Trade In Rhino Horn Research Articles

The Rhino's Testimony

The Rhino's Testimony Bridget Pitt (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Bridget Pitt, author of the novel Eye Brother Horn, reflects on how South Africa's colonial history, and the entanglement of nature conservation with social inequality and violence, means that many efforts to connect with or save nature are embedded in a system of wealth production that is driving its destruction—particularly that of the rhino. [End Page 29] Click for larger view View full resolution Sunrise over the savanna and grass fields in central Kruger National Park in South Africa Every day, at least one rhino is killed for its horn in South Africa. Rhinos in the Kruger National Park have declined by 60 percent in the last decade (savetherhino.org). Often, the horn and half the face are hacked off while the rhino is still alive. It is hard to countenance such cruelty and natural to blame the poachers who shoot them, plus all those linked to the illicit rhino horn trade that feeds the market in East Asia. But a rhino slain for its horn tells a story of violence, greed, and dispossession that ripples far beyond the poacher's bullet and goes back centuries: when I set out to write a novel about rhino-poaching, it became a novel about colonialism. When the British colonizers first arrived in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal early in the nineteenth century, they found what they considered "virgin territory": sprawling coastal and inland forests and lush grasslands teeming with antelope. Vast elephant herds migrated up and down the coast, creating pathways that today are three-lane highways roaring with traffic. Lions, leopards, and rhinos were frequently seen around Durban. The land had in fact been occupied by humans for millennia, first by the San and, later, Nguni tribes moving down from the north. The San were nomadic hunter-gatherers with a light footprint, but the Nguni people, who had been living there for at least four hundred years, cultivated crops and herded cattle, impacting the land in several ways. They burned pastures to improve grazing for their livestock, cleared land for crops, and burned wood for smelting iron and cooking. They hunted animals and harvested wild plants for food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. But their impact was minimal compared to what happened in the years that followed. [End Page 30] By the end of the nineteenth century, the landscape was fundamentally transformed. No elephant, lion, or rhino could be found south of the Pongola River, and the buffalo and antelope herds were decimated. The human landscape was also irrevocably transformed: the power of the Zulu king broken, the chiefs brought into subjugation under British authority. From being self-sufficient farmers, the local people were now forced by the hut tax and loss of land to labor for minimal wages on British-owned farms or in British-owned mines. In 1870 the British in Natal numbered fifteen hundred compared to over fifty thousand Indigenous people. How had a relatively small number of people had such an impact? The simple answer is guns. Guns were used without restraint against the wildlife, and while initial relations with the Indigenous people were based more on cooperation than force, as the colony became more established, guns were used to help subjugate the Indigenous population through force or inducement. When the neighboring sovereign Zulu nation became an obstacle to expansion, the British invaded their kingdom and overcame their armies with its superior firepower. Zululand was carved up for white settlers, and the royal house brought under British rule. But guns were just the tools. The real driver of transformation was the violence that flowed from a hierarchical concept of the world. Human exceptionalism governed colonial attitudes to nature but also to Black people, as they were considered less than human in order to justify slavery and—after abolition—enforced labor, impoverishment, and theft of land. The San Bushmen were so brutally dehumanized that until 1936 it was permissible to hunt them—many people still living today were alive when the last permit was issued in Namibia. As the colony expanded, racist attitudes equating blackness with beastliness became entrenched, disrupting the relationship to wildlife...

