Rhino Wars – No Trade/Pro Trade

For all intent and purposes I left the “Save the Rhino” business. The word business is not used accidently. I grew tired of all the bullshit and lies, the attacks on my personality and my lifestyle. I have no doubt that this caused a small celebration amongst certain people. I have my other mission doing what I can to try and curb this horrible killing, and it is my own mission and not discussed on the internet.
I left but it did not leave me completely alone, information still trickles in, mainly from my Brothers whom I can trust. Amazing that they find out things that all the “Save the Rhino” activists and even our “investigative” reporters cannot/will not know.
Now in the past two weeks I am getting pushed, from both sides, via email and pvt messages, to take a stand and write something about the Pro Trade. (Legalizing the sale of rhino horn.)
I looked at the sites and forums that are suppose to debate this issue. F*^k it! A cat fight is more like it, far worse than the Bunnyhugger/Hunter fights. It is impossible to glean any constructive evidence, for or against in that mess of egos. The only solid conclusion I came to is the rhino is doomed, while these pseudo intellectuals boost their own egos and show how important they are in the rhino business, the rhino die.
On one such forum, Legalize Limited Trade in Rhino Horn gathered through natural mortality I found and commented on this.
“If you do not agree with the position expressed on this page, please state precisely what your solution to the rhino poaching is – and please let it not be a) the Govt. must put more effort and finance into the campaign, b) surveillance by drones c) educate the consumer countries d) dehorning e) poisoning rhino f) cross border counter insurgency g) improved training of field staff h) more equipment etc. etc – because its all been tried and some 1800 mutilated dead rhino down the drain since 2010 – and counting – we should be doing something differently don’t you think ?
When this whole saga is over there is going to be a reckoning; what did South Africa do and what did they not do in confronting the poaching. Was anything left untried ? We hope you and your ilk are ready to answer the question.”
The “you and your ilk” statement is a beautiful way to gain support and further the cause, which should be SAVING THE RHINO!
My reply was/is.
I put it to you, all the “efforts” that have been made by the people,places and things mentioned in the post, have been either done poorly and/ or, are RIFE with corruption. Most are run by egotistical maniacs at best. (That should make me a popular chap!) I care not. If we had one central, honest APU things would be different. No with all the corruption, a national passtime in South Africa, I put it to you that Pro Trade, while it has many merits will fall in the same hole of greed; not only that it will feed the demand side for horn, “validating” what we KNOW is not true, the horn is not medicine. It will also open many, many doors for unscrupulous people to enter. That said if the Pro Trade and the Anti Trade can reach a truce and join together to fight the real enemy (greed and corruption, not of the Asians, but of the South Africans!) annihilate the middlemen in private and government sector, that would go a long way to saving the wildlife in our country.
So that is where I sit on this issue, until I can get some solid cold, unemotional information.


I still think my article of a few years back is the immediate solution.
How to end the Rhino poaching.