ON page 28 of this issue, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife CEO, Dr Bandile Mkhize pleads for the world to heed his call for trading in rhino horn, before the species heads for what seems an inescapable extinction.

Mkhize’s arguments and reasoning appear solid and they have been supported by leading conservationists such as Dr Ian Player.

The fact of the matter is, international poaching syndicates have huge amounts of cash at their disposal – ironically, partly as a result of the enormous prices they get from selling the horns from butchered rhinos.

There is certainly no shortage of demand for rhino horn – despite all the attempts to educate users on the myths of rhino horn efficacy – so it all comes down to the supply.

Either people will get the horns through legalised trading, or the spiral of cruel harvesting at the barrel of a gun or a swinging panga will dictate the terms.

Ezemvelo has noted that a number of private game ranchers are now choosing not to stock rhinos, simply because it’s not worth the effort of keeping something they will inevitably lose.

On the other hand, Mkhize’s view is that if trade in rhino horn – and even the controlled hunting of rhino – is permitted, they would be encouraged to increase breeding to meet the needs of the hunting fraternity.

As a para-statal, Ezemvelo will never have the budget or resources to win the battle against poaching but, as with most issues in secular life, money dictates the winner.

And there is loads of money potentially available through commerce: horn sales (Mkhize says they can ensure a 20-year supply) and ethical hunting.

Ezemvelo’s game auctions have shown the way.

Mkhize and his supporters sit on one side of a conservation divide that he rightly calls ‘one of the most ferocious and divisive debates in rhino conservation history’.

Both sides want the same thing: to protect the rhino from extinction, but they differ as to how that can be accomplished.

What a pity if that answer becomes undisputed…when the last rhino has died.