I did this sketch and wrote in my artist's journal this week......
The army are very visible as their vehicles patrol the Kruger Park, and thank heavens for them.
Just the other day they found 9 dead rhino and shot two poachers. How terrible! The poachers were probably poor ex-soldiers driven to it by need and poverty.
Should Sale Of Rhino Horn be Allowed?
YES, it should.
Think about it. What did Prohibition achieve? It put control firmly in the hands of the criminal classes and resulted in death and flourishing crime.
What has banning the sale of rhino horn done?
It has driven the price way up, caused an exponential rise in the poaching of rhino over the past three or four years, and resulted in the death not only of rhino but of the poachers themselves.
If the sale of rhino horn were allowed, game farmers would raise rhino for the horn, which would be harvested regularly - rhino horn is compacted keratin and grows again, like cut hair does. No rhinos would lose their lives, because prices would fall like a stone and therefore no desperate poachers would be shot either. And the fat kingpins who organise the whole thing, the criminals, would look elsewhere for their profits.
All the leading conservationists agree that such a step would put a brake on poaching and save many rhino lives....Its only January and the poachers are hard at it. Last year alone well over 400 rhino died for their horn in Kruger Park alone.
John Hume is probably the largest private owner of rhino in the world....he loves them, and cuts their horns to discourage poaching - but he lost two just the other day. He is fighting to get the European CITES people to realise the problems on the ground in Africa, and to deal with the situation in a pro-active way.
One horn will fetch somewhere around $200,000.
We can all help even if by simply being aware!
Go to an informative rhino site to find out more.
PLEASE THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP MAKE PEOPLE AWARE OF THE PLIGHT OF RHINOS.
0 comments:
Post a Comment