Recently, a High Court in South Africa struck down the country's 2009 ban on the domestic trade of rhino horn. This ruling cannot be allowed to stand.
80% of the world's estimated 25,000 remaining rhinos live in South Africa, and this ruling puts them in grave danger of illegal poaching. Some species, like the Western black rhino, have already been driven to extinction by this trade. In 2014 alone, 1,215 rhinos were killed by poachers, the highest number in the past ten years. This year may already be on track to surpass that record, with 749 already dead by August.
The South African Minister of Environmental Affairs is asking the nation's highest court to reinstate the ban -- please sign and share this petition to add your voice to the appeal. If we put enough pressure on the appeals court to overturn the recent ruling, we can keep the rhino horn trade illegal.
