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Rhino Hunting Racket Under Suspicion
From Independent Online:
Unscrupulous Asian businessmen are allegedly posing as big-game hunters to slaughter South African rhinos and export the horns - quite legally - as hunting trophies.
But instead of ending up in trophy collections, the horns are being sold illegally to merchants to be crushed into powder for use in Eastern traditional medicine.
Waste of an animal to me. I feel if your gonna hunt you should kill for the meat not for trophies or money. I hope they ain't black rhinos cause I thought those were endangered. Or maybe that's white rhinos? Any one know? Matt Mallery maybe.
MPN
Posted by: MPN | March 25, 2008 at 02:44 PM
From what I understand, when a hunter takes a big game animal- hippo, elephant, buffalo etc. the hunter is allowed to take only the part of the animal that is going to be made into a trophy.
Then the natives come out of the woodwork (especially for an elephant) all happy and whatnot 'cause it means they all get to eat for a month! They slice and dice and NONE of that meat goes to waste.
Posted by: Blue Ox | March 25, 2008 at 05:46 PM
It's incidents like that that give all of us a black eye! I hope someone investigates it.
Posted by: John R | March 25, 2008 at 06:30 PM
Blue Ox,
Did not know that. Guess I shouldn't go off until I know a little more of what I'm blabberin' on.
MPN
Posted by: MPN | March 26, 2008 at 05:18 PM
At least money goes into the economy from these "hunters" that often times goes straight back into conservation. I'd rather they do it this way where a semblance of healthy population control exists instead of poachers just taking anyway while giving nothing back.
Posted by: William | March 28, 2008 at 01:11 AM
If they akwire the tags legally. they can do what they want with the horns. i was just at a outdoorsman show in PA where they were selling antlers, whats the diffrence?
Posted by: klahre | May 04, 2008 at 02:22 AM