Op-Ed

Submitted by Elianna Brookhouse, The Ohio State University

The Rhino Horn Trade Ban isn’t What you Think it is

This summer, I had the privilege to travel to South Africa with other international veterinary students. We traveled across South Africa and worked with the big five alongside multiple veterinarians. The most shocking piece of information I learned was about the rhino horn trade, and how it is not beneficial to conservation efforts. In speaking with multiple doctors about this issue, I found that they all carry similar opinions about this topic. Admittedly, there is no one size fits all solution to the threat of rhino extinction. However, this ban is not working. If you aren’t already familiar with rhino horn poaching, let me tell you a little about it. There is an incredibly high horn demand for medicinal use, jewelry, and status gifts. Since the trade of this product is illegal, this demand is met through poaching rhino horn. This is done by slicing off the most horn possible, typically resulting in removal of a portion of the rhino's nasal bone. The poacher then leaves the rhino to die, and sells their horn for profit. As future veterinarians this makes us heartbroken enough, so I hate to be the one to tell you that rhinos are not the only ones losing their lives in this fight. Sometimes, poachers are able to locate park rangers that are devoted to protecting these animals. Poachers may show up at the rangers' homes and threaten them, “tell me where your rhino is or I will come back and kill your family”. And unfortunately, it is not an empty promise. Before the implementation of this ban, there were over 100,000 black rhinos, today we are down to about 6,000. Another sad reality of this massacre is that when a poacher kills a cow, half of the time they are taking 2 lives. If the cow isn’t pregnant, then there is a small calf nearby that was once reliant on her for survival. Dr. Peter Rogers, the owner of ProVet Wildlife services said, “The worst thing you could do to me is give me a rhino and tell me to take care of it”. As you can imagine, it is not cheap to keep these animals alive, and it's even more costly to protect them. As a result of this, private rhino owners are ceasing to own them, and this has decreased the land available for rhinos by 430,000 hectares (106,2553 acres). Now, think of a legal trade. The horns of rhinos are already being trimmed back in an effort to prevent poaching, and a stockpile of horns is being collected without use. This product should be sold for profit instead of tucked away and never properly utilized. One adult rhino will produce approximately five to eight horn sets in their lifetime. This is a sustainable resource, that if harvested correctly, will pose no threat to the survival and livelihood of these animals. Not only would rhino custodians and owners benefit from the proceeds, but so would the South African economy. The profits of this trade would now be fed back into conservation efforts, allowing investment in breeding programs for repopulation and continued protection of the rhinos. This would also contribute tax to the South African Revenue service, create employment opportunities and promote growth of the country's economy. To put all of this simply; we need to make these animals worth more alive than dead, and right now, it's the opposite. When asked if opening the trade has the potential to further drive demand, and make the issue worse, Dr. Peter Rogers considered it and responded, “There is a possibility things could get worse if we change it, but there is a guarantee that things will get worse if we don't change it. And if it does worsen, then we could close it again. But what we are doing now isn’t working.”. As veterinarians, we will take an oath and commit to use our knowledge and skill in an effort to benefit society, protect animal health/welfare, and conserve animal resources. That starts with our knowledge of issues like this. Something here has to change, before it's too late, and we lose this species for good.