Rhino

The Rhino is another set of species we have worked for internationally.  There is currently no funding for the ET Rhino campaign, which has put work on hold. This is understandable, because work to save large legendary creatures can be depressing.  Even the most effective work which has been done – which we have been a core part of – only seems to slow the pace of their loss.  Let’s face it: the story isn’t upbeat.

The several surviving rhinoceros species are amazing creatures which evoke the gigantic mammalian herbivores which died out at the coming of mankind, and now exist only as fossils.

These rhinos may soon be only fossils as well unless conservation miracles are achieved.  Not only are rhinos – like tigers – large creatures which need a lot of open land, but they pose a potential danger to humans at a time when human populations are huge and growing.

Worse – like tigers – they are worth more dead than alive. The thriving market for all parts of a rhino’s body – especially its horn – mean that there is the equivalent of thousands of mafia hit men using every tool in their arsenal to separate rhinos from protection and shoot them, taking a chain saw to their horns. It’s a pathway to fortune for the lucky poachers to kill one.

Keith Highley and Suzie Chang Highley managed EarthTrust’s field office in Taiwan, investigating wildlife trade and the sale of animal body parts used in the preparation of traditional medicines. Demand for these products drives the poaching, smuggling, and black market network worldwide for a variety of species from tiger to bear and rhinoceros. The Highleys created an awareness and education campaign to inform the public about the threat to African and Asian rhinoceros species resulting from the popularity of rhino horn-based medicinals. A Chinese-language color map, brochure and video titled “Save the Rhino” have been produced using information and footage obtained on the Asian Wildlife Initiative’s African expedition.

Chinese-language poster circulated in Asian markets by the EarthTrust-Vitalon collaboration to Save the Rhino.

The rhino campaign has always been a long shot; the odds are stacked against megafauna surrounded by large human populations, with a bounty on their heads. But the effort is worthwhile. Join us.

SSN and ET

There are hundreds of nongovernmental and private groups working to help save endangered species in the world, and in many ways the most important forum is CITES – the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species. CITES is the world’s front-line treaty organization created to prevent species extinctions by placing controls and oversight on commerce based on the species affected.

The central importance of CITES means that it’s vital that the facts and strategy involved in bringing issues before CITES be scientifically credible and coordinated to succeed. People who know how CITES works – what makes a difference and what doesn’t – need to make sure that there’s an effective conservationist presence at the meetings to push back against forces wanting to de-list or prevent listing of threatened or endangered species. To take the information generated by groups around the world and plug it into CITES effectively

This means experts in international treaty and law who are deeply versed in the biological sciences and the real politics of species protection, in place to coordinate the global conservationist input and strategy to CITES.

EarthTrust co-founded Species Survival Network in 1992 to fill this crucial need, and has maintained a seat on the SSN Board of Directors continuously since that time to directly affect the global response to species extinctions.

The founding board member was Don White. ET’s Linda Paul has been the representative on the SSN board for the last 20 years, and has played a central role in the global fight on behalf of endangered species.

Linda is also co-chair of the SSN Fish Working Group. The SSN Fish Working Group encourages countries to propose for CITES listing fish that are being traded internationally at unsustainable levels. The Working Group offers countries technical expertise to assist in drafting proposals and provides briefing information to Parties in support. To date, the Working Group has successfully lobbied for the listing of the great white shark, whale shark, basking shark, Napoleon wrasse and seahorses on CITES Appendix II.

Linda’s very good, and she’s positioned to make a big difference, often limited only by modest funding requirements to enable new initiatives through CITES.

If you’d like to support saving endangered species, please consider supporting ET’s SSN initatives through this page. We have the experience, and are in position, to make a difference for endangered species. Join us.