Two more alleged rhino killers with possible syndicate ties are out on bail.

Although they were caught red-handed with two rhino horns at the time of their arrest, Michael Sithole and Leonard Mashego have reportedly been released on R7,500 bail by the White River Magistrate’s Court. Sadly, a dead rhino with missing horns had been found earlier in the area.

The pair – believed to be connected to ten additional rhino killing incidents in the Stolsnek area near Pretoriuskop – is scheduled to appear in court again on December 3^rd.

Earlier this week, Sfiso Matsabe, who drove the murderers’ getaway vehicle, was also granted bail.

Mashego was apparently wounded in an exchange of gunfire with police, who cornered them near Pretoriuskop in the south of the game park.

In addition to the rhino horns, police confiscated two firearms and ammunition.

Upcoming court appearances for crime syndicate suspects

Less than a week ago, eleven rhino crime syndicate suspects, including veterinarians and safari operators, were arrested. They appeared in court on World Rhino Day – an event to raise awareness about South Africa’s rhino poaching crisis – but were granted bail by the Musina court’s magistrate Errol Luiters.

The suspected crime syndicate members are scheduled to appear in court again on April 11^th, 2011, to face charges of assault, fraud, corruption, malicious damage to property, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, and contravening the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act.

Another high profile criminal trial is scheduled to begin on October 11^th in the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. The accused include George Fletcher of Sandhurst Safaris and Gert Saaiman of Saaiman Hunting Safaris.

Multiple charges have been brought against the Fletcher-Saaiman group, including racketeering, money laundering, various counts of theft, malicious damage to property and contraventions of the various provincial Conservation Acts and the Aviation Act.

Butchering rhinos for ‘traditional medicines’

Rhino poaching has returned to South Africa with a vengeance, driven by the Asian market for illegal rhino horn. The scourge has reached a 16-year high, with more than 600 rhinos killed since 2005 (WWF).

Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu spoke out recently against the crisis. He reportedly said that the current rate of rhino killings was embarrassing the country abroad and destroying South Africa’s biodiversity.

Despite the fact that rhino horn has been proven to have no medicinal properties, it still commands top dollar in China and Vietnam, where it is used illegally in traditional medicines.

Most rhino horn leaving southern Africa is destined for consumer markets China and Vietnam, according to research conducted by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.

Source: Times Live

Image: istock.com

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

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See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

Legalized trade in rhino horn: It’s complicated.

The notion of legalized trade in rhino horn has apparently failed to win the support of WWF South Africa’s CEO, Morné du Plessis.

Dr. du Plessis said via South Africa’s The Daily Maverick that the arrests of game farmers in the recent high profile rhino crime syndicate case illustrates the fact that legal rhino trade is likely to serve as a laundering vehicle for illegal rhino horn.

The recent string of high-profile arrests shows that people within the private game farming industry are involved in poaching. The issue is, therefore, a little more complicated than simply legalising the trade in rhino horn. For example, it would allow poachers to launder illegally gotten rhino horns.

He added that education programs were being rolled out in Asian countries known to be consumers of rhino horn, and pointed to the successful public awareness program that was implemented in Yemen several years ago.

Illegal rhino horn headed for traditional medicine markets in China and Vietnam

Although Yemen used to be a major player in the illegal rhino horn trade, the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC found that Yemen is no longer a factor, and that the majority of rhino horn leaving southern Africa is headed for China and Vietnam.

Currently, most rhino horns leaving southern Africa are destined for end-use markets in southeast and east Asia, especially Viet Nam and China. Available evidence at thisi time does not implicate Yemen, another traditional end-use market.

Despite the fact rhino horn has been extensively analyzed and found to be of no medicinal value, it is still in high demand in China and Vietnam.

According to centuries of Asian folklore, rhino horn is a treatment for pain, fever, pus-filled boils, acne, and devil possession. There is even a more recent myth circulating in Vietnam, which falsely claims rhino horn can cure cancer.

Government would be in charge of dealing in rhino horn

So far, Wildlife Ranching South Africa (WRSA) appears to be the most visible group in favor of the idea.

WRSA spokesperson Reinhardt Holtzhausen explained that legal trade in rhino horn would be strictly monitored and that private game owners would simply hand over their rhino horns to the government, in exchange for compensation.

He said the South African government would be in charge of dealing in rhino horn.

Source: The Daily Maverick

Image: istock.com

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

Contrary to popular belief, Yemen is not a factor in today’s illegal rhino horn trade.

Although Yemen was once the primary destination for illegal rhino horn from Africa, today that distinction belongs to the traditional medicine markets of China and Vietnam.

The most recent comprehensive review of the illegal rhino horn trade prepared by TRAFFIC found that the majority of rhino horns are headed for consumer markets in China and Vietnam, once leaving southern Africa.

Currently, most rhino horns leaving southern Africa are destined for end-use markets in southeast and east Asia, especially Viet Nam and China; available evidence does not (at this time) implicate Yemen, another traditional end-use market, in this trade.

