Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Sorry, it’s not sexy at all, just sad. Brent Stirton – Getty Images “RHINO WARS” “A wealthy Vietnamese woman sits and grinds Rhino horn for her personal consumption in a roadside café in Baoloc, Vietnam. The dealer who sold her the horn sits next to her. Rhino Horn is an illegal substance in Vietnam yet both the woman and her dealer have no fear of the police, grinding the horn in a café in full view of the street. The dealer states that he pays $1500 a month to the right people and they can carry on with impunity. The woman says that it has cured her Kidney Stones and now she takes it daily for her general health. Rhino horn is generally used as a fever reducing agent and for the removal of toxins across Vietnam, the biggest market for horn today. Rhino horn has even been held up as a cure for Cancer by a senior Minister in the Vietnamese government.” Why is this happy little dude and his mom better off living in captivity? Rhinos have been in trouble for a long time, but their slaughter for their horns is on the rise. They’ve long been in demand for ornamental and “medicinal” purposes in Asia and the Middle East but since 2007, despite increased efforts to save the remaining rhinos in the wild, their death toll has increased. In 2011, the death toll added up to one rhino being killed every 20 hours. The biggest current market for rhino horn is the affluent Vietnamese who is using the powdered horn as a hangover remedy. What happened to a nice hot bowl of pho doing the trick? There’s not much response from the Vietnamese government to try to curb the collecting of horns, and distributors often have organized crime connections. The horns find their way into hospitals as well as private homes. Big game hunting is big industry in many parts of Africa developing their tourism, with customers flying in from all over the world to take out gigantic herbivores that don’t run very fast or pose any threat to humans. Vietnamese rhino horn distributors sign up for fake hunting trips, sometimes hiring Thai sex workers to go on the trips so they don’t have to get their loafers dusty on safari. The distributors succeed with the help of corrupt wildlife reserve workers, customs officials, and even shady wildlife veterinarians. The rhinos are going fast. The black rhino has already been declared extinct, with other species of rhino following fast. Vietnamese ballers need to chill out on the horn and just take a couple of ibuprofen after an all-nighter, or we’ll be all out of rhinos. This creep in the US got busted, but he’s just one of thousands around the world who don’t really mind if they wipe out a species or two. Shark fins, rhino horns… when we’re all out of sharks and rhinos, what’s next? Brent Stirton – Getty Images “RHINO WARS” “A four man...
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The Javan Rhino has left the building in Vietnam. The last two lived in the Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam. It’s so national, that the Javan Rhinos become easier targets. Why not hunt for animals while they’re in a zoo? This isn’t quite the same, but basically you know where they’ll be at. Last year a poacher killed one, and since then, there’s been so sightings of either a rhino or it’s feces. The positive note, it’s not extinct. There’s 40 – 60 more in Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia. Let’s hope they don’t get clipped by poachers. The horn is worth tens of thousands per pound, and with salaries that are much less than that, it’s easy cash. (Washington Post – Vietnam)
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Antiques Roadshow has to be one of the best shows, and it’s been copied multiple times, but someone hit the Lotto and their Asian Rhino horn cups are worth over a million. Asians are generally hoarders, and there has to be more of these cups in some unsuspecting collection. So, do check grandmas shelves, storage units, and more. Surely someone has a trove of these. (Washington Post - Antiques Roadshow)
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