With the senseless slaughter, in mid July this year, of the last adult rhinoceros in Krugersdorp Game Reserve, South Africa (http://bit.ly/dy0KU4), time is running out for humanity to save this magnificent species. The illegal rhino horn trade is responsible for decimating the world's rhino population by more than 90 percent over the past 40 years.You can read the entire 2009 report called African and Asian Rhinoceroses - Status, Conservation and Trade at:http://www.cites.org/common/cop/15/doc/E15-45-01A.pdf . This report found that; "Currently, most rhino horns  leaving southern Africa are destined for end-use markets in southeast and east Asia, especially Vietnam and China...".

Traditional Chinese medicine has, for thousands of years, accredited rhinoceros horn with the ability to cure a wide range of maladies from headaches and impotence to possession by a devil. In 1993 China signed theConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which banned, amongst other things, the sale of rhinoceros horn and its derivatives. Unfortunately, however, this did little to slow down the trade in these products which continues to flourish in the black market.

In 1983, pharmaceutical giant, Hoffmann-LaRoche conducted tests of rhinoceros horn and in 2005 theZoological Society of London undertook further testing. In addition, the Chinese University of Hong Kong examined the products in 1990. In all three studies the conclusions were essentially identical, that is that rhinoceros horn and any derivatives contain absolutely no medicinal properties. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) published the results of the Hoffman-LaRoche study which concluded that the testing "found no evidence that rhino horn has any medicinal effect as an antipyretic and would be ineffective in reducing fever, a common usage in much of Asia." Furthermore it found that  "rhino horn, like fingernails, is made of agglutinated hair" and "has no analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmolytic nor diuretic properties" and "no bactericidal effect could be found against suppuration and intestinal bacteria."

It is evident, as we mourn the outrageous slaughter of the last adult rhinoceros in Krugersdorp ( See: Mutilated rhino corpses found in Kruger http://bit.ly/aNzwS4), that the only way to prevent the total decimation of the species is through educating people regarding the conclusions of the above mentioned studies, specifically, that there is no curative or therapeutic value in rhinoceros horn. The intent of this petition is to request that the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) take a more pro-active and aggressive role in not only educating people but in encouraging the governments of southeast and east Asia to do the same before it is too late.