Adapting cybersecurity practice to reduce wildlife cybercrime

Abstract Wildlife trafficking is driving many species to extinction and is overwhelming law enforcement efforts to stop it. At least a 2-fold increase in the number of traffickers who are put out of business is needed to help avoid these extinctions. A cybersecurity-based solution described in this article consists of a large international confederation of criminal investigators collecting intelligence on persons involved in wildlife trafficking, analyzing it, and then recommending to law enforcement (a) cybercriminals to detain, (b) cybercriminals to surveil, and (c) where and when to intercept cybercriminal-initiated wire transfers and shipments of wildlife products. Wildlife traffickers nowadays often use the internet to commit their cybercrimes. Prosecuting such crimes is challenging. Indeed, one of the top five challenges in cybersecurity is to develop methods for pursuing cybercriminals and bringing them to justice through the acquisition of digital evidence that links specific individuals to specific illegal acts. The proposed confederation finds two lists of wildlife cybercriminals to remove. The first is found by computing centrality measures on the statistically estimated (reconstructed) current social network of wildlife cybercriminals to identify those criminals whose removal would, according to social network theory, maximally disrupt the syndicate’s operations. This list contains criminals identified as kingpins, and/or information brokers. The second list consists of those m criminals whose removal results in the largest simulator-computed drop in poaching of the trafficked species over the next year. Database access control is a form of information security (InfoSec), or data security—a chief component of cybersecurity. Here, a distributed form of information security is developed for keeping a confederation’s criminal intelligence database secure from unauthorized access and insider threats. This procedure uses only peer-to-peer transactions. The illegal trade in rhino horn is used to illustrate how this confederation would use criminal intelligence from several countries to first build a simulation of the political–ecological system that contains the trafficking operation, and then use this statistically fitted simulator to identify those traffickers to remove, wire transfers to block, and wildlife product shipments to seize. All software to implement this federated database and its access control procedure is freely available.

Poaching and illegal trade in rhino horn - a significant problem for an endangered species

The international problem of poaching and illegal trade in rhino horn has led to the formulation of standards defining human duties towards the natural environment and animals, especially the endangered species. The smuggling of animals and animal products, as well as historical, artistic or archaeological exhibits, required legislators to come up with more stringent and faster penal measures against crime, which also involved the introduction of uniform methods of identification and marking. The movement of personal goods, as well goods exchanged between scientific units has been subjected to stricter control, in which scientific knowledge and consulting bodies play a more important role. This had a definite positive effect on nature conservation in general. In the case of rhinoceroses, however, protection and attempts to restore them to the environment have encountered significant difficulties, which posed both technical and ethical dilemmas for these activities. Other unintended consequences included increased demand for rhino horn, proliferation of criminal groups specialized in the theft and smuggling of horns, as well as political conflicts. The desire to acquire horns has a cultural background in many countries. For example, the use of rhino horn, although its efficacy has not been proven by clinical trials, is well-established in traditional Chinese medicine. Modern identification methods, from macroscopic and microscopic evaluation to advanced molecular methods with analysis based on genetic profiling, make it possible to identify even the smallest amount of substances derived from rhino horn (e.g. in a powdered form). Scanning microscopy, fluorescence techniques, roentgenography and computed tomography are used. Thermogravimetric analysis, protein profiling, evaluation of inductively compressed plasma are also useful for this purpose. Such identification methods can determine a wide range of parameters, including the phylogenetic and geographical origin, sex, age, and condition of the animal, as well as the horn growth rate or climatic changes.

Conserving rhinos by legal trade: Insights from a choice experiment with rhino horn consumers

A legal rhino horn trade is suggested in order to reduce poaching. To examine the implications of this proposition, we conducted a choice experiment with 345 rhino horn consumers in Vietnam, investigating their preferences for legality, source, price and peer experience of medicinal efficacy as attributes in their decision to purchase rhino horn. We calculated consumers' willingness to pay for each attribute level. Consumers preferred and were willing to pay more for wild than semi-wild and farmed rhino horn but showed the strongest preference for legal horn, although higher-income consumers were less concerned about legality. The number of peers having used rhino horn without positive effect reduced preference for wild-sourced horn and increased preference for legality. Our results suggest that a legal trade in rhino horn would likely continue to face competition from a parallel black market. Whether poaching would be reduced depends on the legal supply of wild and semi-wild horns, campaigns ability to change consumer preferences, and regulation efforts.

