With only about 29,000 remaining in the world and over a thousand poached every year, rhinos are teetering on the brink of extinction. Now, South Africa, where more rhinos are poached than any other country, has proposed to start a legal trade in rhino horn.
To make matters worse, the proposed system would also allow buyers from other countries to come to South Africa, buy rhino horn, and take it back home with them, which opens the door to having these horns be subsequently sold on the black market. This would be disastrous for rhinos because it would fuel demand for their horns and it would further complicate enforcement matters for the already strained authorities fighting rhino poaching.
Join us in urging South Africa not to allow trade in rhino horn.
Dear Minister Molewa,
Rhinos are facing a poaching crisis and cannot afford to have trade expanded or demand for their horns increased. The proposed regulations will give poachers and traffickers an easy way to get rhino horns out of South Africa to be sold on the black market.
The world cannot afford to promote trade in rhinos and their parts while they are teetering on the brink of extinction, and the poaching and illegal trade of these animals remain at the highest rates in history. We urge South Africa to maintain the moratorium on rhino horn trade.
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