Lift Rhino Ban

HUNTERS: LIFT BAN ON RHINO TRADE
30 March 2012

Johannesburg - Giving endangered species such as rhino a commercial value was the only way to save them from extinction, the SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SAHGCA) said.

SAHGCA manager Dr Herman Els said they would ask SA to lobby for a change in the white rhino's status at the next Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting in 2013, to enable a controlled trade in rhino horn, Beeld reported on Friday.

Speaking at the organisation's annual media day in Pretoria on Thursday, Els gave several examples of how hunting had contributed to wildlife conservation in the past.

He said nature conservation had to pay for itself, as the government had more crucial priorities, such as poverty alleviation and economic development.

Sustainable use of wildlife was therefore the only solution, Els said.

Meanwhile, members of the Animal Activists for Africa (AAA) gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria on Thursday to enact the symbolic slaughter of a rhino.

According to Beeld, AAA members dressed in traditional Chinese and Vietnamese clothing, called for an end to rhino poaching which, they said, was being perpetrated chiefly by citizens of those Asian countries.

Zhou Xiaomei, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, said they were aware of the rhino poaching crisis, and that it bothered them just as much as it did South Africans.

The environmental affairs department said in statement on Thursday that poachers had killed 150 rhinos so far this year.


News24 – 29 March 2012
WS

It's not fair if they lift the Hunting Ban as the Rhinos will be huntered.

This is very worrying WS, lifting the ban I am sure would only end with more Rhino being poached, they need protecting. Also why do they need a controlled trade on Rhino horn??????? Rhino horn does not serve any purpose, when will these people get it into their heads that Rhino horn needs to be on the Rhino, thats the only place it serves any purpose.

littlewid-x-

Littlewid. Why don't they use their finger/toe nails? It's the same as rhino horn!

Lai

It a stupid idea! Why can't they see what selling of stockpiles of ivory has done to the elephant population?? Argh! If there is legal rhino horn out there, there will be even more illegal horn because they will just be able to pass it off as legal!!

I just don't get it why they would want to lift this ban