RHINOS ALIVE !
PROPOSED
CORRECTIVE MEASURES
South African Hunters and
Game Conservation
Association
Danie Venter: CEO SAHGCA (30-05-2012)
Rhino Conservation is a South African
success story with 93% of the world’s
White Rhino in this country !
Black market price for Rhino horn:
US$ 65,000 / kg = R520,000-00 /kg
@ ± 5kg horn/rhino
The 200+ Rhinos poached between
1 Jan and end May 2012
netted US$ 65,000,000 for criminal syndicates
and US$ 0-00 for Rhino conservation.
= R520 million
0
10 000
20 000
30 000
40 000
50 000
60 000
70 000
80 000
1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995
OUR TRACK RECORD:
AFRICA’S BLACK RHINO POPULATION
From 68,000 animals in 1965
to 2,134 animals in 1995
(65,866 animals in 30 years)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros
Roughly 2,195 animals per
annum
OUR TRACK RECORD:
AFRICA’S ELEPHANT POPULATION
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant
0
1 000 000
2 000 000
3 000 000
4 000 000
5 000 000
6 000 000
7 000 000
8 000 000
9 000 000
1850 1900 1945 1960 1990
From 1,4 million animals in 1945
to 600,000 in 1990
(800,000 animals in 45 years)
Roughly 17,777 animals per
annum
OUR TRACK RECORD:
AFRICA’S LION POPULATION
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant
0
1 000 000
2 000 000
3 000 000
4 000 000
5 000 000
6 000 000
7 000 000
8 000 000
9 000 000
1850 1900 1945 1960 1990
From 400,000 animals in 1965 to
47,000 in 2005
(353,000 animals in 40 years)
Roughly 967 animals per
annum
Its clear we are loosing our wild populations of
Rhino, Elephant and Lion in Africa, which leads to the
value of the products of these animals constantly
increasing
R 144 million up in smoke
We can thus not afford to
see valuable assets go up in
smoke while conservation
can barely pay for itself –
let alone pay for
anti-poaching actions.
HARD FACT:
where wildlife is utilised in a sustainable manner,
all over the world, there it flourishes, because it
has a value as an important resource
HARD FACT:
Scarcity of resource results in increase in price and
feeds the illegal trade resulting in increased
poaching
0
5 000 000
10 000 000
15 000 000
20 000 000
25 000 000
200 250 100 50
HARD FACT:
We have to force the black market price of
Rhino horn, Elephant ivory and Lion body parts down
through responsible and controlled legal trade.
0
5 000 000
10 000 000
15 000 000
20 000 000
25 000 000
50 100 150 200
Demand the immediate down-listing of South Africa’s
white rhino from Appendix II to Appendix III of CITES;
THE SAHGCA PROPOSAL:
Review South Africa’s membership of CITES and allow
our own conservation authorities to strictly manage the
trade in the products of high profile animals effectively
and responsibly, according to properly negotiated legal
trade agreements with other countries;
Establish one single co-ordinating body with executive
powers from skilled and qualified experts from
government and private entities who already manage
anti-rhino-poaching initiatives under the supervision of
DEA,
This body to also manage anti-poaching measures,
and administer the national and international trade in
rhino horn using the traceability created through
compulsory DNA profiling of all Rhino in this country
(also Elephant ivory and Lion body parts);
Implement appropriate electronic databases that will
provide immediate statistical data on the permitting
system, the content of the national stockpile of rhino
horn, the sale of rhino horn from these stockpiles, the
sale of relevant veterinarian medicine, the incidence of
diseases, and any other such database that will assist
the co-ordinating body to manage their task
realistically;
Appoint the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at
Onderstepoort as principal DNA collecting and storing
facility for a centralised system of traceability of all
rhino horn in this country; and
Strictly implement the stipulations of the new
Norms & Standards for Rhino management as quick
as possible and transfer the administration thereof to
the suggested co-ordinating body.