Sep 8 2011 7:04AM

Doubt over clout of rhino hunting moratorium

Kim Helfrich

South Africa’s organised professional hunting sector does not believe a moratorium on rhino hunting would help stop or reduce the illegal supply of rhino horn to countries such as China and Vietnam.

This, despite a court case due to resume on Thursday next week, when a Thai national will again appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court.

Chumlong Lemtongthai is accused of running a syndicate using Thai strippers and prostitutes to pose as “hunters”, alongside shot rhino after apparently obtaining legal permits for the hunts. He was refused bail at his first court appearance.

Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa said last month she would consider a moratorium on rhino hunting as a component of the national effort against poaching of this Big Five species.

She warned it would take time, at least two years, because the issuing of hunting permits was a provincial competency and there would have to be consultation and agreement across all nine provinces before any moratorium could be put in place.

According to figures she gave Parliament, 143 permits have been issued this year to hunt rhino, compared to 129 last year. The most popular destination for rhino trophy hunters is North West, where 77 official permits have been granted. Limpopo is the second most popular province among rhino trophy hunters, with 33 permits granted, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 16. All permits issued are for white rhino.

This is well below the 284 rhino poached so far this year, of which 167 have been killed in the Kruger National Park.

Adri Kitshoff, Professional Hunters Association CEO, said this supported the assertion that rhinos in national parks are most threatened by poaching.

“A moratorium on rhino hunting would not assist in protection of these rhino. It is, in any event, illegal to hunt rhino in national parks,” she said. What she and the association’s just more than 1000 members want and have repeatedly asked the government for, are improvements in administration of laws and ordinances to protect rhinos.

“These improvements should include law enforcement, policing and prosecution of wildlife related contraventions. Training of more police, prosecutors and magistrates to enforce wildlife protection is essential.

“A moratorium on rhino hunting will not stop laws being broken or materially improve protection of the national rhino population, estimated at around the 21000 mark,” she added.