Ideas@TheCentre
Farming rhinoceroses
The ABC recently took a break from channelling its inner Trotskyite and did a fascinating piece on the campaign in South Africa to legalise the trade in rhino horns.
Rhino horn poachers typically kill the rhino in their attempt to get the horn and sell it at obscene prices on the black market. In response, governments have adopted the strategy of de-horning rhinos before they can be poached. De-horning does not kill the rhino.
However, the demand for rhino horn in the black market is so great that even de-horned rhinos are being killed for much less horn. Last year, 448 rhinos were poached in South Africa, a drastic escalation from just 13 in 2007; 200 rhinos have been killed so far this year.
Current policies are obviously failing. The market for illegal rhino horn is driving the increased killing of rhinos. South African rhino farmer John Hume makes the case for decriminalisation of the rhino horn trade:
We have to approach a capitalistic win-win situation where we sustainably get a return from our rhinos, either from tourism or from breeding or from farming. You will never get anybody to breed rhinos unless they can sustainably utilise the horn, because if they can't sustainably utilise the horn, they will not make any money out of it.
In short, rhinos are fast becoming extinct because there aren’t enough incentives to breed them faster than they are being killed. Telling poachers they should just ‘stop’ is not enough. Putting a legal price on rhino horn will open the doors for more investment and innovation towards breeding rhinos, increasing the supply of legal horn, and consequently, reducing the demand for black market horn.
Legalising the trade in rhino horn is something Australia should consider. Australia has a competitive advantage when it comes to farming and agriculture, and farming rhino for their horn could present a lucrative investment opportunity for the savvy entrepreneur. It is an ethical and effective way of saving the rhino while making money at the same time.
Andrew Baker is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies.
