Vietnamese news on vnexpress.net reports that the Dallas Safari Club auctioned off a black rhino hunting permit in Namibia for $350,000. According to the club, the permit only allows the purchaser to hunt an older rhino that is no longer able to breed, and is no longer contributing to the growth of the population.
Ironically, it is reported that the money from the auction will be used for rhino conservation. Unsurprisingly, the auction has generated protests from wildlife enthusiasts around the world who firmly believe that this will send a dangerous message that the rapidly disappearing animals are worth more as dead trophies to be mounted and hung on a wall than living in the wild.
ENV believes that to effectively prevent our precious rhinos from becoming extinct around the world we must address both the supply and demand sides of the problem, and that the auction of this permit is therefore a threat to global efforts towards the conservation of rhinos. Allowing the legal hunting of rhinos in native home range countries makes our job in addressing consumer demand in Vietnam much more difficult; how can we convince people in our country to not use rhino horns when rhinos are legally killed in their home countries?
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