In addition, a significant number of Chinese and Vietnamese nationals have been arrested with illegal rhino horns, and a number of rhino horn seizures were made between 2001 – 2009, along known smuggling routes between Africa and China, such as Singapore. Vietnam also made several rhino horn seizures since 2003, including the Ho Chi Minh City international airport and at the Laos border.

The continued involvement of Vietnamese and Chinese nationals in the acquisition of rhino horns within Africa also needs to be addressed from the standpoint of collective and collaborative law enforcement action involving authorities both in Africa and in Asia.

What happened to Yemen?

Yemen’s penchant for ceremonial daggers known as jambiyas once posed a significant threat to African rhinos, but this is no longer the case.

Several contributing factors led to the decreased demand:

• An extensive public awareness program in Yemen carried out nearly ten years ago by Dr. Esmond Bradley Martin and Lucy Vigne
• The changing fashion tastes of Yemeni men. Most now prefer Western-style trousers, which do not accommodate a jambiya
• A flood of Chinese plastic, which some craftsmen are using to create “knockoffs”
• While antique jambiyas are extremely valuable, daggers made with “new” rhino horn are less desirable

Demand for rhino horn in Vietnam

Rhino horn appears to be readily available in Vietnam in retail outlets and via hospitals.

These shops are mostly traditional medicine stores, but also include street-side shops which are identified by signs that advertise special crockery used to powder the horns.

Alternatively, staff at a particular hospital in Ha Noi are said to have approached patients diagnosed with terminal cancer, and offered to put them in touch with traders who have authentic horns for sale.

Even more unsettling are claims that orders can be placed for rhino skin and blood.

In Ho Chi Minh City, several of these sellers also claim to be able to supply the skin and blood of rhinoceros, though orders must be placed one month in advance.

A number of Vietnamese nationals have also been implicated in schemes to launder rhino horns obtained in trophy hunts.

… Vietnamese “trophy hunters” paid above market price for rhino hunts, but then had to be instructed how to shoot and would completely forego any proper trophy preparation; the issuance of export permits to Vietnamese nationals who had previously been identified in ongoing rhino crime investigations …

Fortunately, progress has been made in identifying and punishing people involved in Vietnam’s illegal rhino horn trade.

• Less than 10 days ago, a Vietnamese court sentenced a rhino horn smuggler to three years in jail for attempting to transport five rhino horns from South Africa to Vietnam. Four of the horns were obtained via a “legal” trophy hunt.
• Last month, a South African court awarded a ten year jail sentence to a Vietnamese man who was caught with rhino horns that were a DNA match to a rhino that had been killed just a few days earlier.

Demand for rhino horn in China

In addition to media reports implicating Chinese nationals in rhino poaching incidents in South Africa, rhino horn traders in China may be involved in the accumulation of rhino horn stockpiles. The spike in rhino poaching also coincides with China’s designation of “traditional Chinese medicine” as a “strategic industry” – which has been massively funded by the state.

For example, The Zululand Observer reported in 2009 that five people of Chinese origin were arrested for illegally entering the Opathe game reserve, where at least 11 rhino have been killed.

Developments regarding the OEHP incidents have since seen four men and a woman, all of Chinese origin, appear in the Babanango Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday this week, following their arrest inside OEHP near Ulundi. They were found trespassing, as the reserve has been temporary closed to the public, pending the appointment of a new manager for the park. They were not asked to plead to any charges and the case was postponed pending further investigations. Those who appeared are Pingquan Ni (37), Shuiwang Wu (37), Daxin Zhang (42), Xiufu Lin (32) and Meixia Zhu (26).

Although the original article appears to have been taken offline, a published report by Animal Rights Africa, Under Siege: Rhinos in South Africa, confirms this incident. However, information regarding whether or not these individuals were actually sentenced is not readily available.

Furthermore, a Chinese report, Effectively Utilizing Traditional Chinese Medicine in Unexpected Event, recommends the accumulation and stockpiling of raw medicinal materials – such as rhino horn – because of its “long growth cycle”.

If they are not stockpiled in adequate quantity in advance, shortage of them will occur in case of an epidemic of infectious disease.

The same document suggests that China already possesses a massive stockpile of rhino horn.

According to incomplete statistics, there are tons of rhinoceros horns kept in the storehouses of TCMM companies in provinces and municipalities. If they are not laid up, supervised and regulated in a unified manner by the government, this resource will be wasted.

Additionally, it will make it possible for lawbreakers to regrate wildlife. It seems very important for the government to store up the four key drugs at this time.

The choice of words in the above statement is interesting, due to the fact that in the commodities world, “regrate” refers to buying up provisions in order to sell again at a profit.

And in September 2007, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Chinese government announced an unprecedented $130 million budget for “traditional Chinese medicine.”

Note the significant increase in rhinos illegally killed in South Africa from 2007 – present:

• 2007: 13
• 2008: 83
• 2009: 122
• 2010: 153 (so far)

Rhino horn is of no medicinal value

The greatest threat to rhinos today is the use of rhino horn in traditional medicines in China and Vietnam. Rhino horn has traditionally been prescribed for a wide range of ailments, including fever, anxiety, boils – and even “devil possession”.

