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Farming rare animal species will not halt the illegal trade in animal parts, a conservation group has warned.
Care for the Wild says the fact that the animals are worth more dead than alive is hampering efforts to save species such as tigers and rhinos.
They add that selling parts from captive-bred creatures would not result in a halt of illegally traded animal parts and would instead fuel demand.
A kilo of powdered rhino horn can fetch £22,000 on the black market.
Mark Jones, programmes director of Care for the Wild International, said recent media reports suggested that the South African government was considering “a feasibility study on some kind of farming or ranching of rhinos for their horns”.
“This flagged up that these sort of farming initiatives are still being considered at quite high levels,” he explained.
“Rhinos are in quite a lot of trouble at the moment, with the value of their horns going through the roof, especially in Vietnam.”
Media coverage in 2009 reported that a member of the Vietnamese government said he took rhino horn and his cancer went into remission, prompting a growth in the demand for the illegal product.
“The sums that are being paid for powdered rhino horn are just astronomical.”
There are two species of rhino found in Africa. While the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) has enjoyed a surge in numbers in recent years, taking the population to about 17,500, it is a very different story for the northern sub-species Ceratotherium simum cottoni.
It is listed as Critically Endangered, and conservationists have warned that it is on the “brink of extinction” with four or fewer individuals remaining.
More than 200 rhinos have been killed in South Africa for their horns since the beginning of this year. This week, the nation’s defence minister told BBC News that troops would be deployed to help rangers fight poachers.
Horn of hope
Mr Jones added: “One of the issues we have is that the white rhino population (not sub-species) in South Africa/Swaziland is on Appendix II of Cites, which means some export is allowable.
Cites explainedThreatened organisms listed on three appendices depending on level of riskAppendix 1 – all international trade bannedAppendix 2 – international trade monitored and regulatedAppendix 3 – trade bans by individual governments, others asked to assist
Has CITES had its day?“Also, China has been buying quite large numbers of live rhinos from South Africa in recent times, and there is concern that some people within China may be setting up rhino horn harvesting.
“An awful lot of people from Vietnam, in particular, seem to be coming over to shoot rhinos and take the horns home as trophies.
“Yet, they don’t seem to have much interest or history in hunting but appear to have an awful lot of history in getting the horn out of the country.”
The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) is a global framework designed to regulate the global commercial sale of wild species.
“There is a perception that products from wild animals is better than that from farmed or ranched animals”
Mark Jones Care for the Wild International
If a species is listed as Appendix I, such as tigers, this means that no commercial exports are permitted. However, Cites has no jurisdiction within national borders.
The idea of farming threatened species, through captive breeding programmes, is not new. Bear bile farms have been in operation in East Asia for three decades.
The practice involves caged bears being fitted with tubes that allows the bile from the animals’ stomachs to be extracted and legally sold.
“Putting the welfare issues of the practice to one side, there is absolutely no evidence coming out of China that Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) populations are stabilising or increasing,” Mr Jones told BBC News.
“Another example is turtle farming, which is arguably a multi-billion dollar industry. Populations of freshwater turtles in China and beyond continue to decline.
“Even the supply of very, very large numbers of turtles from the farms does not seem to be having any positive impact on the conservation of wild populations.”
Probably the most controversial topic involves farming tigers. Campaigners suggest that for every one of the estimated 3,500 wild tiger alive in the world today, there may be three farmed tigers in China.
China banned the trade in tiger bones and products in 1993, but wildlife monitoring groups say that has not stopped the practice.
A recent report by Traffic estimated that 1,000 of the big cats were illegally killed in the past decade to meet the demand for tiger parts.
In an effort to protect the world’s remaining wild population, a tiger summit begins on Sunday in St Petersburg, Russia, with the aim of drawing up a road map to ensure the species is not wiped off the face of the Earth.
Campaigners are not hopeful that Chinese representatives will engage with other delegates on the topic of tiger farms.
Farming fears
Farming rare species, it is argued, could help protect dwindling populations because it would meet the demand for parts of threatened species without the need to kill wild individuals.
