A Bombshell in the World of Rhinos
Swaziland shocks the global conservation community with a bid to sell rhino horn to Asia.
Less than a week after the South African government announced that international sale of its stockpiled rhino horn was not in the interest of the species, tiny Swaziland, a country surrounded on three sides by South Africa, has put forward an 11th-hour proposal to sell its rhino horn on the international market.
The proposal was submitted at the last minute to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the body that regulates the wildlife trade. If it passes, it would effectively break the ban on international trade of rhino horn, which has been in place since 1977.
While the conservation value of a trade ban is hotly contested, most major conservation
