 Reference Base  Rhino poaching in Namibia from 1980 to 1990 and the illeg... |
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Martin, E.B., 1993. Rhino poaching in Namibia from 1980 to 1990 and the illegal trade in the horn. Pachyderm 17: 39-51, figs. 1-5, tables 1-5
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World |
| Subject: |
Trade |
| Species: |
All Rhino Species |
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But from late 1987, with the closure of Burundi for wildlife trade, this horn went in the reverse direction: from Lusaka to destinations in South Africa. Throughout 1988, considerable quantities of rhino horn were exported by Taiwanese, South Africans and some other nationals to Taiwan by ship and aeroplane. From mid- 1988, the world's press began to expose this Zambian/South African/Taiwan connection, and the South Africans initiated strict plans to stop it. Most importantly, the government set up the Endangered Species Protection Unit staffed by police officers who specifically investigated the illegal trade in rhino products. Beginning in October 1988, government officials from Botswana, Namibia and especially South Africa started to produce revealing results.
In another incident, in August 1989, a Taiwanese resident of Cape Town was arrested for illegal possession of one rhino horn. Probably the largest collection of rhino horn seized at one time in South Africa occurred in September 1990 when several Taiwanese were arrested with 114 rhino horns. According to Clive Walker and Peter Hitchins who examined the horns, 109 were from the black rhino and originated in Zimbabwe, there were also five white rhino horns which probably came from Swaziland.
Although traders attempted to export most of these horns from southern Africa to Taiwan, a few were smuggled into Hong Kong. It was, however, becoming increasingly difficult to smuggle rhino horn from South Africa into Asian countries. Therefore, in 1990, traders In Taiwan started to organize shipments directly from Zambia. In July 1990, Taiwanese customs officials confiscated nine rhino horns which probably came from Zambia. Later, in December 1990, 28 kilos of rhino horn were found by Taiwanese customs in a crate which had been also shipped from Zambia.
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