Plettenbery Bay Game Reserve- Blog on Rhino Horn Trade

One of our Cape Country Routes members, Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve recently posted an blog on their blog site about the controversial movement towards legalizing Rhino horn trade. We found it very interesting and thought some of you would be interested, so here it is! Give it a read.

"The catastrophe of the Rhino Horn Poaching disaster is only getting worse and conservationists and the government are scrambling to find a solution.

In the last 3 years there has been a massive call to try to end the totally cruel butchery of these animals for their horns. Shocking images have been blasted across social networks and front pages and countless campaigns have rocked the country and yet it seems there has been no change. If anything the issue has become exponentially worse.

The newest attempt at saving these animals and ending the horrific torture they go through during the terrible dehorning process, is leading the entire movement in the opposite direction.

South African Cabinet member, Water and Environmental Affairs Minister, Edna Molewa, along with many conservationists, argued that the final and probably the only option that we have left is to legalise the international trade of these horns.

This radical proposal has been met with many different responses. The obvious outcry by many is due to the absurdness of the idea while others are starting to see the potential success of this proposal. With the trade being legalized, the black market will, agreeably, not be eradicated (as it never will) but will potentially be radically decreased.

This will also enable the trade to be monitored and will hopefully assist in the sustainable farming of these horns. It will most defiantly decrease the huge numbers of awful attacks on these animals where their noses are hacked to pieces and the rhinos are left alive in agonising pain.

We have seen enough disturbing images to last a life time and the numbers of dead rhinos have sent shivers down even the most hardened folks' spines. Let's hope that whatever the solution to this disaster, it is implemented soon."