Legalising International Trade in Rhino Horn ???

[dup]

RP, if money is stolen from every type of container, bank, government dept. etc what will stop the criminals not to steal the Rhino's horns , because then they have a legal market. They will not give the "market powers" a chance.

[Richprins]

That is happening, I agree!

But it sort of worked for ivory?

Also big media internationally!

[iNdlovu]

Did it work for ivory RP? Elephant are also being poached mercilessly in the rest of Africa.

Can you honestly say that there is enough rhino horn available from both living animals and stock piles to supply the demand. The idea of legalizing horn trading would work if there was enough horn to flood the market, thereby bringing the price down and therefore making it not worth poaching animals. There is no way that we have enough horn to drive the prices down so poaching will still be the better alternative because it's cheaper to get than buying it on a normal market.
There are just too many people demanding the stuff in the eastern countries. It's simple economics. Too much money chasing too few goods equals inflation.....prices go up.
We need to forget about trading, educating the Chinese people etc, we just don't have the time. The answer lies in better protection of the few animals we have left. Take it out of the hands of government and parastatal entities, there's way too much corruption there. Rather privatize all protection efforts.

[cheetah]

Did it work for ivory RP? Elephant are also being poached mercilessly in the rest of Africa.

I think we can safely say that Rhino and Elephant will always be poached. That is not the question at hand. The question is how to curb poaching so the species does not die out.

The idea of legalizing horn trading would work if there was enough horn to flood the market, thereby bringing the price down and therefore making it not worth poaching animals.

Agreed

There is no way that we have enough horn to drive the prices down

This I'm not so sure on. How many tons of rhino horn in the market would it take to bring down the demand, and thus bring down the value of the horn?

The economist and lady from the WWF that was on earth hour on 702 reckon there is enough in stockpile alone to bring down the value. What they are not certain on is how the market will behave in the forseeable future. For instance ... will new groups that were previously uninteristed in rhino horn, become interested in it after it becomes legal. But based on the experts on that show, there is enough horn to bring down the price.

As RP said ... nothing else is working.

[Sprocky]

As long as anti-poaching units get charged for manslaughter when they kill a poacher, the poachers will continue as nothing happens to them when caught!!!

[H. erectus]

Legalized trade is a short term solution for stockpiles only.
Stockpiles will become price sensitive. The cartells and
underworld will continue with their sly methods, 'cause
it will be the cheaper route! Also they will avoid exposure
at the stockpile counter!!

Problem is we have people living in areas bordering KNP
that are prepared to work for crumbs. Not neccessarily
South Africans.

[iNdlovu]

Cheetah, I agree we have massive stockpiles of horn, but it is nothing when one thinks of the populations of countries like China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Taiwan . Then we also have the Arab countries that value horn for their daggers etc. our stock piles may drive prices down for a short while, but then what?

[H. erectus]

Somehow I believe the stockpile counter will become the
bargaining counter, where demand might drive the price
upwards. There are enough idiots abroad with little sense
of imagination and too much money that will be the cause
for this upward trend of the price, of rhino horn!

And all this while the real culprit still skulks around on the
cheap looking for labour to do the dirty work!

[Richprins]

The stockpiles are a worrying factor for me, not just regarding SanParks and Mr Hume, but provincial Parks and private owners. It's probably more than massive, and I think all will jump at selling their stuff and starting with a clean slate.

Hello, Cheetah!

[H. erectus]

What's with the cheetah bit??
Did ma team score points?