South Africa expands trophy hunting permit effort for black rhinos

In the name of conservation, South Africa is adopting a new policy that will allow trophy hunters to kill more — not fewer — endangered black rhinos, a move that has wildlife advocates split as poaching concerns endure.

At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in Geneva, delegates from countries around the globe voted this week in favor of South Africa’s hunting proposal, which slightly increases the annual number of game hunting permits available to the public and narrowly defines which black rhinos can be hunted: older, agitated nonbreeding males.

About 5,000 black rhinos exist today, and nearly 2,000 of them live in South Africa — a steady increase in a population devastated by poaching over a 22-year period. From 1970 to 1992, the population decreased from 65,000 across the African continent to 2,300, a drop of 96 percent, according to statistics from the International Rhino Foundation.

Currently, South Africa allows for five black rhinos a year to be killed by trophy hunters. The new policy would change the calculus from a set quota to a fixed 0.5 percent of the black rhino population, which under today’s numbers would equate to nine adult males.

An uptick in game hunting permits helped save the white rhino, too, according to a report by the wildlife trade monitoring organization TRAFFIC.

Aging male rhinos can be territorial and will interfere with mating female rhinos and younger, more viable male rhinos, hindering population growth. South African officials argued that by allowing game hunters to target only that problematic subgroup of rhino, the policy had the potential to not only increase the chances for healthy reproduction but also increase revenue.