London: Rhinos, one of world`s most
endangered animals, are being farmed on Chinese wildlife
reserves to harvest their horns for medicinal purposes, a
report by international conservation monitors has claimed.
The monitors have found that China has imported 141
live white rhinos from South Africa since 2000, far more than
is needed for tourism purposes.
The report said: "Since 2000 Chinese data suggest 141
rhinos were obtained from South Africa. Reports of horn
harvesting of captive rhinos in China have surfaced but need
further verification. Clarification on the purpose of keeping
large aggregations of captive rhino in China would be
welcomed."
According to a report in The Sunday Times, the aim of
the purchases is to set up rhino farms.
"The suspicion is that these rhinos are being
aggregated into herds and farmed for their horns, which are
valued for medicinal purposes," said Tom Milliken of Traffic,
the wildlife trade monitoring network.
The revelation about China`s surge in rhino purchases
is part of an official report to be delivered to Cites (the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).
A meeting has been organised in Qatar from next
weekend to discuss the burgeoning trade in threatened animals
and plants.
Mark Jones, programme director for Care for the Wild
International, a conservation charity involved with the Cites
agreement, said all rhino species were fully protected under
the treaty - so the aim of the Qatar conference should be to
improve enforcement.
"We would like to know what China is doing with all
the live rhinos it is importing from South Africa but the
increased reports of rhino poaching, particularly in South
Africa and Zimbabwe, are very worrying too."
Rhinos are just one of several species whose chances
of survival could be determined by the talks.
Others include African elephants, polar bears, bluefin
tuna and hammerhead sharks. One of the thorniest issues under
discussion is the growing number of tiger farms in China,
where about 6,000 of the big cats are held in captivity -
compared with the 50 or so which are left in the wild.
The discovery has alarmed British and European Union
officials, who plan to ask the Chinese to explain if they are
allowing rhino farming.
Defra, the environment ministry in the UK said:
"There are allegations around horn harvesting of captive
rhinos in China and these need to be investigated."
Rhinos have suffered a catastrophic decline in numbers
over the past 50 years. There are five rhino species, of which
three live in Asia. One of these, the Javan rhino, is close to
extinction, with just 130 creatures left, while the closely
related Sumatran rhino numbers only about 300.
Even the great one-horned rhino, found mainly in
India, has only about 2,800 animals. However, it is the fate
of the more numerous African rhinos that is causing the most
concern because of a surge in poaching, as well as exports.
Of the two African species, black rhinos number only
about 4,200 while there are an estimated 17,500 white rhinos
left. These days most are kept in reserves and wildlife parks,
unlike a century ago when hundreds of thousands of animals
roamed Africa.
The recent decline is, according to Traffic, almost
all because of surging demand for rhino horn in Asian
traditional medicine. Despite being made mainly of keratin,
the same protein found in fingernails and hair, the ground-up
horn is reputed to calm fevers such as malaria.
There is also a renewed threat to rhinos from claims
that the horn can cure cancer. Rhino horn is now so valuable
that Vietnamese embassy officials have been caught trying to
smuggle horns back home.
Similarly, South Africa has seen a surge in
applications from Vietnamese hunters for licences to shoot
captive-bred animals in private wildlife reserves.
PTI
