RHINO HORNS: Worthless Commodities or Conservation Currency?

It is dry and dusty in Etosha National Park in May 2023. The rainy season has come to an end. Grazing does not look good since rainfall has been below average. Two helicopters take off, one with a veterinarian on board who will dart rhinos, in the other one Namibia’s Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT), Pohamba Shifeta, as well as the dehorning team. Some of the team members and some observers have to follow in vehicles. Under normal conditions the dehorning team and its equipment travel in the two choppers. Using vehicles means that part of the team needs more time to get to the spot where the animal has gone down, and bundu bashing (driving through rough and difficult terrain) takes its toll on the off-road vehicles.

Dirk Heinrich

“For us the horns are worthless, for poachers they are millions of dollars. Only trophy hunting adds value to the horns.”– Pohamba Shifeta Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism One of the pilots has spotted a black rhino (Diceros bicornis bicornis) and alerts the teams over the radio. Soon the rhino is down in the thick thorny bush and everybody has to walk quite a distance to get to the young female. Within twenty minutes the rhino is dehorned by Environment Minister Pohamba Shifeta, DNA samples are taken, any small wounds treated, the horns and off-cuts sealed in a plastic bag in the presence of a police officer, the animal measured and marked. Everybody gets back into the vehicles and helicopters, the veterinarian injects an antidote and a few minutes…

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Huntinamibia (Digital) - 1 Issue, Huntinamibia 2024 (English)

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