A survey of traditional Chinese medicine consumers to investigate the impact of China's legalization of rhino horn trade on stigmatization and likelihood of use

AbstractRhino poaching continues to threaten species survival despite decades‐long trade bans, with rhino horn use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) contributing to global demand. Conservationists have debated over policy alternatives like trade legalization, and insight into TCM stakeholders is needed to support policymaking. The need for more research became made more urgent with China's 2018 decision to initiate the process of legalizing domestic trade. In this study, we conducted a large‐scale online survey of TCM consumers in Guangdong province, China. We found that while stigmatization of rhino horn use is limited at present, it is likely to drop further with trade legalization. Prescription usage will be the most likely source of increased rhino horn demand if trade is legalized. Given the terms established in China's 2018 policy document, we stress the importance of engaging constructively with policymakers and TCM stakeholders to influence the process of establishing medical standards and regulatory mechanisms such that clinical access in a future legal trade is stringently controlled.

The rhino horn trade and radical inequality as environmental conflict

ABSTRACT The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is one of the most acute global conservation challenges. This paper examines what is driving young men to enter the rhino horn trade while advancing theory on environmental conflict. We show how the illicit rhino horn economy is a telling instance of environmental conflict—largely between ground-level hunters and increasingly militarized state conservation forces—that emerges from a context of radical inequality. We examine how practices ranging from labor migration and sidelining rural development to biodiversity conservation itself have profoundly transformed the Mozambican-South African borderlands from which many hunters originate, in turn generating poverty, exclusion, and vulnerability across the region. Juxtaposed against the wealth afforded by rhino hunting, this changing agrarian political economy has created an enabling environment for the rhino horn economy to take off. Illicit hunting, in other words, has become an attractive albeit risky livelihood alternative. We close by examining two questions that broaden our understanding of both environmental conflict and IWT: under what conditions might poverty lead to environmental harm and to what extent should such conflict be read as resistance that can bring about more just ends.

China's Legalization of Domestic Rhino Horn Trade: Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Perspectives and the Likelihood of Prescription

Despite the international ban on the trade of rhino horn that has been in place since 1977, persistent demand for horn in Asia has driven a spike in poaching over the past decade. This has embroiled the conservation community in a debate over the efficacy of banning trade relative to other solutions. Proposals for trade to be legalized and supplied through the dehorning of live rhinos or the production of synthetic horn are contentious. The need for empirical research into the potential impacts of legalization on demand was made more urgent in 2018 when China publicized its intentions to reopen its domestic trade and permit the use of rhino horn in medical treatment. In this study, we interviewed 84 Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners in the Chinese province of Guangdong. While 58 (69.05%, n = 84) of our interviewees were in favor of trade legalization, only 32 (38.10%, n = 84) thought it likely that trade legalization would cause them to increase their prescription of rhino horn over current levels. This is probably because clinical cases in which rhino horn is medically appropriate are uncommon. We also found that 33 (39.29%, n = 84) practitioners were open to using synthetic horn for patient treatment, which has implications for the viability of synthetic horn as a conservation tool. This research contributes empirical insight to advance the discourse on rhino horn trade policy.

Optimisation and application of a forensic microsatellite panel to combat Greater-one horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) poaching in India

The Greater one-horned (GoH) rhinoceros is one of the most charismatic endemic megaherbivores of the Indian subcontinent. Threatened by poaching, habitat loss and disease, the species is found only in small areas of its historical distribution. Increasing demands for rhino horns in chinese traditional medicine has put the existing population under continuing threat, and large profits and low conviction rates make poaching difficult to contain. DNA forensics such as the RhoDIS-Africa program has helped in combating illegal rhino horn trade, but the approach is yet to be optimised for Indian GoH rhinoceros. Here we followed the International Society for Forensic Genetics (ISFG) guidelines to establish a 14 dinucleotide microsatellite panel for Indian GoH rhinoceros DNA profiling. Selected from a large initial pool (n = 34), the microsatellite markers showed high polymorphism, stable peak characteristics, consistent allele calls and produced precise, reproducible genotypes from different types of rhino samples. The panel also showed low genotyping error and produced high statistical power during individual identification (PIDsibs value of 1.2*10−4). As part of the official RhoDIS-India program, we used this panel to match poached rhino carcass with seized contraband as scientific evidence in court procedure. This program now moves to generate detailed allele-frequency maps of all GoH rhinoceros populations in India and Nepal for development of a genetic database and identification of poaching hotspots and trade routes across the subcontinent and beyond.

