Black rhinoceros - Threats

Making knives with rhino horn

Hunters with guns, following close on the heels of the early "explorers", found rhinos easy prey. Accounts of killing five or six in a day, to be eaten or simply for amusement, were common. European settlers, arriving in the early 20th century to colonize and establish farms and plantations, continued this senseless slaughter: most regarded rhinos as vermin, to be exterminated at all costs. Where for centuries Africa's indigenous peoples had co-existed with rhinos, by the 1960s, black rhino numbers had plummeted to fewer than 70,000 individuals.

And then came a further disaster. Between 1970 and 1992, ninety-six percent of Africa's remaining black rhinos were killed when a wave of poaching for rhino horn rippled through Kenya and Tanzania, continued south through Zambia's Luangwa Valley as far as the Zambezi River, and spread into Zimbabwe.

Political instability and wars have greatly hampered rhino conservation work in Africa, notably in Angola, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan among others. This situation has exacerbated threats such as trade in rhino horn, and increased poaching due to poverty. Habitat changes have also contributed to declines in population levels.

Horn trade and poaching
Yemen emerged as a major market for African rhino horn during the 1970s. The demand for rhino horn for dagger handles in North Yemen led to a 20-fold increase in the price of rhino horn, a corresponding rise in poaching levels, and a great reduction of both black and white rhinoceros populations.

Following the collapse in oil prices during the mid 1980s and a shift in local mentalities, and government regulations, horn use in Yemen has now decreased. However, data from 1995 and 1996 suggests that "substantial amounts" of rhino horn were still entering Yemen.

The biggest threat to rhinos now is the continuing demand for horn for use in traditional Chinese medicines. In South Korea the horn is used for the treatment of a variety of ailments including epilepsy, fevers, strokes and AIDS.

The immense significance attached to rhino horn (a survey of medical practitioners in Taiwan showed that 60 per cent stocked rhino horn whilst 27 per cent maintained that it is essential to their work) continues to stimulate trade. A recent TRAFFIC report on the trade in rhino horn in China indicates that the Government of China has had some success in controlling the sale of rhino horn products since a ban was imposed in 1993.
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