Nov 17 2011 7:10AM

Hong Kong rhino horn ‘biggest seizure to date’

Kim Helfrich

The discovery by Hong Kong customs officials of 33 rhino horns hidden in a container will see more pressure from environmental groupings to “get to the top” when it comes to the syndicates dealing in this Big Five product.

The horns were found on Tuesday, along with ivory bracelets and chopsticks, in a container loaded at Cape Town harbour.

Indications are it is the single biggest seizure of rhino horn yet and is another pointer to the world’s biggest consumer market for this particular product – the Far East.

Traffic, the international network monitoring trade in wildlife and wildlife products, noted rhino horn smuggling was “usually done in parcels of two or three through airports”.

The discovery supports the opinion of Ken Maggs, head of the SANParks environmental crimes unit, that more should be done to go after the top of the pyramid that is rhino poaching, horn smuggling and selling.

He said that in the Kruger National Park anti-poaching efforts and operations on the ground had to be continued but more effort had to also go into arresting syndicate heads, usually based in China and Vietnam.

Another who has long felt the “head of the hydra” must also enjoy a lot more attention from law enforcement agencies is Elise de Villiers, founder of Stop Rhino Poaching, a web-based initiative to protect this species.

“Until such time as more people higher up in the syndicate chains are exposed and taken out of the system, the killing on the ground will continue,” she said.

SANParks communications head Wanda Mkutshulwa called the discovery “disturbing”, saying it was a good reason for local rhino owners to have their animals’ DNA sampled and registered on the database at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty of the University of Pretoria.

“With DNA available, samples taken from the horn in Hong Kong can be traced to where the rhino were killed locally.”

She was sure there would be cooperation between Hong Kong and SA law enforcement agencies in terms of further investigation.

The national custodian of SA’s natural heritage, the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, had not responded to enquiries about the Hong Kong rhino horn at the time of going to press.

kimh@thenewage.co.za