On the judicial annulment of the \u2018domestic\u2019 trade moratorium in South African rhinoceros horn: a law and economics perspective

The legalization of rhino horn ‘domestic’ trade in South Africa potentially unleashes market forces featuring new entry, new tastes and new rhino horn products. This risks escalating the rhino-poaching crisis further. It is argued that institutional contradictions have been engendered by the South African High Court ruling in Kruger and another v Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs and others [2015] JOL 34725, whose assumptions are shown to be highly restrictive and seemingly poorly informed about the true nature of demand for rhino horn and the dynamics of poaching. The shortcoming in the legal decision-making pertains to not taking account of the absence of any evidence for the existence of domestic demand for rhino horns in South Africa. The key arguments presented herein align with support for the reinstitution of the rhino horn trade moratorium, as well as administrative measures implemented effectively to contain the poaching crisis.

The future of private rhino ownership in South Africa

Sustained poaching over the past decade has led to significant loss of black (Diceros bicornis) and southern white (Ceratotherium simum simum) rhinoceroses across South Africa. Whereas much research has focussed on the heavily targeted state-owned populations, there is little understanding of the trends and challenges faced by rhino populations held in the private sector. Private rhino ownership has increased substantially across South Africa over the past three decades, with over 42% of the entire rhino population now in private ownership. Although total rhino numbers on private properties are still increasing, the number of properties owning rhinos is declining. This suggests a move away from traditional extensive properties to large, single-species breeding facilities, which are less valuable from a conservation perspective. The economic impact associated with increased poaching of rhinos over the past decade is the major challenge to private rhino ownership and may encourage disinvestment in rhinos. Some private rhino owners advocate for trade in rhino horn to generate the funds necessary for continued protection of their animals. However, other options to reduce disinvestment, such as local community-engagement projects, are likely to be more favourably received by the wider conservation industry.

Stakeholder perspectives on the value and challenges of private rhinoceros ownership in South Africa

ABSTRACTThe value of private sector rhinoceros conservation in South Africa is a topic of much debate, often fueled by controversies surrounding trade in rhinoceros horn. We used semi-structured interviews (n = 16) to assess perceptions of private rhinoceros owners and other stakeholders regarding the value of the industry and its challenges. All stakeholders attested to the conservation value of privately-owned rhinoceroses and identified poaching as the main challenge. Most of the private owners identified the lack of legal international horn trade as driving the escalation in poaching, whereas other stakeholders perceived a wider range of contributing factors. The rhinoceros owners mostly favored international trade in rhinoceros horn, whereas non-governmental organization representatives were broadly opposed. Other stakeholders noted both positive and negative outcomes. Our results suggest greater collaboration between private sector stakeholders and government agencies will be essential for consensus around future management policies, especially concerning divisive options such as trade.

The Prevention of Organised Crime Act 1998: The Need for Extraterritorial Jurisdiction to Prosecute the Higher Echelons of Those Involved in Rhino Poaching

The continuous rising levels of rhino poaching in South Africa require smart strategies that move beyond prosecuting the actual poachers to engaging the transnational criminals who deal with the rhino horn after it leaves the country. In this regard, South Africa has a number of laws that deal with the poaching of rhino horns. The Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998 (POCA) does not provide for the adequate prosecution of offenders outside South Africa. It is argued that the POCA has to be amended to provide for extraterritorial jurisdiction to deal with the prosecution of the higher echelons of those involved in rhino poaching. While the POCA provides for extraterritorial jurisdiction in some respects, the application of these provisions still presents challenges in their implementation. To substantiate this claim, this article first discusses the international networks that support the trade in rhino horn. A critique of the available statistics on rhino poaching follows, as does a suggestion that attention must be paid to the details in the statistical records to understand how desperate the situation is. Thereafter, an evaluation of South Africa's legislative framework and other interlinking factors that affect rhino poaching is performed This demonstrates the need for extraterritorial jurisdiction with regard to rhino poaching.

