Poachers Endanger African Rhino Populations : Animals Can’t Even Mate; Horn Prized as Dagger Handle, Aspirin, Aphrodisiac

Machine-gun carrying poachers in search of black rhinoceros horns that fetch up to $1,900 each are slaughtering the animals before they have a chance to mate--causing a sharp drop in herd populations and endangering the species.

Leading conservationists say that well-organized poacher gangs have virtually wiped out rhino populations in Sudan, the Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia and Uganda.

Despite those warnings, devastation of the world’s black rhino population has continued unabated. In the last five years, the number of rhinos has dropped from 15,000 to 7,000.

The 3 1/2-ton animal is being slaughtered for its six-pound horn, which goes for as much as $320 a pound on the world market, according to Esmond Bradley-Martin, vice chairman of the African Elephant and Rhino Specialist group, a Nairobi conservation organization.

Wide-Ranging Remedy

The rhino horn is used primarily to make ornamental dagger handles in the Middle East, especially in Yemen. Even though that country formally banned imports of rhino horn in 1983, the illegal trade thrives. Bradley-Martin said a new rhino-horn dagger sells there for $875. Antique ones go as high as $21,000.

In Asia, the horn is used in traditional medications intended to reduce fever. Many Asians also believe that the horn is an aphrodisiac, Bradley-Martin added.

The high price and relatively low risk makes poaching a profitable business. Anti-poaching units are understaffed and underequipped.

Besides killing animals, poachers armed with automatic weapons are causing the black rhinos to alter their breeding patterns. As numbers decline, the smaller herds fragment, leaving individuals to wander and graze for food on their own.

Lonely Rhinos

“Fewer of these solitary rhinos are likely to meet and mate,” said Lucy Vigne, a Kenyan wildlife writer. “Most rhinos now exist in isolated populations of less than 50, and these populations continue to decline and break up.”

Despite the slaughter, warnings that the African black rhinoceros will go the way of the extinct dodo are finally bringing results.

Kenya, where the rhino population has declined from 1,500 in 1980 to an estimated 550 in 1985, has just declared the rhino a protected species as part of a “Save the Rhino” campaign.

In 1985, the Kenyan government, aided by private donations, opened the first of four planned rhino sanctuaries. One, Lake Nakuru Park, 100 miles north of Nairobi, will house 40 relocated black rhinos in a 33-square mile protected area to encourage mating.

The four sanctuaries are expected to cost about $1.8 million--a lot of money when considered in the context of Africa’s high unemployment and short social services.

Tourist Lure

But conservationists call it a long-term investment to protect Kenya’s tourist industry, which brings in about $200 million in foreign exchange a year.

“In terms of the current need for funds in all sectors of the economy, the project is ambitious,” said David Sindiyo, director of the government’s wildlife, conservation and management department. “However, it has been designed with the conviction that the time for action is now.”

Neighboring Tanzania, which has lost an estimated 90% of its 3,000 rhinos since 1981, joined Kenya in the “Save the Rhino” campaign.

The campaign includes reward money for information about poachers, but Bradley-Martin said that the best way to save the rhino is to eliminate trade in rhino horns. With that gone, the poachers would go too.

Eliminate Demand

In July, the World Wildlife Fund launched a four-pronged campaign to end demand for rhino horn. Bradley-Martin said its first priority is to persuade governments that still legally import rhino horns--Singapore, South Korea, Macao and Brunei-- to stop. In August, Taiwan banned the imports.

The campaign will also put pressure on countries with import bans that are not adequately enforced. In addition, importers, wholesalers, traditional doctors and pharmacists in Asia will be urged to substitute saiga antelope horn for rhino horn as supposed fever-reducing medicines.

Finally, craftsmen in Yemen, which from 1969 to 1977 imported nearly 50,000 pounds of rhino horn (8,000 animals), will be urged to substitute cow and water-buffalo horn for use as dagger handles, Bradley-Martin said.