Rhino Wars

Horns of GoldFrom Marie,

“There has been so much of an increase in poaching, that even some people who have claimed to be animal protectionists have put forth the idea of quotas or some lifting of the ban on hunting rhinoceros and elephants.

This would be disastrous, I think.  In the past, when some ivory was grandfathered into the market as “old ivory”- it just became an excuse for poachers and illegal traders to describe whatever ivory they wanted to unload.  And the price for rhino horn has continued to rise, as demand continues to increase and the capacity to protect them collapses as governments make austerity cuts- or simply collapse under the strain of a civil war.

So, even though Nelson Mandela was very correct in observing, when the ANC was criticized by environmentalists for not adequately protecting the Black Rhinoceros as part of a unique South African heritage, that when the international market put a price on a single horn of some $30,000… how could someone making $1 a day refuse?

It’s not too surprising that as the international banking scam led to the international collapse of government infrastructure and the cessation of corporate regulation and human services.  So more pollution, less protection, and an all-out rampage to convert endangered species to cold cash.  National Geographic puts the number of elephants killed in the past two years at a quarter million (can that possibly be right, 250,000?) and Science magazine was tracking the increase in rhino killings at a steady rate these past few years, some 650 documented deaths this year.  When people are in free fall, they can do terrible things…”