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| Corbis |
| Rhinoceroses at a watering hole. |
A United Nations treaty today took the first step toward denying greater protection for the critically endangered black rhino.
Kenya proposed to the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that permission be denied to Namibia and South Africa to continue to each export five trophies of black rhino yearly.
Permission for such export had been granted to the two countries at the last meeting of the Parties in 2004. Kenya cited new evidence of increased rhino poaching in support of its proposal and suggested that instead of killing rhinos, Namibia and South Africa should let other countries where rhinos have gone extinct buy them for reintroduction purposes.
The issue came to a vote in Committee I of the CITES meeting where it was defeated in a vote of 15 in favor, 65 opposed, and 11 abstentions.* The United States and the European Union voted against the proposal.
"Critically endangered animals should not be shot for trophies," said Dr. Teresa Telecky, Ph.D., Director of the Wildlife Trade Program for Humane Society International. "They should be maintained in the wild where they can continue to contribute to the genetic variability of the population."
This decision can be overturned by the Plenary of the CITES meeting during the last two days of the CITES meeting, but it is expected to be confirmed.
The Black Rhino Population Count
The wild population declined by over 90 percent in sixty years reaching a low of 2,410 in 1995. Better protection allowed the population to increase to 3,610 by 2005. However, this is low compared to an estimated population of 65,000 in 1970. Much greater population increases will be needed before long-term viability of the species is assured. There are 1,138 black rhino in Namibia and 1,284 in South Africa.
Poaching for the international rhino horn trade is a major threat to black rhinos. Horns are used for Traditional Chinese Medicine and for ornamental purposes (carved into high status ceremonial daggers in the Middle East).
*Delegates at the CITES meeting are having difficulties with the electronic voting system. After almost every vote, at least one country's delegate speaks up to say that the voting device did not register his or her country's vote. Other delegates may be going up to the Chair of the meeting quietly after realizing that their votes did not register. The votes reported in the news pieces may not be the exact, final numbers, but if any mistakes would have changed the outcome of the vote, the Chair would have announced this.
