Last week, Hong Kong customs seized 82.5 kilograms of suspected rhino horn and
rhinoceros horn cuts with a market value of about $2 million USD - the most in five years.
01 DEMAND IN VIET NAM FOR
RHINOCEROS HORN USED IN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
Dedi decided not to take the
rhinoceros horn pills his father gave him.
However, it is generally illegal to sell ivory or
rhinoceros horn in New York State, and anyone wishing to do so would need to obtain a permit from DEC.
Three boxes, each containing 10 portions, contained ground
rhinoceros horn, one box contained eight portions of a medicine containing bear bile and two boxes contained shenrong weisheng wan - a plant extract.
Demand for
rhinoceros horn -- which is made of keratin, the same material in hair and nails -- has skyrocketed in recent years, largely driven by the market in Asia, where the powdered horn is valued for its supposed medicinal properties.
copal coconuts beeswax ambergris ivory
rhinoceros horn cowrie
Chinese artefacts and
rhinoceros horn were stolen in six incidents, three at Durham Museum, one at Gorringes Auction House in East Sussex and one each at Norwich Castle Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
Other highlights include: a Chinese "Three Friends"
Rhinoceros Horn Libation Cup, 17th/18th Century.
The minister for Environment and Forests in Assam, Rockybul Hussain, said that the poachers sell the
rhinoceros horn for use as an aphrodisiac.
The theft came weeks after museums were warned about a spate of
rhinoceros horn thefts from museums around Europe.