By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG (AA) – South Africa is to legalize limited trade in rhinoceros horn, a minister said Monday.
The development received a mixed reaction from conservationists, with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) saying it would place too great a strain on enforcement officials.
Environment Minister Edna Molewa told reporters in a televised briefing at parliament in Cape Town that legitimate rhino horn traders would be regulated.
The government’s decision to open a domestic market for rhino horn came barely three months after the Constitutional Court rejected the state’s appeal to keep a ban on domestic trade.
South Africa is home to nearly 20,000 rhinos, accounting for around 80 percent of the world’s rhino population. The country is faced with high levels of poaching.
“In our view, law enforcement officials do not have the capacity to manage parallel legal trade on top of current levels of illegal poaching and trafficking,” the WFF said in a statement to Anadolu Agency.
At least 529 rhinos have been killed since the beginning of the year — 13 less than the same period last year.
“In the reporting period, a total of 359 alleged poachers and traffickers have been arrested nationally,” Molewa told the parliamentary briefing.
Most rhino horns poached in South Africa are smuggled to Asian countries.
The South African Hunters’ Association said regulated trade would reduce poaching.
“In South Africa, we have a stockpile of over 20,000 tons [of rhino horn],” the association’s CEO Fred Camphor said. “If these could be dumped on the market and sold cheaply it would reduce demand for the horns.”
The South African government is planning to use mobile radar system as one of its technological tools in fighting poaching.
The system has the ability to cover hundreds of square kilometers (miles), ensuring early and night time warning of poacher groups.
