The UN wildlife trade regulator called for stiffer penalties for poachers on Friday, saying they should be treated in a similar way to drug dealers.

"The price of a rhino horn per kilo is now half a million dollars," Oeystein Stoerkersen, who chairs a committee at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, said at a press conference.

"This has surpassed the price of cocaine," which explained a recent surge in the illegal poaching of rhinos, he said.

"If you are caught with a kilo of cocaine you will probably be sentenced for a few years," Stoerkersen said. "But if you are caught with a kilo of rhino horn you are likely to get away with it."

Almost half of 175 countries party to the convention do not have or have inadequate legislation to penalise poachers, he said.

"In my opinion we need to step up the penal code and the punishment for poaching needs to be much harsher," Stoerkersen said.

CITES Secretary General John Scanlon said a good example of fair punishment was the recent eight-to-10-year jail sentences handed out to two poachers in South Africa, home to the world's biggest rhino population.

"The South African public was supportive for these penalties," he said.

According to CITES, 239 rhinos have been poached in South Africa alone so far this year.

earlier related report
Otters make a comeback in Britain
London (UPI) Aug 19, 2011 - British wildlife advocates say river otters have returned to every county in England, signaling a victory in the efforts to save the animals from extinction.

Two otters have been recently observed in Kent, the only county where no otters had been found in a survey of rivers across England carried out by the Environment Agency last year, the BBC reported Wednesday.

Otters had almost disappeared from England by the 1970s -- victims of toxic pesticides that threatened their health and reduced supplies of fish, their primary food.

Legal protections, along with improvements in water quality, have been credited with their recovery.

"Rivers in England are the healthiest for over 20 years and otters, salmon and other wildlife are returning to many rivers for the first time since the Industrial Revolution," Alastair Driver of the Environment Agency said. "The fact that otters are now returning to Kent is the final piece in the jigsaw for otter recovery in England."

Tweet

Related Links Darwin Today At TerraDaily.com