“On the face of it, it does seem like a logical argument,” said Mr Jones.
“But for many people, there is a perception that products from wild animals is better than that from farmed or ranched animals, or animals that are kept in captivity.”
As a result, increasingly affluent people are willing to pay a premium for products from wild-caught specimens.
He explained that there was no simple answer to ending the illegal hunting of threatened wild animals, especially when the species commanded a high value.
“It is complex, but we are talking about the establishment of good legal provisions to protect species in their home range countries, and the adequate enforcement of those laws,” Mr Jones observed.
“You also have to consider education programmes to inform the public of the illegality of poaching these animals, but also the value of the live animals to the ecosystem in which they live.
“If you remove a species from a particular ecosystem, then the system changes and usually diminishes.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Beatrix Potter’s odious Tommy Brock (left), and Susan Varley’s more sympathetic Badger (lower right)
Few subjects are likely to enrage British wildlife lovers more than the idea of a badger cull – yet it’s something the government has been debating this week. Why do people have such a strong attachment to this scarcely-seen creature?
Rabbits, foxes and hedgehogs have their supporters, but the badger has traditionally elicited a unique mixture of fondness and respect.
“No animal enjoys better protection than the badger, though few need it less. Uniquely, it has its own Act of Parliament to defend its wellbeing, yet – unlike hundreds of much more poorly safeguarded species – it is not at all endangered,” wrote environmental journalist Geoffrey Lean in the Daily Telegraph earlier this year.
And this despite the evidence that badgers are responsible for infecting cattle with bovine TB.
One proposed solution to stop the spread is a cull of the creature – but this is highly controversial. This week Lord Krebs, author of a 1997 report that led to a randomised badger cull, questioned the effectiveness of widespread killing. In parts of Wales, the rural affairs minister has proposed a new attempt at a badger cull.
But the debate raises a wider question: just why is it that so many of us have a soft spot for the black and white striped digger who spends most of its time hidden underground?
It brings to mind the thoughts of Mole in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows:
“The Mole had long wanted to make the acquaintance of the Badger. He seemed, by all accounts, to be such an important personage and, though rarely visible, to make his unseen influence felt by everybody about the place.”
Badgers may be a nuisance but the British public loves them regardless, says Jack Reedy, a spokesman for the Badger Trust.
“They occupy an important place in our hearts. Even people whose gardens have been torn apart by badgers have a grudging respect for them.”
Some find it hard to resist their striking black and white striped faces, comical gait and playful behaviour.
But there’s also the wonder one feels at seeing them emerge from their secret subterranean society and showing what busy, resourceful animals they are, he says. So much so that enthusiasts like Mr Reedy will sit up half the night watching badgers from hides.
“One of them will poke their nose out of the sett, sniff around and go back inside. A few moments later it comes out with the other badgers as if it’s told them that the coast is clear.”
Once out of the sett, the badgers will roll around, grooming each other with teeth and claws, and in early spring the cubs have play fights, learning to defend their territory.
“I give them parsnip peelings, tomatoes, a bit of chicken and bone from what we had for tea ”
Maureen Davies, who feeds badgers in Bristol Watch her lay out food
It would be wrong to call them cute though – badgers have a nasty bite and are the “biggest and best civil engineer” in the animal kingdom, he says.
“Their setts are like a parish – 200 yards of interconnected tunnels crisscrossing an area of 30m by 30m. And each sett will usually have 15 or 16 entrances and seven or eight living chambers.”
In this and their housekeeping – changing the straw in the sett every month or so – we can see reflections of ourselves, Mr Reedy says.
For the National Farmers Union, this is all rather unfortunate.
“It is an image issue,” admits Kevin Pearce, head of food and farming at the NFU. “A lot of farmers like badgers but we also want to control the disease. If your vector spreading TB was a rat, I’m sure that there’d be no problem for farmers in securing a licence to take action.”
Beatrix Potter’s bad badger
“Tommy Brock was a short bristly fat waddling person with a grin; he grinned all over his face.
