CAPE TOWN, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The South African government reaffirmed on Friday that commercial international trade in rhino horns remains prohibited despite the planned domestic sale of rhino horns by private rhino owners.
South Africa is party to the international protocols that ban international trade in rhino horns, particularly the Convention on International Trade in Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) said.
The DEA made the statement in response to reports that South African rhino breeder John Hume is planning to sell part of his massive stockpile of horns in a global online auction, scheduled for August 21. Hume won a series of court battles earlier this year to overturn the eight-year-old moratorium on the domestic sale of rhino horns.
The reports sparked concern that this could undermine the 40-year-old international ban on rhino horn trading.
The DEA "has noted with concern misrepresentation of facts on aspects associated with rhino horn trade," DEA spokesperson Albi Modise said.
"The department wishes to place on record that the planned sale of rhino horn by private rhino owners is for domestic trade only," said Modise.
But domestic trade in rhino horn is subject to the issuance of the relevant permits in terms of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004, its regulations and applicable provincial legislation, he said.
He reiterated that commercial international trade in rhino horns would not be authorized in terms of any domestic regulations, he said.
South Africa, home to about 90 percent of the world's rhino population, bears the brunt of rhino poaching, loosing 1,175 rhinos to poaching in 2015.
The government introduced the moratorium on rhino horn trade to curb poaching. But private ranchers say that the moratorium has failed to stop the scourge, and therefore should be lifted.