The role of animal welfare values in the rhino horn trade debate

AbstractThe poaching crisis facing Africa's white rhinoceros is one of the continent's most pressing conservation challenges. The controversial proposal to legalize the international trade in rhino horn as a solution has led to a polarized conservation community. While a legal trade in rhino horn has been explored from an economic perspective, stakeholder values are yet to be adequately considered in addressing the issue. Exploring the role of stakeholder values in the rhino horn trade debate is crucial, as divergent stakeholder values and attitudes influence policy support and acceptability, creating conflict over appropriate management interventions. Using a survey of 285 participants, we show that people with stronger animal welfare values are less supportive of a legal rhino horn trade policy. We also demonstrate that people with stronger animal welfare values are less influenced by information provision, and that biospheric and altruistic value orientations do not significantly influence support for this policy. Our findings highlight the importance of considering stakeholder values when developing conservation actions, particularly concerning discussions about controversial policy actions. These findings can be extended beyond the illegal wildlife trade crisis to other challenges affecting iconic wildlife, such as trophy hunting, other sustainable use initiatives and invasive species management.

A framework to evaluate animal welfare implications of policies on rhino horn trade

There is currently fierce debate among rhino conservation stakeholders, scientists, and policy-makers over the legalisation of trade in rhino horn. Despite the prominent voice of animal welfare organisations in this debate and conservation more broadly, the welfare implications of a legal trade versus a trade ban have not been addressed. To explore this gap, we developed a framework to assess the welfare implications for white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) under different rhino horn trade policies. We surveyed rhino stakeholders in order to rank eleven welfare issues under a hypothetical legal trade versus a trade ban, and then calculated the resulting rhino welfare compromise under each policy. Results from expert input suggest that welfare compromise of legally-dehorned rhinos is substantially lower than welfare compromise of a poached animal. This is largely due to the differences in a rhino's physiological and psychological distress in response to being shot versus being immobilised with anaesthetics. Through a sensitivity analysis, we show how rhino welfare compromise changes with respect to the degree poaching levels could respond to legal trade (or a continued ban), from the scenario of low poaching pressure to the alternative scenario of increased poaching pressure. This analysis suggests that the policy that leads to the least poaching is likely best for improving rhino welfare because welfare compromise to poached individuals is much higher than the compromise from legally-dehorning a rhino. Our paper provides a framework to estimate and assess the welfare impacts of a hypothetical trade in rhino horn to inform policy debates.

An evolutionary game theoretic model of rhino horn devaluation

Rhino populations are at a critical level due to the demand for rhino horn and the subsequent poaching. Wildlife managers attempt to secure rhinos with approaches to devalue the horn, the most common of which is dehorning. Game theory has been used to examine the interaction of poachers and wildlife managers where a manager can either ‘dehorn’ their rhinos or leave the horn attached and poachers may behave ‘selectively’ or ‘indiscriminately’. The approach described in this paper builds on this previous work and investigates the interactions between the poachers. We build an evolutionary game theoretic model and determine which strategy is preferred by a poacher in various different populations of poachers. The purpose of this work is to discover whether conditions which encourage the poachers to behave selectively exist, that is, they only kill those rhinos with full horns.The analytical results show that full devaluation of all rhinos will likely lead to indiscriminate poaching. In turn it shows that devaluing of rhinos can only be effective when implemented along with a strong disincentive framework. This paper aims to contribute to the necessary research required for informed discussion about the lively debate on legalising rhino horn trade.

