Unscrupulous Asian businessmen are allegedly posing as big-game hunters to slaughter South African rhinos and export the horns - quite legally - as hunting trophies.
But instead of ending up in trophy collections, the horns are being sold illegally to merchants to be crushed into powder for use in Eastern traditional medicine.
The Professional Hunters' Association of South Africa (Phasa) and representatives of Wildlife Ranching South Africa have reported their suspicions to the department of environmental affairs and tourism, which is responsible for enforcing international laws designed to ban illegal trade in endangered animal and plant species.
Democratic Alliance spokesperson on environmental issues Gareth Morgan has received a tipoff from a local wildlife taxidermist who suggested that several Vietnamese "hunters" were involved in the scam.
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According to the latest edition of the online hunting magazine African Indaba, Phasa has contacted the department of environmental affairs and the secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
African Indaba editor Gerhard Damm said: "It has come to the attention of Phasa that an increasing number of Asian nationals took advantage of the conservation status of white rhinos in SA. There persons contract hunting safaris and are subsequently legally hunting and killing white rhinos."
Damm said the hunters were taking advantage of Cites export permits to ship horns to China and other Eastern nations and then sell them illegally to rhino horn merchants.
White rhinos are listed on Appendix II of the Cites regulations, which allow horns to be exported as trophies to the home nation of the hunter.
However, hunting groups fear that if trade restrictions on this threatened species are abused, international laws could be amended to ban the export of all rhino trophies.
Meanwhile, Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk has hinted that the country may prohibit the export of rhino horn trophies to certain countries if an investigation suggests that the Cites regulations are being abused.
In a written reply to questions in parliament from Morgan, he said 237 permits had been granted during the 2006/2007 financial year for the export of rhinos or rhino parts.
He said trade bans could be implemented against certain nations if they were found to be flouting Cites requirements.
- This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on March 25, 2008
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