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Rhino Horn Museum Heists: Statements and Quotations



Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation:

This is not Hollywood, where museum heists are glamorous, and even harmless. These crimes threaten a species with extinction and endanger the public. We are all victims.

Mark Durney, Moderator of the Museum Security Network (MSN)

The recent increase in rhino horn thefts from museums across Europe underscores the need for individuals and institutions to improve the security measures that protect those cultural objects in their collections that are valued for their raw materials as much as for their cultural significance. 

Country Directors of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW):

We’re very concerned about these thieves operating in Germany – first and foremost because it shows the tremendous demand that exists for wildlife products such as rhino horn and elephant ivory – and also because we have public awareness displays in numerous locations which could conceivably become targets for these thieves (Perry Sonntag, Director of IFAW Germany).
We’re very concerned about these thieves operating in the UK – first and foremost because it shows the tremendous demand that exists for wildlife products such as rhino horn and elephant ivory – and also because we have public awareness displays and events such as an ivory amnesty which could conceivably become targets for these thieves (Robbie Marsland, Director of IFAW UK).
We’re very concerned about these thieves and the prospect that they could come to the Netherlands – first and foremost because it shows the tremendous demand that exists for wildlife products such as rhino horn and elephant ivory – and also because we have numerous public awareness displays which could conceivably become heist targets (Rikkert Reijnen of IFAW Netherlands).
We’re very concerned about these thieves operating in Belgium – first and foremost because it shows the tremendous demand that exists for wildlife products such as rhino horn and elephant ivory – and also because we have just wrapped up a display in the European Parliament in Brussels which could conceivably be a target for these thieves (Lesley O’Donnell, Director of IFAW’s EU office in Brussels, Belgium).
We’re very concerned about these thieves operating in the US – first and foremost because it shows the tremendous demand that exists for wildlife products such as rhino horn and elephant ivory – and also because we frequently display public exhibitions of wildlife trade as an educational tool. These exhibits could conceivably become targets for the thieves (Kelvin Alie, Director of IFAW’s Prevention in Illegal Wildlife Trade Program).

Lucy Boddam-Whetham, Acting Director at Save the Rhino International:

Save the Rhino International was extremely alarmed to hear about the recent spate of thefts of rhino trophy mounts from European museums. These incidents follow an identified increase in the prices being fetched for rhino trophy mounts in Auction houses across Europe which, at the beginning of 2011, led the UK’s Animal Health's Wildlife Licensing and Registration Service (WLRS), following European Commission guidance, to bring into force a ban on the sale of rhino horn trophies. The recent museum break-ins serve to highlight that the rhino poaching problem is not confined to Africa and Asia and that a high level of criminal activity pervades all aspects of this illegal trade. In the last three years, 800 African rhinos have been killed and experts agree that we are facing the worst rhino poaching crisis in decades. As a consequence, these thefts, which clearly contribute to this problem, need to be treated as very serious crimes.

Rhishja Larson, Founder of Saving Rhinos:
The demand for rhino horn is driving the killing of rhinos in African countries, as well as in India and Nepal. In South Africa alone, nearly 200 rhinos were killed between January and July of this year. Comparatively, 125 rhinos were killed during the same time period in 2010.

Despite the fact rhino horn has been rigorously analyzed and found to contain no medicinal properties whatsoever, it continues to be used illegally as a 'cure-all' and is even marketed as a treatment for cancer in East and Southeast Asia. Contrary to popular belief, it is not prescribed for a lagging libido. 

These crimes, whether perpetrated in the halls of the world's museums or the in the African bush, are indicative of the grip that organized crime syndicates have on the illegal rhino horn trade.

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