Esmond Bradley Martin, 1941–2018

Esmond Bradley Martin (17 April 1941 to 4 February 2018) was an American geographer who, through extensive fieldwork in Asia, was an authority on the traditional uses of rhino products. He carried out pioneering work from the 1970s investigating the illegal rhino horn and ivory markets to help close them down and save rhinos and elephants. He had been the United Nations Special Envoy for Rhinos in the early 1990s and, in the 2000s, he worked in dangerous markets surveying endangered wildlife commodities for sale. His work helped China ban their domestic rhino horn trade in 1993 and their ivory trade in 2017. Esmond was essentially an optimist, believing that with committed leadership, proper law enforcement and effective management, wild populations of rhinos, elephants and other species could flourish in their natural habitat in Africa and Asia. Born in New York City, Esmond had the most enquiring and persistent mind, always questioning well informed people. His interests ranged from opera, 18th century French furniture and paintings, to travelling and learning about different cultures and demand for endangered animals. From Brooks School in Massachusetts, he went to the University of Arizona receiving a BSc in Agricultural Economics in 1964 followed by an MA for his thesis “The rural land use of Kenya.” In 1971 he completed his PhD in Geography at the University of Liverpool on “The development of Malindi from the Portuguese period to the present.” While in England he collected Africana, enjoying visits to Maggs and other antiquarian bookshops, absorbed by the writings of early explorers in Africa, particularly admiring Burton. He had first been to Africa when he was 18 with his brother on a hunting safari to the Congo, which gave him his initial taste of adventure in Africa. In 1972 he and his wife Chryssee made Kenya their home, living near Nairobi National Park in Langata where he was to be tragically murdered 46 years later. The dhow trade was his first passion, exploring many of the Indian Ocean ports. He wrote Cargoes of the East: The ports, trade and culture of the Arabian Seas and West Indian Ocean in 1978 (reprinted in 2008) and Zanzibar: Tradition and revolution in 1978 (reprinted in 1992 and 2007). From this, he learned about huge quantities of rhino horn smuggled from Africa into North Yemen to make into handles for traditional daggers (jambiyas). The Saudi Arabian oil boom brought wealth to many in North Yemen in the 1970s. This was at a time of civil wars, corruption and mismanagement in much of Africa where rhinos were slaughtered and wiped out from much of their range to meet this demand. He worked tirelessly to close down this market. From 1971 to 1991 Esmond investigated the international trade in rhino products in Africa and Asia. His position as Special Envoy for rhinos for the United Nations Environment Programme in 1992 and 1993 helped to curb the poaching crisis and illegal trade in rhino horn at that time. From the late 1990s he investigated the world's ivory markets, supported mainly by Save the Elephants, and continued to monitor the rhino horn trade for the Aspinall Foundation. His final fieldwork was in Myanmar in December 2017. Esmond's main publications included Run rhino run (Chatto & Windus 1982) written with his wife. Later he co-authored a series of monographs on the ivory trade with Daniel Stiles or myself. Esmond kept copious notebooks and wrote prolifically, always with a fountain pen, producing over 30 books and monographs and more than 350 articles. For many years Esmond was on the Boards of the Kenya Museum Society and the East African Wild Life Society, and selflessly helped with their respective publications, Kenya Past and Present and Swara. He was also a dedicated editorial board member for Pachyderm, the journal of the IUCN SSC African Elephant, African Rhino and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups (and was a member of all three Groups). He believed in “widely disseminating information.” He was often interviewed by the media and advised several wildlife documentary film makers. Such films included “The Rhino War” documentary by Westinghouse TV USA in 1982, National Geographic's “The Rhino War” in 1988, and the BBC TV's “Ivory Wars” in 1989, 2000 and 2012. Esmond was a member of the Association of American Geographers, American Geographical Society, Explorers Club New York, Royal African Society, UK African Studies Association and UK's Fauna and Flora International. He received the Order of the Golden Ark from Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1986, and he was a Chartered Geographer awarded in 2003 by the RGS-IBG. He was a life Fellow of the RGS-IBG and an ardent supporter.

Structuring Legal Trade in Rhino Horn to Incentivize the Participation of South African Private Landowners

There is contentious debate in the literature regarding the conservation efficacy of the international rhinoceros horn trade ban. Because the ban has been in effect for 40 years, it is unclear how potential legal horn trade should be structured to attain rhino conservation on private lands. We sought to fill this gap by eliciting the preferences of South African private wildlife industry members (who conserve a third of South Africa's rhinoceroses) for international trade in rhino horn. We used a combination of best-worst scaling and dichotomous choice experiments to determine wildlife industry members' preferences for three features of legal trade: market structure; payment/kg horn; and whether landowners should be required to conserve a minimum amount of land per rhino before they may enter the market. Results indicate that respondents preferred payments of at least ZAR 150,000/kg (USD $11,500) and that legal trade not be regulated by government organizations. Respondents did not have clear preferences about whether market participants should be required to meet a minimum land requirement per rhino. Our results provide insights into how potential horn trade policy may be structured to meet the financial needs of private landowners, while securing the conservation of rhinos on private lands.

