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Rhino Horn: Medicine or Murder?

The rhinocerous is on the verge of extinction, mainly because its horn is coveted as medicine throughout Asia. The supposed medicinal power of rhino horn has in the past been dismissed as myth, but new evidence suggests that the horn does have curative properties. Equally however, those same properties can be found in other products. And unless these are used, reports Gemini News Service, the rhinocerous has little chance of survival. By Damien I^ewis
THE medicinal qualities of rhinocerous horn, long prized tn Asia but dismissed tn the West as myth, have been given some sc ten tific backing. <
There’s some good news in this, and some bad news.
The bad news is that the poaching of rhinocerous for their horns, which has brought the animal to the very brink of extinction, is likely to continue. short of draconian action to discourage It. At present rates of slaughter, the rhino will not last beypnd the year 2000
The good news is that, if the scientific analysis of the medicinal properties of rhino horn 1s correct, then there are plentiful substitutes for it. There Is, In short, no need lo singk- out the rhinocerous for slaughter. The question Is whether that message gets through in time lo those with vested interests.
Rhino horn has been used for 2.000 years In medicines to treat fever, fiu, epilepsy, delirium, poisoning, boils and abscesses The animal's skin Is used for skin diseases, the penis as an aphrodisiac, its nails as a horn substitute, bone for hone disorders, blood for menstrual problems and urine for throat aliments.
Recently, three Chinese doctors tested rhino horn for antipyretic, or fever-reducing qualities. They found that when feverish rats were injected with large doses of rhino horn the fever was reduced.
Other claimed applications remain to be tested, although a 2,000 year history of medicinal usage would suggest at least some truth in them.
However, horn of the saiga antelope. water buffalo and cat tie were also found to reduce fever, and of course arc plentiful and cheap. The problem with them is that more is needed to achieve the same effects, so a process of concentration 1/ needed.
The point is that rhino born is not indispensable
The World Wildlife Fund has launched a new — possibly its final — campaign save the rhino, and It will need quick results. If remaining markets for horn arc not closed, one or more species *f rhino may be extinct within 10 years. The WWF has named China, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand as the four Asian countries which are the final front where the
battle for the future of the world's rhino will be fought.
Four of the world's five rhino species are threatened by extinction. Populations have plunged from an estimated 100,000 In the 1960s to fewer than 11.000 today.
The least-known but most threatened species — the Javan rhino — has the dubious distinction.of being one of the rarest large mammals on earth. A mere 65 survive in the wild.
Throughout Asia, there are Just 2,000 remaining Sumatran ("woolly") and greater onehorned rhinos.
It is the plight of the African black rhino however, that has captured world attention. It once roamed Africa in hundreds of thousands; now, only a few pockets of them survive in Zimbabwe. Namibia, Kenya and South Africa. The 1960's population of 60,000
black rhinos is down to 3,400.
Habitat loss and hunting reduced numbers, but the greatest threat .has been from poachers. Between 1970 and 1987. over 100 tonnes of horn — equivalent to 40.000 dead rhino — were traded on world markets.
This is an ancient and lucrative business. China, the world's main manufacturer of rhino-horn medicines, has been using horn for over 2,000 years. Two of the most common medicines are the tran-quillscr Niu Huang Ching Hsin Wan, produced by the Ren Tang Pharmaceutical Company, and fever-relieving pills made by thf Chengdu Traditional Chinese Pharmaceutical Factory.
In South Korea, demand for rhino horn has been fuelled by rapid economic growth. Here too. the born Is mainly used for
medicines, such as the common cure-all Chung Shim Won balls. And in Taiwan, certain millionaires are notorious for their demand for rare and exotic wildlife products including rhino horn.
Elsewhere, in the Yemen, horns have been carved into traditional dagger handles, ornately decorated and jcwelk-d.
But the greatest villain of the rhino racket is Thailand. In Thailand, any and all wildlife products arc traded and rhino horn is no exception.
"More horn Is available in Bangkok than in any other Asian city." says WWF. As a result of such demand an African horn now fetches over SI0,000, and an Asian horn over S60.000. The "logic" says that as Aslan horn is smaller, so its curative properties must be more concentrated.
Over the past 30 years, the batik- to saw the rhino has increasingly concentrated on smashing the- rhino horn trade. This has been done by waging virtual war on the poachers. by foiling the smuggling networks or through International legislation — like the convention on International Trade In Endangered Species (CITES).
There have been some remarkable victories. Japan, a country which Imported 800 kilos of horn a year In the 1970s, stopped using it almost overnight.
After Intense criticism of its widespread use of endangered species, Japan joined CITES In 1980. Doctors were told not lo prescribe rhino horn, as it was illegal, and search for alterna lives. Japanese pharmacists now use saiga antelope and water buffalo horns in medicines which once used rhino.
The same year, Yemen shocked the international environmental community by revealing that it. not China, was the largest consumer of rhino horn. Yemen was Importing over 1,500 kilograms of horn each year, or half the world horn trade, for use as dagger handles.
The establishment of trade laws in Yemen, coupled with a sagging economy, has resulted in a massive drop in Imports, and rhino horn has now been replaced by waler buffalo horn, camel nails or plastic.
In Africa the rhino war between poachers and wardens has been highly publicised. Countries like Kenya, dismayed by the 98 per cent In rhino numbers between 1975 and 1980, moved quickly lo establish rhino reserves. Kenya's 400 remaining rhinos are now guarded day and night.
In the 12,000-squarc-kilo-'metre Zambezi valley — home to the largest concentration of black rhino in Africa — the war between wardens and poachers is perhaps al its fiercest.
WWF is calling on China, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand to prohibit all trade in rhino horn and register and monitor existing slocks.
The most effective tactic of all however, may by that great universal leveller — a lower price. Any medicinal substitutes developed arc bound to be cheaper than rhino horn.
’ — GEMINI NEWS