ABSTRACT

As species become rarer and their trade value increases, some dealers are stockpiling products like rhino horn and are actively speculating on the extinction of the species to send their profits soaring. Asian rhino horn has already reached a high of $60,000 per kilo – five times the price of gold. The legal wildlife trade amounts to billions of dollars. However, this does not take into account the massive illegal traffic in wildlife, estimated as the third largest illegal trade after drugs and weapons. In 1992, this brutal and destructive business was estimated to be worth around $3 billion – and it is growing, often using the legal commerce to mask its cynical operation.