However, rhino horn has been extensively analyzed and it actually contains no medical properties. The effect of consuming rhino horn has been compared to chewing one’s own fingernails.

Sources: Milliken, T., Emslie, R.H., Talukdar, B. (2009). African and Asian Rhinoceroses – Status, Conservation and Trade. CoP15. CITES Secretariat, Geneva, Switzerland.

Turton, C. (2009). Review of the Trade in Rhinoceros Horn in Viet Nam. TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Greater Mekong Programme.

Pei, H. (2009). Effectively Utilizing Traditional Chinese Medicine in Unexpected Event. Strategic and Development Department, China National Group Corp. of Traditional & Herbal Medicine.

Animal Rights Africa (2009). Under Siege: Rhinoceroses in South Africa. Animal Rights Africa Special Report, South Africa.

Image: istockphoto.com

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.

Once the largest importer of illegal rhino horn for use in ceremonial dagger handles, Yemen is no longer considered a driving force in the current rhino poaching crisis.

While demand for illegal rhino horn in Asia surges and threatens to undermine decades of conservation efforts, the market for illegal rhino horn in Yemen has decreased sharply.

Nearly ten years after an ambitious public awareness campaign (Closing Down the Illegal Trade in Rhino Horn in Yemen) and extensive research carried out by Dr. Esmond Bradley Martin and Lucy Vigne, Yemen’s illegal trade in rhino horn has not re-surfaced as a significant threat to African rhinos.

For the demand for new rhino horn to remain low in Yemen and to avoid an increase in price (which would encourage more poaching of rhinos in Africa) we initiated a publicity campaign on the rhino’s plight and on the importance of using alternative materials.

We held press interviews and gave photographs to journalists on rhino poaching and the rhino horn trade. Posters with Arabic captions covering aspects of rhino conservation were framed and hung at some of Sanaa’s museums and institutes.

Among the pictures on these posters was a copy of the photograph of the religious edict or fatwa written by the grand mufti, which stated that killing rhinos was against the will of God.

At the time the report was written, the authors noted that for the first time since surveys began in 1978, no new rhino horns were being used to make jambiya handles.

No new main buyers of rhino horn have come onto the jambiya market in Sanaa. The industry continues to be dominated by one family based in Sanaa, which laments the loss of the rhino horn trade, blaming wildlife conservationists.

Although ceremonial Yemeni daggers known as jambiya traditionally feature handles carved from rhino horn, today’s jambiya handles can be made from water buffalo horn, camel nails, or plastic.

“You can’t wear a jambiya over trousers”

Recent articles about the decline of the jambiya’s popularity appeared in The Telegraph and LA Times. It seems the daggers are becoming casualties of the modern world.

A jambiya artisan and repairman lamented via The Telegraph that Yemeni men had taken to wearing Western fashions instead of the traditional sarong.

You can’t wear a jambiya over trousers.

Another factor diminishing the jambiya’s traditional significance and value has been a flood of Chinese plastic, which some craftsmen are using to create “knockoffs”.

A dagger merchant interviewed for the Times said the pervasiveness of Chinese plastic has ruined his business.

If something bad pops up in the market, we blame the Chinese. My business has dropped 1,000% over the years.

While antique jambiyas are extremely valuable, daggers made with “new” rhino horn are less desirable.

What makes a jambia valuable is the handle, with those made of rhinoceros horn the most precious. And its age.

If not Yemen, then where is the market for illegal rhino horn?

In 2008 workshop organized by GAPE and IFAW, Yemen – along with China – was accused of contributing to the recent increase in rhino poaching. However, jambiya traders in attendance stated that they had not received any new rhino horn.

Additionally, in a November 2009 CITES report prepared by the IUCN/SSC African and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups and TRAFFIC (African and Asian Rhinoceroses – Status, Conservation and Trade), Yemen was not considered a current threat to rhino conservation.

Currently, most rhino horns leaving southern Africa are destined for end-use markets in southeast and east Asia, especially Viet Nam and China; available evidence does not (at this time) implicate Yemen, another traditional end-use market, in this trade …

The continued involvement of Vietnamese and Chinese nationals in the acquisition of rhino horns within Africa also needs to be addressed from the standpoint of collective and collaborative law enforcement action involving authorities both in Africa and in Asia.

Apparently, China and Vietnam have taken over as the main destinations for illegal rhino horn.

Sources:

• African and Asian Rhinoceroses – Status, Conservation and Trade, available for download at CITES.
• Closing Down the Illegal Trade in Rhino Horn in Yemen, available for download at the Rhino Resource Center.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Rhishja Cota-Larson

I am the founder of Saving Rhinos LLC, which publishes news and information about the global rhino crisis. Besides writing Rhino Horn is Not Medicine, I am the author of the book Murder, Myths & Medicine, the Editor of Project Pangolin, and a writer for the environmental news blog Planetsave. When I'm not blogging about the illegal wildlife trade, I like to rock out to live music.

Website - Twitter - Facebook - More Posts

See Rhino Horn is Not Medicine for more information.