South Africa cannot control domestic trade – NSPCA

The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) has outlined its concerns following the legalisation of the domestic trade in rhino horn.

The NSPCA said in a statement that the organisation as a whole was taken aback at the judgement, which lifted the domestic ban on rhino horn trade.

In the statement, the organisation said the extreme cruelty involved in poaching for rhino horns is unacceptable and must be stopped, not implicitly condoned.

“We fear that if this judgement stands, a further consequence will be our rhino will become farmed animals, as has already taken place in South Africa with crocodiles and lions. When wildlife become intensively-managed farmed animals, serious welfare concerns arise.

“Farming animals is a profit-based industry. As with all profit-based businesses, a successful operation involves decreased costs and increased production.

“Unethical practices may be used to increase profits, which are likely to include confining animals to the smallest spaces possible, feeding animals unnatural diets, and physically altering or maiming animals to prevent them from injuring one another when confined in limited spaces,” the NSPCA said in its statement.

Intensive farming of animals brings with it associated chronic stress and distress, leading to decreased production and illness.

To counteract this, farmers often resort to supplementing feed with antibiotics and other growth supplements.

Parasite burdens are greatly increased when animals are confined and farmed intensively, so anti-parasiticides are used continuously.

“Above all, rhino are wild animals. Rhino are not domesticated. They do not seek solace from being near to humans. Captivity, confinement and manipulation are foreign and very stressful to them.

“The concept of de-horning rhino needs clarity.

“Little is known about the long-term effects and with most rhinos, every time that the horn is “harvested”, the animal will need a full general anaesthetic. It is risky to anaesthetise rhinos and these animals often do not recover from their anaesthetics.”

Rhinos are slow reproducers that do not breed well in captivity. Increasing their numbers in an intensive farming situation is lengthy and far from easy.

Manager of the NSPCA Wildlife Protection Unit, Ms Isabel Wentzel, asked whether by opening the gate for domestic trade, are we literally closing the gate behind wild rhinos?

“Just look where lion farming has landed this country,” she said.

The NSPCA maintains that South Africa cannot control the domestic trade or prevent it from leaking onto the international market and facilitated horn laundering.

“Legalising domestic trade will undoubtedly allow operations at lower costs yet this trade is not sustainable and is unlikely to reduce poaching. The risk is that the legal trade will stimulate demand and increase poaching,” the NSPCA said.