More than 700 rhinos were killed in South Africa in the first half of last year
South Africa’s top court has dismissed an appeal by the department of environmental affairs to keep a moratorium on the domestic trade in rhino horn, according to court documents seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
Pelham Jones, chairman of South Africa’s Private Rhino Owners Association (PROA) which was one of the respondents in the case, told Reuters this meant that the sale of rhino horns was legal in South Africa.
A global ban in the horn trade, which is regulated by a UN convention, remains in place.
The PROA says that rhino horn can be obtained humanely from live animals and legalising the trade in rhino horns would mean more private ownership of rhinos, more funds for conservation and less pressure on wild rhino populations.
Just last month poachers killed two rhinos during a vicious attack on an animal orphanage in South Africa.
Twelve white rhinos have also just left their native South Africa for a new life in a nearby country as part of an anti-poaching project.
The country saw a decline in the numbers of rhinos killed for their prized horns in the first half of 2016, down to 702 from 796 the previous year.
However, the reduction came after several years of increases.
Poachers have even struck in Europe – killing a rhino at a zoo outside Paris before cutting off its horn.
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