He was not nice in his habits. He ate wasp nests and frogs and worms; and he waddled about by moonlight, digging things up.
His clothes were very dirty; and as he slept in the day-time, he always went to bed in his boots.”
From The Tale of Mr Tod (copyright Frederick Warne & Co)
In New Zealand the TB carrier is the possum, which is considered both a pest and, worse still, Australian. “So the Kiwis have a different attitude and drop poison into wooded areas from helicopters and planes.”
Our sentimental attachment to badgers may be a peculiarly British phenomenon. In Ireland culling has been taking place for several years with no public outcry. Because of that, many farmers would prefer if The Wind in the Willows had never been written, Mr Pearce says.
There’s no doubt that anthropomorphic characters in animal stories have an effect, says the Times’s children’s book critic Amanda Craig. And yet, two giants of the genre – Beatrix Potter and Kenneth Grahame – were “very divided” on the subject of badgers.
“Beatrix Potter cast the badger as one of the villains. In The Tale of Mr Tod, the badger and the fox want to catch and eat Peter Rabbit. As a farmer herself she saw these as the two main predators. She’s on the side of rabbits and kittens – the small and fluffy v the large and clawed.”
Badger talk
2006 Apprentice finalist Ruth Badger, right, calls herself ‘the Badger’ – and shares her animal namesake’s combative qualitiesVerb ‘to badger’ stems from sport of baiting badgers with dogs, banned in Cruelty to Animals Act 1835The saying ‘mad as a sack of badgers’ derives from its ferocity when corneredThis fuels urban myths like Iraqis’ belief that UK troops in Basra used badgers to tackle terrorists’We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area,’ said Major Mike Shearer in July 2007
In contrast, Grahame’s book presented a gruff, ascetic figure who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. “Badger hates Society, and invitations, and dinner, and all that sort of thing,” Ratty observes.
For book critic Craig he is the fearless moral policeman.
“Mr Badger is completely independent, ancient and lives in the Wild Wood, a place that the other animals are afraid to go. Nothing can stop him, he’s the figure of authority, even the weasels and stoats are afraid of him. He’s the animal version of God and squire mixed into one.”
Craig is used to seeing badgers around her Devon home.
“We often see this enormous black and white bump trundling ahead of us in the headlights – they’re utterly fearless. They’re one of the largest wild animals left in this country and quite magical.”
Unfortunately it’s something city dwellers rarely experience as badgers hate noise, she says. Which perhaps explains why they have been eased out of children’s literature by an “endless” number of books about foxes – a creature now happily ensconced in the suburbs and inner cities.
But there is one badger story that has caught on in recent decades.
Susan Varley’s much-mourned Badger
Susan Varley’s Badger’s Parting Gifts, first published in 1984, has become something of a favourite at funeral services. Telling the tale of a popular badger who dies and is mourned by his fellow creatures, it seeks to help children cope with the idea of death.
“A badger seemed just right for the story,” says Varley. “It’s a strong, sturdy looking animal – perfect for the dependable, reliable character who was always willing to lend a helping paw. And their beautiful black and white striped heads were just made for pen and ink.”
And yet her badger owes more to human traits than anything observed in the natural world.
“Badger’s character has far more to do with my grandmother than a real badger’s characteristics,” Varley says. “She died shortly before I started the project and a lot of the book is based on the emotions that went along with that.”
In short, the badger’s purposeful and private way of life offers writers the chance to debate very human concerns.
At a time when the idea of culling or shooting badgers is gaining ground, the animals’ supporters must hope that Mr Badger’s prediction proves accurate.
“People come – they stay for a while, they flourish, they build – and they go. It is their way. But we remain. There were badgers here, I’ve been told, long before that same city ever came to be. And now there are badgers here again.
“We are an enduring lot, and we may move out for a time, but we wait, and are patient, and back we come. And so it will ever be.”
(Frederick Warne & Co owns all rights, copyrights and trademarks of Beatrix Potter character names and illustrations)
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mr Hornby says “humour, intrigue and creativity” would drive the scheme 
