Rhinoceroses have come to epitomise many of the problems facing modern conservation. We have just five species left from dozens that were part of a family has been around for over 30 million years. Their great size, ancient appearance and dangerous nature mean they hold a fascination for people the world over, who pay small fortunes for a chance to see them. It would seem then that the preservation of these unique animals should be a priority. But all five species are, or have recently been, in danger of extinction due to human actions that are entirely preventable and unnecessary.
The white rhino demonstrates both ends of the spectrum of success in modern conservation. The southern subspecies is one of the remarkable success stories of conservation as it has gone from numbering fewer than 100 individuals in one population in the early 1990s to numbering over 20,000 now. The other subspecies shows just how much we can cock it up, with just two northern white females and the famous male Sudan remaining.
Black rhino
My PhD research focuses on the eastern black rhino, one of three remaining subspecies. There were once seven, that were distributed all across sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the remaining blacks are confined to Namibia, South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania.
For such large creatures, black rhinos are surprisingly secretive and nervous. They are also famously bad-tempered, much more so than the more laid-back whites. Blacks have poor eyesight but excellent hearing and sense of smell. If you are on foot, they will know you are there before they can see you. You will then have a rather anxious wait to find out whether they will run away from you or directly towards you, leaving you to dash for the nearest tree.
These charismatic animals are a must-see for any self-respecting safari-goer, and are one of the Big Five that tourists clamour to watch and photograph. Despite their popularity and the money that is spent on seeing them, they are in serious danger of extinction. It is thought that there were once up to 850,000 black rhinos living across sub-Saharan Africa. We now probably now have just under 5,500. The scale of what has been lost is truly staggering.
Rhinos have been hunted for centuries for a range of reasons. They have been treated as agricultural pests, they have been killed for meat and trophies, their skin has been used for shields and good luck charms and notoriously their horn has been used in traditional medicine. Without modern technology, this probably had little effect on their numbers. But with colonialism came more efficient ways of hunting and clearing land, which meant that many species underwent huge declines during the 20th century. Hunting and habitat loss due to clearance of land for settlement and agriculture drastically reduced both the abundance and range size of this species, until around 100,000 remained by 1960.
The poaching crisis
Whilst there had been a dramatic decrease in the number of black rhinos in Africa, at the beginning of the 60s there was little risk of extinction. Then the great poaching crisis struck during the 1970s and 1980s and, whilst many large mammals were tumbling towards extinction, the black rhino is thought to have declined faster than any other. Between 1960 and 1995, growing demand for rhino horn, corrupt government and improved global infrastructure led to a drastic 98% collapse in the species until numbers reached 2,410 in 1995.
There are reasons to be optimistic. Due to intensive conservation efforts we now have around 5200-5,300 black rhino in Africa. The eastern black rhino has recently been reintroduced to a national park in Rwanda, a country the species had been absent from for 20 years.
This faltering recovery has been bought dearly, in terms of money, effort and even the lives of rangers. The species is still classed as Critically Endangered, but numbers have doubled since the low of 1995. This may seem like a great conservation success, and the efforts of those involved should certainly be praised. But the future of the species is not secure. We are at risk of undoing all the work that has been done to try and drag the numbers of this incredible species back from the brink.
The return of poaching
Just when people were allowing themselves to hope that black rhinos were on track to safety, an almost unforeseen but devastating revitalisation of poaching began in 2008 and continues today. Between 2008-2015, 5,961 rhinos were reported poached in Africa, and around 200 black rhinos were reported poached in 2015 alone. The steady increase in black rhino numbers that began in the 1990s has stalled.
The reasons for the upsurge in poaching are complex and hard to determine. But there are things we do know. The two main uses for rhino horn in the last decade have been to make dagger handles in Yemen and in traditional Chinese medicine. The demand in Yemen has now all but disappeared due to the terrible humanitarian crisis there. The largest markets for rhino horn now are in China and Vietnam, where it has been used as a traditional medicine and presumed cure for a wide range of ailments for millennia. Economic growth in these areas and growing middle classes who can now afford luxury items are thought to be driving up demand. All this for something that is made of the same protein as your hair and nails, with tests providing absolutely no evidence for any medicinal benefit whatsoever.
