TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature
Entries in Mammals - rhinos (2)
Call for rhino programme to be extended
CITES has been key to the recovery of rhino populations in parts of Africa, but increased organized poaching is an ongoing concern © WWF-Canon / Martin Harvey Click photo to enlarge Cambridge, UK—Numbers of African rhinos have recovered spectacularly in parts of Africa, and there are calls for the successes to be repeated elsewhere.
The calls come as government, wildlife, eco-tourism and community representatives from across southern Africa meet on the tenth anniversary of WWF’s African Rhino Programme.
At the time of its formation, there were 8,466 White Rhinos and 2,599 Black Rhinos in the wild. Today, the figures are 14,500 and 4,000 respectively.
The Programme currently operates in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe, but is seeking to extend its operations to more of Africa. Work on rhino trade issues conducted by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, forms part of the WWF African Rhino Programme.
TRAFFIC
Alarming upsurge in rhino poaching
Rhino horns are highly valuable and traded internationally, mainly for use in traditional medicines (c) WWF-Canon / Martin Harvey Click to enlargeThe Hague, The Netherlands, 6 June 2007—An increase in the volume of rhino horn entering illegal trade from Africa since 2000 could be placing some rhino populations at serious risk, according to new research from TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
Poaching is most severe in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where 60% of the rhino population was illegally killed between 2003 and 2005.
