The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism has announced it would amend the law on selling white rhinos.
This comes as the ministry recently authorised a private farmer to sell 42 live white rhinos to the United States (US).
Ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda has confirmed that the rhinos were not owned by the government.
“We wish to point out that the law makes provision for any private person to buy and sell white rhinos, provided it’s in line with the law,” he says.
Muyunda says black rhinos are, however, strictly owned by the Namibian government.
He says the ministry is concerned over the keen interest in sending white rhinos to the US for breeding purposes.
He has expressed concern over the import of live white rhinos from South Africa to Namibia, with the sole purpose of exporting them to the US.
The ministry sees no conservation value in exporting live white rhinos outside their natural habitat, and adds if they are not well managed, this could be detrimental to the conservation of the species.
The ministry says it will change laws “to better regulate the export of live white rhinoceros outside the natural range in future”.
Muyunda, however, reiterated that the export of the rhinos was authorised, saying the ministry has to clarify the “misconceptions that may have been created”.
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