Why rhino horns are so popular

MBABANE – The rhinoceros horn is in demand overseas because of its high price.

A horn weighing seven kilograms can cost up to E2.8 million in the black market.

It is said that a rhino horn with a medicinal value cost E399 300 a kilo (36 300 sterling pounds) by today’s exchange rate. An average horn weighs 7kg.

In 2009, the media in London, England, reported that the cost of rhino horn had left gold prices behind. A kilo of gold at that time cost E270 600) 24 600 pounds by current exchange rate.

It is no wonder that some Swazis, for the first time in 20 years, are hunting for the expensive horn.

Over the past weekend, Jeremiah Mahlalela (59) and his nephew Mcineni Matsebula allegedly killed a white rhino at Hlane Royal National Park. They were arrested and charged with four counts of contravening the Game Act.

The rhino was allegedly dehorned.

A white rhino is larger than black rhino and large bulls can reach weight of up to 2 500 kg.

According to African Wildlife, a nature conservation organisation, these animals have a very broad flat mouth which aids in feeding off large quantities of grass.

A white rhino’s natural head posture faces downward so its mouth is always close to the ground while grazing.

A black rhino is smaller than the white rhino and a large bull weighs around 1 000 kg.

African Wildlife says they have a rather small hooked shaped mouth for feeding on trees and shrubs.

The black rhino’s natural head posture is face upward, so there is no need for it to lift its head when feeding off trees.

It is often found in thick vegetation which is possibly the reason why the female will often run in front of her calf to clear a pathway.

Meanwhile, the demand for these animals has been high since the black market fixed high prices for the horns. While the demand is high, the risks for rhino poaching remain high as well. Illegal horn hunters have either been killed or jailed for hunting rhinos at the Kruger National Park in South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and some parts of Africa.

It is massively sold in the markets of South Asia.

An online media agency reporting on wildlife said the killing of rhinos had also peaked to a new high in 15 years. Zimbabwe, India and Nepal have also witnessed a rise in rhino poaching.

South Africa is said to be experiencing a massive surge in rhino poaching, an activity blamed on criminal syndicates striving to meet an insatiable appetite for rhinoceros horn in east Asia.

At least 84 rhinos were killed by poachers in the country since 2009, a jump from the 13 deaths in 2007.

Conservationists blamed the smuggling trade connected to countries such as China and Vietnam, where rhino horn could fetch thousands of pounds for its perceived medicinal value.

They also said more sophisticated poaching methods were being used, with organised criminal gangs flying in to game reserves by helicopter to kill rhinos, hack off their horns and make a quick getaway.

South Africa has about 1 490 black rhinos, more than a third of the world population of this critically endangered species. There are about 16 275 southern white rhinos, 93 per cent of the global total.

A Vietnamese minister’s claim that powdered rhino horn could help cancer patients is blamed for increasing the demand further.

It is said that rhino horn had been used as an ingredient in traditional Asian medicine for 2 000 years.

There is a strong belief that the rhino horn can alleviate fever, treat skin disease, bone disorders, help women with menstrual problems and help stimulate libido for men.

The hunting of these animals has been so rampant that in Namibia and Zimbabwe, game wardens embarked on a project to dehorn them to prevent poachers from finding them worth killing. It is said that dehorning has been successful in some areas of Namibia, but poachers in Zimbabwe have taken to killing the animals simply to prove their ability to enter into the parks at random without being caught.

The Online Media Agency said in countries such as Kenya, where the rhino population had become severely threatened, the survival of the species was placed in the hands of tourist dollars, some of which were targeted for investment in local communities.

Both approaches, therefore, identified the need to highlight the value of the animals to local inhabitants.

Countries now train and pay local inhabitants as ‘community game wardens’ to ensure that the animals are not harmed.

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