VietNamNet Bridge – TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network has released a report, saying that Vietnam stimulates the rhino horn trade. Meanwhile, Vietnam has denied accusation, saying that TRAFFIC’s report just comprises of biased and vague arguments.

Forty three crime cases relating to rhino trade in South Africa have been found, including 24 cases carried out by Vietnamese. The figure was shown in the TRAFFIC’s report about wildlife trade in the world at a ceremony held in Hanoi on August 21.

The organization emphasized that the combination of the loosened regulations, the misconducts of officials and Asian crime organizations has made the wildlife trade become more serious.

TRAFFIC: Vietnam is the main market

According to TRAFFIC, 176 rhino-relating crime cases had been discovered by July 17, 2012. The figure was even higher than the total number of cases in the whole year of 2010 (165 cases).

The live rhino poaching has become more and more serious: 13 rhinos were poached in 2007, while the figure jumped to 83 in 2008, then to 122 in 2009, and 333 in 2010. The “record” has been broken when 448 rhinos were poached in 2011. Since the beginning of the year, nearly two rhinos have been hunted every day.

By July 17, 2012, the total number of poached rhinos had reached 281, while the figure has been predicted to reach 515 by the end of the year, if the poaching still continues at the current pace.

Vietnam emerged in the report as one of the biggest rhino markets. In 2008, Vietnamese people reportedly got involved in 24 cases out of the total 43 cases (56 percent). Meanwhile, Chinese reportedly got involved in 13 cases (28 percent). Especially, three officers at the Vietnamese embassy in Pretoria reportedly got involved in the illegal rhino trade ring.

TRAFFIC believes that Vietnam is the main market, where the demand for rhino horn has been increasing steadily, and the dishes with specific designs used for rhino horn have been sold in the open.

There are four groups of rhino horn consumers in Vietnam. The first one includes the people who believe in the detoxification capability of rhino horn. They mix rhino horn powder with water or liquor to drink as a restorative.

Rhino horns have also been used as a treatment method for patients in the terminal stages of their diseases, especially cancer patients.

The report emphasized that the disobedience of the laws, the rhino reserves mismanagement, the legal loopholes and the increasingly high demand for rhino horns in Vietnam all have been the ideal conditions for crime networks to operate, thus leading to the strong escalation of the rhino poaching in South Africa.

CITES: rhino horns transit in Vietnam before they are carried to third countries

Meanwhile, commenting about the figures and the conclusions shown in the report, Do Quang Tung, Deputy Head of CITES Vietnam, an arm of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development said this is vague and unreliable assessments.

Tung, while affirming that the number of illegal trade cases was reliable, said that one cannot say if Vietnamese people got involved in the illegal trade ring. Meanwhile, very few Vietnamese people are living in South Africa, just 40-50 people.

Tung has emphasized that no survey or research work has been conducted to find out the real demand for rhino horns as a method of disease treatment. If someone asks the patients at K Hospital, the biggest hospital for cancer patients in Hanoi, they all would say they want to try rhino horns. However, the real number of people using rhino horn powder is very modest, while the effects of rhino horns remain unclear.

“The report could not show the exact figures about the percentages of people using rhino horns in Vietnam,” Tung said.

He has also said that the majority of the rhino horns were transited in Vietnam before they were carried to third countries.

Dat Viet