CITES CoP16 Digest - Species Survival Network

SPECIES/PROPONENT/PROPOSAL CURRENT STATUS OF SPECIES SSN VIEW
Prop. 9
Lesser bilby
Macrotis leucura
• Distribution: Australia.
• Population: Extinct (IUCN 2008); not seen in wild since 1931.
• Threats: Predation and habitat alteration.
• Trade: None except for a few museum specimens.
SUPPORT
• Listed in in 1975 when already thought to be extinct.
• Trade would be regulated under Australian law if rediscovered.
• AC26 supports deletion (AC26 WG1 Doc. 2).
Australia
Deletion from Appendix I
Prop. 10
Southern white rhino
Ceratotherium simum simum
Kenya
To amend the annotation for Ceratotherium simum
simum as follows: “Ceratotherium simum simum
(Only the populations of South Africa and Swaziland;
all other populations are included in Appendix I.
For the exclusive purpose of allowing international
trade in live animals to appropriate and acceptable
destinations and hunting trophies. Hunting
trophies from South Africa and Swaziland shall be
subject to a zero export quota until at least CoP18.
All other specimens shall be deemed to be specimens
of species included in Appendix I and the
trade in them shall be regulated accordingly)”
• Distribution: South Africa; smaller reintroduced populations in Namibia,
Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland; small number may survive in Mozambique;
introduced outside of known former range to Kenya, Uganda, Zambia.
• Population: Ceratotherium simum: Near Threatened (IUCN 2012); wild
population estimated to be 20,170 as of 31 Dec 2010 (IUCN).
• Threats: Illegal hunting (poaching), compounded by misuse of legal trophy
hunting in South Africa to export horns which are then illegally used for commercial
purposes in importing States.
• Trade: Between 1995 and 2011, 795 horns and 1,716 rhino hunting trophies
were exported from South Africa (CITES Trade Database); importing
countries reported importing 795 horns and 1,564 trophies from South Africa
during same period; of these, 177 horns and 241 trophies were imported by
Vietnam (2011 data appear incomplete and figures should be regarded as
minimums).
www.ssn.org
SUPPORT, noting that the time frame for the proposed
zero quota needs clarification
• Current annotation provides a loophole through which horns from
legally-hunted rhinos have been exported to Vietnam and elsewhere
and allegedly used for commercial purposes (CoP15 Doc. 45.1 (Rev. 1)
Annex); proposed amendment closes this loophole temporarily.
• According to CoP16 Doc. 54.1 "Vietnam does acknowledge that whilst it
has comprehensive legislation and penalties this is not enough to stop
the determined trafficker… hunting trophies can present problems most
noticeably once they have been imported and they suggest that the
working group (or CoP) should consider and provide guidance on how to
control and monitor rhino horn hunting trophies after their import".
• The proponent states its intention is only to suspend export of trophies
for a given period; proposed timeline would allow exporting and importing
Parties to ensure that their laws, regulations, enforcement and other
mechanisms can control illegal use of trophy horns after import.
• Although South Africa has closed down some routes whereby rhino horn
trophies have entered the illegal market and a number of foreigners
(e.g. from Mozambique, Vietnam and Thailand) have been given heavy
sentences, potential for abuse of the existing annotation still exists.
Residents of EU Member States have been implicated in so-called
pseudo-hunts (CoP16 Doc. 54.2).
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