From Kruger to Changi: Singapore’s role in the illegal rhino horn pipeline

Wildlife experts say Singapore has become a transit hub in a smuggling pipeline that begins in South Africa’s rhinoceros-rich grasslands and terminates in Asian markets where the horns – despite being composed simply of keratin, like human fingernails – command high prices as supposed medicine and status symbols.

The trading of rhino horns is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which lists all rhino species as endangered or critically endangered.

THE AFRICAN SOURCE

South Africa dominates global rhino horn seizures for one simple reason: it’s home to most of the world’s remaining rhinos.

The country has around 12,000 white rhinos – 76 per cent of the global population – and 2,300 black rhinos, representing 34 per cent of that species, according to WWF South Africa’s rhino conservation manager Jeff Cooke.