"I do not believe that [a one-off sale] is the minister's intention and that it is merely just one of the options on the table, but it is the one we are most uncomfortable with," said Jones.
"We support going to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) and arguing for legalised trade," he said.
Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa announced last week that the cabinet had given the go-ahead to her department to draft a proposal to present at the next meeting of Cites in 2016.
At a street value of about $60,000 a kilogram, the sale of South Africa's stockpile would bring in about R11bn.
The Endangered Wildlife Trust said there were far too many uncertainties to be cleared up before deciding on legalised trade.
These include:
The logistics would be costly because South Africa would need to meet several criteria to convince Cites that it is able to host sales and enforce the trading protocols to be used in both South Africa and the consuming country, for example Vietnam.
An improved central information system, linked to permitting and supported by a DNA database, would be needed to show that the horns had been legally obtained.
South Africa would have to prove that effective internal trade controls had been implemented and were sufficient to prevent the laundering of illegally obtained rhino horn.
Alona Rivord, spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund for Nature International, said the legalisation of rhino horn sales was a solution.
"Greater investments would likely be required for protection of rhinos should trade in rhino horn be legalised," she said.
Source: The Times via I-Net Bridge
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