[ad_1]
Rhino horns are popular in Asian countries and can earn tens of thousands of dollars per pound. Nature advocates argue that the appetite for the appendage of this endangered species on legal and illegal markets has decimated the population in Africa.
Raymond Roig / AFP / Getty Images
hide the legend
activate the legend
Raymond Roig / AFP / Getty Images
Rhino horns are popular in Asian countries and can earn tens of thousands of dollars per pound. Nature advocates argue that the appetite for the appendage of this endangered species on legal and illegal markets has decimated the population in Africa.
Raymond Roig / AFP / Getty Images
Over the past week, two well-known international auction houses have canceled the sale of rhinoceros horn items, yielding to growing pressure and criticism from wildlife protection groups, who argue that the legal sale of parts endangered species encourages poaching and ferocious killings.
Bonhams, a London-based auction house, announced Friday that it would remove 21 lots of antique rhinoceros horn items from a sale that was to begin Tuesday. The Agence France Presse reported that the Humane Society International estimated the value of the sculptures at $ 3.87 million.
Matthew Girling, global CEO of Bonhams, insisted that the auction house sells only rhinoceros sculptures of known provenance and authorized by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. extinction.
"We recognize, however, that this issue raises many concerns and we have decided that the planned sale of rhinoceros carvings in Hong Kong on November 27th would no longer be an activity," Girling said in an email to NPR. .
"In the future, Bonhams will no longer offer items made entirely or partially of rhinoceros horn in its auction rooms," he added.
In recent years, the markets and uses of rhinoceros horn, known for its alleged medicinal qualities in several Asian countries, are trading on the black market at tens of thousands of dollars per pound. About 2,100 rhinoceros horns were illegally exported from Africa to China and Vietnam in 2015, National Geographic reported.
On Saturday, Sotheby's representatives echoed similar comments, saying that three lots of rhinoceros horn antiques had been removed from a different auction planned in Hong Kong later this week.
"The company will no longer offer rhinoceros horn artifacts," confirmed Nicolas Chow, president of Sotheby's Asia in a statement to AFP.
"Sotheby's deplores any illegal killing and trade in endangered wildlife, and strongly supports the conservation efforts of the global community," he added.
In October, Christie's stated that she "does not sell any item containing rhinoceros horn and does not accept hunting trophies for endangered species".
The setbacks at Bonhams and Sotheby's are the result of growing pressure from 37 wildlife conservation organizations, including WildAid, to stop selling rhinoceros horns continuously.
"By continuing to sell rhinoceros horn carvings, whether they are real antiques or not, Bonhams is contributing to the demand for rhinoceros horns in East Asia and, consequently, to the slaughter of rhinoceros", said Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid, in a letter to the prestigious auction house.
WildAid also aired an online petition claiming that a Chinese expert had determined "that a large number of rhinoceros horns for sale are not real antiques, but rather recently poached rhinoceros horns, carved at l & # 39; old. "
Monday afternoon, the petition had collected nearly 11,000 signatures.
"We congratulate Bonhams on its wise decision to stop selling rhinoceros horn items – the rhino will only survive if the trade in its horns, in any form, is stopped," said John Baker, chief executive of WildAid shortly after the announcement of the company.
As reported by NPR, South Africa – which is home to about 80% of the world's population of rhinos – has seen poaching explode over the last decade.
David Fuchs reported:
China banned the use of rhinoceros horns in traditional medicine in 1993, but in October, the State Council adopted new regulations lifting the ban, as well as those concerning the bones of tiger. This initiative opened exceptions for medical research and for the benefit of cultural exchanges. The policy change has elicited outrage from nature conservation groups and two weeks later, the authorities said the ban "to import and export rhinoceroses, tigers and their by-products "would remain in force, Morning of South China reported.
"In 2017, South Africa held its first online auction of rhinoceros horn, after lifting the ban on domestic trade.This auction attracted fewer bidders than expected" , said AFP.