Rhinoceros ownership and attitudes towards legalization of global horn trade within South Africa's private wildlife sector

AbstractSouth Africa's private sector is vital to rhino conservation yet there is a lack of research into the attitudes of current and potential rhino owners towards rhino conservation and horn trade. We surveyed 169 members of the South African private wildlife ranching industry to examine these matters. We sought to understand: (1) ranchers’ motivations for owning or not owning rhinos, (2) how rhino ownership affects ranchers’ income and operations, and (3) the attitudes of wildlife industry members towards legalization of global rhino horn trade. Our findings indicate that all respondents recognize the risks of rhino ownership and tend to distrust national and provincial environmental departments. In addition to these concerns, rhino owners have substantial monthly security and management expenditures. We found positive attitudes overall towards global rhino horn trade. Rhino owners strongly agreed that legalization would benefit rhino owners and rhino conservation. Documenting the realities of private rhino ownership and the opinions of the wildlife industry is important for policy design and for informed debate about the legalization of the rhino horn trade.

Improving Conservation Outcomes: Understanding Scientific, Historical and Cultural Dimensions of the Illicit Trade in Rhinoceros Horn

Abstract This article aims to illuminate the pervasive allure of the rhinoceros to better comprehend the historical and cultural drivers for the illicit global trade in its most coveted part: rhinoceros horn. The market for rhino horn remains dominated by customary and cultural purposes, most notably in traditional medicine. Developing conservation strategies and responding to the criminological implications of the market requires cross-cultural understanding, drawing upon multidisciplinary sources from evolutionary biology, species ecology, cultural anthropology, biomedicine, biomaterial engineering as well as ancient and modern history. Analysis will be carried out in three parts: (1) a synopsis of evolution and ecology; (2) an examination of the cultural significance of the rhinoceros as informed by historical and contemporary sources; and (3) an investigation into the morphology and established uses of rhinoceros horn. This analysis demonstrates the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to developing optimal conservation strategies addressing the multifaceted problem of illicit trade in wildlife.

Wildlife Crime and CITES Trade Bans Applying the Principles of Gladwell (2013)

In the relationship between crime and punishment, Malcolm Gladwell hypothesises that, past a certain point, intensification of law enforcement stops having any effect on criminals and may even make crime worse. This is very relevant to a topical issue that has commanded global media attention in recent years – that of wildlife crime (illegal killing and trafficking in wildlife products). Many see the solution to the problem as intensification of law enforcement. Under the CITES Treaty this approach manifests itself in global trade bans, e.g. on ivory and rhino horn. This paper explores some mathematical expressions that allow an inverted-U curve to produce the effects described by Gladwell. The existing CITES trade bans on ivory and rhino horn have followed a very similar trajectory since their inception and appear to have made things worse. The larger question that has to be asked is “what incentives are there for African countries to invest in protection of their elephants and rhinos?” The focus on regulation without incentives is a central issue that needs to be addressed. Scale mismatches occur when global treaties such as CITES become ‘rogue’ institutions that ignore national sovereign rights and attempt to originate and impose new rules born at the global level that are essentially imperialistic. The Animal Rights groups have decided that consumptive use of wildlife is unacceptable behaviour and the enemy of conservation. This ignores the relationships between humans and wildlife that have existed on planet earth since before the Pleistocene. It has done no favour to the cause of conservation that the use of wild animals and their environments has been placed in a ‘special category’ that departs from the conventional manner in which people handle their day-to-day decisions about the land from which they derive their livelihoods. It has created the situation where officials and governments right across the continent are engaged in illegal ivory and rhino horn trade and it has made smuggling easy.