AT THE biggest-ever global wildlife conference, khaki-clad hunters rub shoulders with animal-rights activists, nerdy scientists and blustering politicians. All have one thing in common: a desire to save endangered species from extinction. The similarity ends there. Pelham Jones, a South African, leads a group of private rhino owners arguing that legal trade in horn would stop the slaughter of their animals by criminal gangs. Across from his booth sits a Vietnamese delegation that claims to have reduced demand among consumers back home, where rhino horn is proudly used as “medicine”. Around the corner are conservation groups that think legalising the trade will doom the rhino to extinction. “It’s very clear in this room there is total polarisation,” Mr Jones says.
This is the first time for 16 years that Africa has hosted the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which regulates trade in plants and animals. This one has record attendance: some 3,500 participants are meeting from September 24th to October 5th in Sandton, a swanky suburb of Johannesburg. The stakes are high for the continent’s most iconic fauna. Rhino...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2dcBUAj
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