Limitations imposed on trophy rhino horns

The water and environmental affairs department has announced that professional hunters will only be allowed to hunt and export a single rhino horn for trophy purposes once a year, News24 reports.

According to spokesperson Albi Modise, the department aims to reduce the abuse of hunting permits, which possibly fuels the illegal trade in rhino horns. "The management of hunting of rhinoceros has been strengthened," he said.

Modise added that a person may now only hunt and export one rhino horn as a trophy. "We are doing this in order to be able to control hunting processes," Modise said, adding that rhino horn trophies could not be replaced with replicas as hunters expected to take home the real thing. "If [hunters come] into the country in order to hunt a rhino, they expect to go back home carrying an original trophy," he said.

According to News24, Modise said hunters had to apply formally for hunting permits. He said it was important for conservation authorities to ensure that the hunter's usual country of residence had adequate legislation that complies with Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora export (Cites) permit. "We believe that the countries where the horns are taken will work with us to ensure that the horns are still safe and used for what they have been exported for," he said.

Read the full article on www.news24.com.