The growing demand for rhino horn coupled with the limited supply caused by the trade ban have led to it attaining a tremendous value. It is now worth more than gold, diamonds and cocaine by weight and in 2012 was worth $65,000 per kg. The value of the trade means that it is helped along by corruption, in both Africa and Asia. Along with ivory, it is now part of the operations of major international criminal networks and rebel and insurgent forces in Africa. Its astronomical price has also led to it becoming a status symbol, further fuelling demand.
How to save the rhino
There is no one easy solution to the problem. Certain charities and organisations are targeting the demand side and run advertising campaigns in China and elsewhere, using celebrities such as Prince William and Yao Ming to try and educate people on the cost of using rhino horn. Rhinos are also protected with force, traditionally by patrols of armed rangers.
Recent years have seen an escalation of the scale and use of technology on both sides. The increasing sophistication of the poaching and trading operations has led to a militarization of protected areas across sub-Saharan Africa and a kind of arms race between rangers and poachers, leading to casualties on both sides. Poachers, sometimes funded by international criminal syndicates who have been attracted to the trade by the great price of rhino horn, can use helicopters, night vision equipment and sophisticated dart guns. On the other hand, protected areas employ ex-special forces personnel, helicopters, dogs, remote sensors and thermal cameras which are all coordinated by on-site control rooms. Certain areas also maintain shoot-on-sight and shoot-to-kill policies. This has certainly saved many rhinos and plenty of people insist that rhinos would be extinct in Africa is it weren’t for this approach, which is probably true. Wildlife crime is the fourth most lucrative global crime after drugs, humans and arms and it is argued that the policing of it is proportionate to the damage that it causes.
A legal trade?
The sheer human cost of this war causes some to baulk, in a similar vein to the war of drugs. The scale of this poaching crisis, the resilience of the rhino horn trade in the face of investment to prevent it, and the example of the trade in crocodile skin have led some people to suggest that the only way to stop the trade is to introduce a legal but tightly controlled trade. Many African countries have relatively large stockpiles of rhino horn that have been confiscated. It is suggested that the sale of these stockpiles, along with natural deaths and the regular dehorning of some individuals could satisfy the demand with no extra animals having to be killed. The arguments are remarkably similar to those used for the legalisation of drugs.
On the other side of the debate there are those who think that legalising the trade would legitimise the use of rhino horn and, apart from the morality of this, may drive up demand. The idea of ‘farming’ wildlife in this way is also unpleasant to some. These people do not like to see rhinos in a captive setting when they are not domesticated animals. Does everything have to come with a price tag?
The debate over a legal trade in rhino horn splits the range countries of African rhinos, and the argument is played out on the stage of the COPs of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In general, the countries of southern Africa, including Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, are in favour of trade. Most recently, this difference of opinion manifested itself in a debate at CITES COP 17. Swaziland put forward a motion that would have allowed it to sell its stockpile of horn. This motion was supported by other southern African countries but was resoundingly defeated. Earlier this year, South Africa announced that it would legalise domestic trade in rhino horn, overturning a ban that has been in place since 2009. In stark contrast to this, the strength of opposition to trade in Kenya was shown by the burning of around 1.5 tonnes of horn along with almost 100 tonnes of ivory by the government in 2016.
The future of wild rhinos is by no means secure. Every inch of recovery has been fought for, and we are in real danger of letting this slip. We are currently on the verge of losing yet another rhino sub-species, with just 3 northern white rhinos remaining on Earth. Whilst poaching isn’t the only threat that rhinos face, it is by far the most pressing and the global response to this crisis will define the future of these spectacular animals. The rhino is charismatic, globally famous and one of the icons of the conservation movement. It has charities dedicated to its survival and some poor sod runs the London marathon every year wearing that ridiculous costume. The main threat to them is also entirely preventable. These species are almost a litmus test of our commitment to allowing other species to live alongside us. If we can’t do it for the rhino, then what hope do we have for the ugly and the boring?