Save the Rhino International


	The threat to rhinos’ survival Poaching for luxury products Poaching for traditional Chinese medicine Habitat loss Political conflict Poaching for luxury products Generally speaking, the horn from rhinos killed in East Africa tends to end up in the Yemen, where it is made into ornamental handles for daggers (jambiyas) while horn from rhinos poached in southern Africa (as well as from those poached in Asia) makes its way to the Far East where it is used in traditional medicine. Although jambiyas can have handles made of a range of substances, such as precious metals, buffalo or plastic, and can be decorated with gemstones, those made of rhino horn are regarded as the “Rolex” or ‘Porsche” versions. Poaching for Traditional Chinese Medicine Try this: Ask the person next to you what he or she thinks rhino horn might be used for in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Chances are, they’ll tell you it is used as an aphrodisiac. It is not. In certain Asian countries, ground rhino horn is used to cure almost everything such as headaches, fever, typhoid, vomiting, smallpox and arthritis but not impotence and sexual inadequacy. Rhino horn has been an integral component of TCM for thousands of years. It matters little where the rhinos come from; the horn of a rhinoceros from any continent may be used for medical purposes. In East Africa – primarily Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – statistics on rhino horn harvesting have been kept since 1926. Over this period, most of the rhinos killed were black rhinos, although the “harvesters” would not pass up a white rhino if it appeared in their gunsights. Indeed, it is not clear that rhino horn serves any medicinal purpose whatsoever, but it is a testimony to the power of tradition that millions of people believe that it does. Of course, if people want to believe in prayer, acupuncture or voodoo as a cure for what ails them, there is no reason why they shouldn’t, but if animals are being killed to provide nostrums that have been shown to be useless, then there is a very good reason to curtail the use of rhino horn. There are five species of rhinoceros, and with the exception of one subspecies of the African white rhino, all are in danger of being hunted to extinction for their horns. Habitat loss When one compares a map of the current distribution of the five rhino species with one showing the distribution c. 1800, the difference is striking. Many countries have lost their rhino populations altogether: Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Central African Republic, Sudan and Mozambique in Africa; and Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Sarawak in Asia. The most obvious reason for the decline from around a million rhinos in the year 1800 to approximately 18,000 today is poaching, but habitat loss has also been a key factor. There are several ways in which this is manifested: Clearance of land for human settlement and agricultural production Logging, authorised and illegal Political conflict Poaching is the main threat to rhinos’ survival, whether motivated by the Yemeni dagger handle trade or by the demand for rhino horn in traditional Chinese medicine. Conservationists obviously try to prevent poaching from occurring, whether by mounting intensive anti-poaching patrols and maintaining high visibility, by fencing sanctuaries, or by incentivising locals to pass on intelligence. In some locations, where normal law and order has broken down – particularly in war zones or where there is political instability – it has become much easier for the poachers to kill rhinos and other endangered species. Particular examples of places where political conflict has been matched by a rise in poaching include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Nepal.