It was a five-hour drive from South Africa’s Kruger National Park, home of the world’s largest wild rhinoceros population, to Polokwane, home of the world’s most wanted man when it comes to rhino horn trafficking: a millionaire safari operator and ex-policeman named Dawie Groenewald. To meet Groenewald, photographer Brent Stirton and I sped in two […]
Tag: rhino horn
POLL: Should the rhino horn trade in South Africa be banned?
South Africa’s supreme court has dismissed a government bid to uphold a seven-year ban on the domestic trade in rhino horn, an industry group said this week. The decision has no bearing on a ban on international trade in rhino horn. Potential domestic buyers could include those who see rhino horn as a store of […]
Down to the last three: can science save northern white rhino from extinction?
Under the watchful eyes of a group of heavily armed guards, three rhinos graze on the grassland of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Most of the world knows that the rhinoceros is threatened, but the status of these animals is in another league. They are the planet’s last three northern white rhinos. None is […]
The audacious plan to airlift 80 rhinos to Australia
A South African expatriate’s desire to protect rhinoceroses from poachers is driving an unusual plan to breed the giant animals down under. It’s sometimes said that people look like their pets. But that’s not the case with Ray Dearlove. He’s a a statuesque slab of fellow, built like a prop forward with the weathered features […]
South Africa Backs Away From Legal Rhino Horn Trade
South Africa will not propose ending the ban on the international rhino horn trade at the next major meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the body that regulates the worldwide wildlife trade. Jeff Radebe, the minister of planning, monitoring and evaluation, said the government has […]
POLL: Should fake rhino horn be banned?
Trade in bioengineered rhino horn shouldn’t be allowed. That’s the contention behind a petition filed today with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by the Center for Biological Diversity, a U.S.-based group that uses science and law to protect the environment, and WildAid, a nonprofit organization that aims to eliminate illegal wildlife trade. At issue […]
POLL: Could synthetic rhino horns help save the rhino?
From knee joints to human organs, and from prosthetics for pets to guns, it seems that the limits of 3D printing are bound only by imagination. Taking 3D printing to the next step are the founders of a start-up company, Pembient, who want to print synthetic rhino horns. Matthew Markus, one of Pembient’s founders, stated in […]
Will 2016 Be a Breakthrough in the Fight to Save Elephants?
Just outside Arusha High Court in northern Tanzania one morning in November, the five men waited for the magistrate to call their names. All had been charged with killing elephants. This was the fourth preliminary hearing for a suspected head poacher and his accomplices since their arraignment more than a year ago. The younger ones […]