[Guymullins]

The numbers of rhino poached per year is horriffic. However, these numbers show the sucess of the rhino breeding programmes run throughout our country. There are many more rhino killed per year now that existed thirty years ago. Private game farmers are breeding rhino all over the country from the tiny seed herd that was all that was left of the White Rhino a few decades ago. Two things are hampering this re-breeding campaign. Firstly poaching is rife because the Far East has a strong appetite for rhino horn, both as an afrodisiac and a decorative substance. Secondly, and more importantly, the restrictions placed on the legal trade of rhino products and the legal hunting of rhino, has pushed up prices of these products to astronomic levels. Because hunting is being restricted, mainly because of the well-meaning influence of countries who dont have a clue about conservation, the actual worth of rhinos is devalued as far as the game farmer is concerned. Why should a farmer breed rhino he is unable to sell to a hunter and costs a fortune to protect from poachers? What is needed is more open trade in rhino products, not less. Any economist knows that restricting supply of any product will tend to increase its price, but this is something Western conservationists have great difficulty understanding. There is undue influence from countries in which you have to visit a zoo to see wildlife, on countries that are actually breeding it .