Education for Nature Vietnam delegation to visit SA

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This follows after the Rhinose Foundation's pioneering 2013 fact-finding visit by Vietnamese celebrities, government officials and conservationists to the Kruger National Park.

Vietnam is one of the main countries at the centre of the illicit trade in rhino horn, where it has been used for many centuries in the ancient practice of traditional Chinese medicine as a cure for various 'fevers'. Very recently, to a far greater and more damaging extent, it has become a new and 'magical' cure for cancer, as well as a sought after status symbol and health tonic fad among wealthy Vietnamese.

According to Louis Lemmer, national chairperson of the SANParks Honorary Rangers, the war against poaching cannot be won in the bush alone. "A well-equipped and trained ranger force is essential, but will never be enough to stop the flood of poaching as long as the demand for rhino horn makes it more valuable than gold. We need to change the behaviour of the people who consume the product. By showing influential thought leaders the devastating impact of poaching we create an opportunity for the message to reach the people of Asia. It is the people of Asia who must save the African rhino."

Dual message

"Though it may take some years to debunk these new myths from the Vietnamese mind set, we firmly believe that by effectively communicating the dual message - that rhino horn has no medicinal value whatsoever, nor is it a status symbol due the cruel and criminal effects associated with its use on endangered wildlife in Africa - strongly endorsed by influential Vietnamese celebrities in mainstream and social media, we will be able to win the hearts and minds of the people at the source of the demand in Asia due to the fact that these damaging and recent myths are less than a decade old and not yet entrenched in the Vietnamese psyche," says Andrew Paterson, founding trustee and CEO of the Rhinose Foundation.

"This tactic is an effective one in Asia," says Vu Thi Quyen, executive director and founder of ENV. "As demonstrated by the drop in shark fin soup consumption in China, for example, where celebrities such as actor Jackie Chan and basketball player Yao Ming have spent the past few years actively lobbying for people to stop serving this dish at weddings and banquets due to its devastating effect on shark populations in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. People are most effectively influenced by famous celebrities they admire, and shark fin soup consumption has dropped dramatically in China, where even the Chinese government has banned it at state functions."