Considerable efforts have been devoted to reducing the demand for rhino horn in Vietnam. In , the Government of Vietnam increased sanctions on the illegal trade and use of rhino horns. We conducted a study to shed light on why people use rhino horn.
To do this we interviewed consumers who admitted to using rhino horn in Vietnam. We found that people used rhino horn for a number of purposes, principally as a medicine and as a status symbol. The most prevalent use was for treating hangovers. Other uses included using it to honour terminally ill relatives. We also found that consumers preferred wild rhino horn over farmed rhino horn. Our hope is that our findings help reshape the focus of future conservation campaigns by targeting the prevalent reasons for its use and the values associated with it.
We interviewed 30, self-confessed, recent users of rhino horn and one rhino horn trader. The website will still largely function well, but with slightly less functionality in places. To manage your cookie preferences in future, visit the "Cookie Statement" link at the bottom of any page. Rhino horn, Ol Pejeta.
Encouraging sustainable sourcing of wildlife products in Vietnamese traditional medicines and food supplements. Trading Years for Wildlife: An investigation into wildlife crime from the perspectives of offenders in Namibia. All Related Stories. Keep up with what we do TRAFFIC is a leading non-governmental organisation working on wildlife trade in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. I accept Manage Cookies.
Manage Cookies You can opt out of certain types of cookies e. I accept. I do not accept. Save Preferences. Historically, traditional Chinese medicine has mixed rhino horn with other natural ingredients for treating fever or relieving the symptoms of arthritis and gout. The list of historical uses also includes: headaches, hallucinations, high blood pressure, typhoid, snakebite, food poisoning and even possession by spirits.
Unsurprisingly, there is no scientific evidence to support the idea of rhino horn having aphrodisiac powers. Rhino horn is primarily made of keratin, the protein that also makes up hair and nails.
Raj Amin, an ecologist at the Zoological Society of London who studied the biochemical signature of rhino horn, commented in a episode of the PBS program Nature that you might as well chew your own fingernails for equivalent medicinal value. The few medical studies of rhino horn focused on its possible value in treating fever—one of the more common medicinal uses in Vietnam and China. A pharmacological study by researchers at the Switzerland-based health care company Hoffman—La Roche showed no evidence of such medicinal value.
Hong Kong researchers in published a pair of studies that suggested some fever-reducing value in mice at fairly high doses—but also concluded water buffalo horn worked just as well.
Conservationists have begun identifying distinct groups of rhino horn buyers to better understand what drives demand. A separate Vietnamese group reportedly includes middle- and upper-class mothers who purchase rhino horn as a traditional treatment for fevers.
A report lead by Alexandra Kennaugh, a conservation researcher and Illegal Wildlife Trade programme officer for the Oak Foundation, also found two distinct markets for rhino horn in China: a luxury market and a traditional medicine market. The report's survey of more than 2, people across five Chinese cities found that those who valued rhino horn as medicine—mostly to relieve fevers or pain—were less willing to pay for it as the price rose.
By comparison, those who valued rhino horn as a rare luxury good were still willing to pay through the nose for rhino horn beyond a certain price threshold. Aphrodisiac usage of rhino horn barely rated a mention in the report. When asked about preferences for using Chinese, Western or some combination of medicines, a very small percentage of Chinese respondents said they knew friends who had treated erectile dysfunction with rhino horn—but none actually named erectile dysfunction as a condition rhino horn could treat.
A study by U. The study showed the volume of rhino horns auctioned via legal loopholes in China between and — before Chinese authorities began strictly regulating such auctions—had a significant correlation with the rate of annual rhino poaching in South Africa.
His research published in Biological Conservation also specifically indicted Western media by comparing international English-speaking and Chinese coverage from to Still, Gao acknowledged ordinary people's lingering beliefs regarding the traditional medicine value remain a long-term challenge.
0コメント