Court sets aside ban on rhino horn trade

The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) yesterday set aside government’s 2009 ban on domestic trade in rhino horn. Judge Francis Legodi was ruling on an application by Malelane game farmer John Hume and Limpopo farmer Johan Kruger, notes a report in The Citizen. Although government is expected to appeal the ruling, Hume said he hoped ‘sanity would prevail’. He described it as a ‘momentous judgment’, adding: ‘I would just hope that the world understands that if I don’t sell rhino, my whole rhino herd would be dead within the next 10 years.’ He said the security costs of safeguarding his rhino had gone up dramatically and was at this stage costing far more than feeding or any other costs. ‘It (the court order lifting the moratorium) is not a magic wand that has been waved. You still need a permit to sell and we will have to ask government what their conditions are. Hopefully government will also eventually understand that unless we get that money, we will have many dead rhinos.’ Hume said he would fight any appeal by the government, but hoped they would not drag out the process any further.