Corona Daily 437: The Exotic Horn

On 3 March, Do Thanh Son, a 38-year old Vietnamese was flying from Korea to Vietnam. He had flown on this route hundreds of times. When the pilot announced a change in route, Do Son couldn’t believe his ears. He asked the airhostess to confirm. Yes, she said. We have been asked to divert the plane to prevent the spread of the virus. Lots of new cases in Ho Chi Minh city, sir.

But, Can Tho airport is so far, Do complained. How will I get home? Will the airline send my luggage home?

Don’t worry, sir. The airline will make sure you are taken good care of.

Vietnam’s Can Tho airport is 180 km away from the busy Tan Son Nhat airport where the plane was supposed to land.

The changed airport was in the same country. Immigration and custom clearance would take place here, and then the airlines would decide how to send individual passengers onward/home.

At 0345 pm, Do Son’s suitcases were passing through the x-ray machine.

‘Please open that bag.’ Said the Customs officer.

Do Son flashed a smile. ‘Sorry, I can’t. I am carrying live Koi Fish sedated for the flight. If I open the bag, they will die.’

When the passenger can’t be persuaded to open the suitcase, Customs have to act as per the procedure. It took three hours before they gathered witnesses, officers ready with cameras, and paperwork complete. The opened suitcases revealed 11 rhinoceros horns, weighing nearly 30 kgs. The Custom officials promptly seized the horns, which weight-wise are more expensive than gold or cocaine. Do Thanh Son was sent on a two week quarantine as per the epidemic regulations.

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Wildlife trafficking is a $20 billion business. Rhinos are killed for their horns. Over the past 40 years, the world’s rhino population has reduced by 90%. Today South Africa is home to 70% of the 27,000 rhinos left on earth. The horn of a rhinoceros is perhaps more exotic than elephant ivory, tiger penis and giraffe tail, the reason being its value in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

For thousands of years, the Chinese have credited the rhino horn with curing everything from a headache to cancer, typhoid, arthritis, poisoning, warding off evil spirits, even depression. In China and Vietnam, ownership of a rhino horn is a status symbol for the super rich.  

*****

Organised criminal gangs deal in the international trade of rhino horns and other illegal wildlife. They are so cash rich, they bribe the border police, customs, judges and politicians. Had the Vietnamese citizen landed at the scheduled airport, he would have escaped with 30 kg of rhino horns with no sweat, because everyone at that airport was already bought.

On 23 March, South Africa went into a lockdown. Since then, every day there are multiple reports of rhino poaching. As to why the pandemic is terrible for wildlife I will discuss tomorrow.

Ravi