“Attempts to discourage the use of rhino horn have failed, the scientists said, and, without a legal avenue to obtain the ingredient, the black market has stepped in. ‘Rhino horn is now worth more than gold,’ the scientists noted, saying that a kilogram that cost $4,700 in 1993 would fetch around $65,000 in 2012. Poachers, enticed by the high price tag, have swarmed, and ‘poaching in South Africa has, on average, more than doubled each year over the past 5 years.’ They liken their proposal to the legal trade in farmed crocodile skins, which has saved the endangered reptiles from over-hunting. A similar proposal for the rhinoceros was rejected 20 years ago.”
