South Africa’s government is moving ahead with draft regulations for a domestic trade in rhino horn, despite critics’ concerns that a legal market will spur rhino poaching.
The environmental affairs minister, Edna Molewa, said Monday that anyone possessing a rhino horn will need a permit, and that South Africa continues to recognize a ban on the international trade in horn that was imposed in 1977.
South Africa is home to most of the world’s rhinos.
Earlier this year, South Africa’s Constitutional Court rejected a government appeal to preserve a 2009 ban on the domestic trade in rhino horn. A South African rhino breeder plans an online auction of horn next month.
Rhino breeders say a regulated trade would undercut poaching. Some international conservation groups disagree.
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