Private Rhino Owners Association Considers Legal Challenge to Government's Decision on Rhino Breeding

The Private Rhino Owners Association , whose members own most of South Africa’s population of white rhinos, is considering a legal challenge to the government’s decision to phase out the intensive and captive breeding of the species for commercial reasons .in an interview that the association was looking at challenging the policy in court on the grounds that, as affected parties, the input of private rhino owners had been ignored by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment .

That is interesting because it makes no mention of phasing out captive breeding for conservation purposes — a potential rhino-sized loophole. And the NGO African Parks bought Hume’s CBO last year with the specific intention of rewilding the animals, which effectively means transferring wildlife populations to ranges the species previously occupied.

Proa estimates that about 8,000 white rhinos in total, or 65% of the national herd, is in private hands as the poaching crisis pivots to KZN’s state-run parks.This private percentage has been growing steadily over the past two decades for the simple fact that private owners have done a better job of protecting their herds than the ones that occupy state-run reserves, despite swelling security and other costs.

Against this backdrop, commercial incentives to privately own the animals are dwindling as fewer private game operators want to buy rhino while the global trade in rhino horn — which can be harvested through non-lethal methods and grows back — remains strictly banned. This would presumably mean de-horning “wild” populations — an anti-poaching measure — and selling the harvested horns to raise conservation funds.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

Private Rhino Owners Association Legal Challenge Government Decision Rhino Breeding Commercial Reasons Department Of Forestry Fisheries And The Environment

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