Rhinos poached in South Africa for their horns has skyrocketed fron 13 in 2007, to 630 in 2012. The horn is in demand from those seeking its bogus "healing properties" as used in Tradtional Chinese Medicine, where it is believed to cure cancer and other illnesses, when in fact, it has no healing properties.
The rhino population has plummeted by more than 90 percent in the past 50 years, despite an international ban on the trade in rhino parts since 1977. But the new argument is to legalize the trade, which would flood the market with rhino horns, lower the price and discourage rhino poachers.
We feel that legalizing the trade would be a mistake that would lead to the extinction of the rhinocerous, because the demand is so great and growing rapidily. Keep the ban on Rhino horns and make poaching a more serious crime, with much harsher penalties.
SOURCE: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/rhinoceroses/index.html
Rhinos poached in South Africa for their horns has skyrocketed fron 13 in 2007, to 630 in 2012. The horn is in demand from those seeking its bogus "healing properties" as used in Tradtional Chinese Medicine, where it is believed to cure cancer and other illnesses, when in fact, it has no healing properties.
The rhino population has plummeted by more than 90 percent in the past 50 years, despite an international ban on the trade in rhino parts since 1977. But the new argument is to legalize the trade, which would flood the market with rhino horns, lower the price and discourage rhino poachers.
We feel that legalizing the trade would be a mistake that would lead to the extinction of the rhinocerous, because the demand is so great and growing rapidily. Keep the ban on Rhino horns and make poaching a more serious crime, with much harsher penalties.
SOURCE: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/rhinoceroses/index.html
