Could legalising the trade in rhino horn – and allowing sport hunting – be the solution to Africa’s rhino poaching problem? Legalisation, it is argued, will make it easier to control the trade in animal products and negate the black market. It’s a similar argument to one often used about the legalisation of marijuana – as Hugo Rifkind wrote a couple of weeks ago:
‘This is an economic land grab. It is the process of taking a criminal industry away from criminals.’
Controlling a legal trade in animal products is easier said than done, however. Authorities have struggled to suppress the illegal trade, so there are doubts about whether they can regulate a legal one. The economics are uncertain, too. Flooding the market with legal rhino horn would increase its availability, thereby decreasing its value.
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