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The IFP's Dr Mario Oriani Ambrosini MP made a number of proposals towards
saving South Africa's rhino population during public hearings at Parliament
last week.

The IFP's proposals are as follows:

1. This proposal is premised on the belief that the solution to the problem
should be multipronged, including:

a. reducing demand by information campaigns in the relevant foreign markets,
which requires major financial investments; and

b. managing supply in economic terms, which enables addressing this specific
problem within a framework which also enhances

i. tourism in South Africa,

ii. economic incentives for nature conservation, and

iii. the protection of other non-income producing game and other wildlife.

2. The proposal has the following elements:

a. an internationally advertised campaign to market opportunities for
hunting rhinoceroses for their protection;

b. a total moratorium on any other form of rhinoceros' hunting while this
programme is in force;

c. qualifying protocols, inclusive of

i. land or game owner to

1. apply for permit,

2. supply qualified project management;

ii. terinary services to be part of team;

iii. qualified game warden to be part of team;

iv. a substantial fee to be paid for the aforesaid permit, so as to raise
substantive revenues both for government and for the land or game owner
[exemplum gratia, a permit fee of R150'000 to be paid into a dedicated fund
against the understanding that the hunter will be willing to pay US
US$50'000 or R400'000 and the costs associated with the hunt and post-hunt
veterinary care are R100'000, leaving the land or game owner with retained
earnings of R150'000];

d. rhinoceroses are hunted from helicopters or land vehicles to

i. shoot the rhinoceroses only to sedate them;

ii. cut off their horns with the assistance of veterinary services;

iii. replace the horns with an SABS approved prosthetic replacement with
identical functionality, to be painted in clearly identifiable indelible
colours, such as bright red;

iv. allow the hunter to take politically and environmentally correct trophy
pictures alongside the sleeping rhinoceroses;

v. issue the hunter with a government certificate that he/she saved the
rhinoceros portrayed in the picture from the lethal risk of poaching and
financially contributed to nature conversation in South Africa;

e. rhinoceroses are tagged with satellite receivers, so that they may be
scheduled and found to

i. receive post-operative veterinary care to ensure treatment of infection
or other adverse health consequences, and

ii. be de-horned again after one or two years to harvest re-growth of the
horn on the basis of the same aforesaid modalities;

f. a statutory association consisting of government and relevant private
entities and balanced NGOs is to be established to

i. receive the aforesaid fees from the hunting permits issued under this
programme;

ii. receive and sell the horns so collected and held in public or private
stockpiles on the open market so as to

1. keep prices down to deter poaching, and

2. eliminate the financial incentive to poach to harvest the re-growth of
horns in the hiatus period between de-horning;

iii. finance and conduct the international campaign to

1. educate potential horn buyers on

a. the damage to wildlife and nature, and

b. the lack of medical properties in the horn;

2. market the aforesaid hunting opportunities in South Africa in a package
including the many appealing features of lodges, game reserves and our other
tourist assets;

iv. manage the programme in perpetuity in respect of

1. newborns, and

2. re-growth of horns;

v. provide education and assistance in respect of wildlife management;

vi. take DNA records, and maintain a database of all horns sold,

vii. assist the NPA in prosecutions, and

viii. assist other countries in Africa, to avoid exporting the poaching
problem beyond our borders.

3. This proposal may address some of the concerns raised with the government
study on de-horning rhinoceroses, including:

a. lack of financing,

b. lack of resources,

c. opening a path to poachers,

d. risks of infection and need for additional veterinary assistance,

e. long timeframes for implementation because of (a) and (b) above, and

f. no sustainability because the horns re-grow

4. Additional benefits

a. an additional angle to market the tourist potentials of our country;

b. the financial resources to market tourism; and

c. cross-subsidization of those among the "Big 5" which are not
income-producing game.