VIETNAM AND THE RHINO HORN TRADE

HIGH DEMAND FOR RHINO HORN IN VIETNAM

ground up rhino for medicine in Vietnam

Despite having only one fifteenth of China's population, Vietnam is now believed to be an even larger market for rhino horn than China. n Vietnam powdered rhino horn mixed with alcohol, is reputedly perceived as a cure for cancer. Many newly rich Vietnamese consume it after a hard night of partying. Rhino horn, once seen as a treatment only for royalty, is being swallowed by a small segment of the Vietnamese population who can afford prices of about $65,000 a kilogram, conservation groups say.

Mike Ives wrote in Associated Press “Nguyen Huong Giang loves to party but loathes hangovers, so she ends her whiskey benders by tossing back shots of rhino horn ground with water on a special ceramic plate. Her father gave her the 10cm brown horn as a gift, claiming it cures everything from headaches to cancer. Vietnam has become so obsessed with the fingernail-like substance it now sells for more than cocaine. "I don't know how much it costs," said Giang, aged 24, after showing off the horn in her high-rise apartment overlooking the capital, Hanoi. "I only know it's expensive." [Source: Mike Ives, Associated Press , April 4, 2012 /]

“Experts say Vietnam's surging demand is threatening to wipe out the world's remaining rhinoceros populations, which recovered from the brink of extinction after the 1970s thanks to conservation campaigns. South Africa called for renewed co-operation with Vietnam after a "shocking number" of rhinos have already been reported dead this year. China has long valued rhino horn for its purported — though unproven — medicinal properties, but US officials and international wildlife experts now say Vietnam's recent intense craving, blamed partly on a widespread rumour that rhino horn cures cancer, is putting unprecedented pressure on the world's estimated 28 000 remaining animals, mainly in South Africa. "It's a very dire situation," US Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe said by telephone. "We have very little cushion for these populations in the wild."/

“Although data on the global rhino horn trade is scarce, poaching in Africa has soared in the past two years, with American officials saying China and Vietnam are driving the trade that has no "significant" end market in the United States. Wildlife advocates say that over the last decade, rhino horn has become a must-have luxury item for some Vietnamese nouveau riche, alongside Gucci bags and expensive Maybach cars. "There are still horns going into China but Vietnam is driving the increase in poaching for horns," said Chris R Shepherd, deputy regional director for Southeast Asia at the wildlife advocacy group Traffic. "Vietnamese authorities really need to step up their efforts to find out who is behind horn trafficking ... and put them out of business." Vietnam wiped out its own last known Javan rhinoceros in 2010, despite the country's earlier efforts to protect it. The last of the population was found dead in a national park, shot through the leg with its horn hacked off. /

Rhino Horn Use in Vietnam

Peter Gwin wrote in National Geographic“The triggers for this gold rush are difficult to pinpoint. Rumors about famous users, rising black market prices, and dwindling numbers of Asian rhinos are all feeding the mania. But behind the hype is a renewed interest in the horn's alleged healing power. For at least 2,000 years, Asian medicine has prescribed rhino horn — ground into powder — to reduce fever and treat a range of maladies. The handful of studies conducted over the past 30 years on its fever reducing properties have proven inconclusive, yet the 2006 edition of a Vietnamese traditional pharmacopoeia devotes two pages to rhino horn. [Source: Peter Gwin, National Geographic, March 2012]

“The newest and most sensational claim is that it cures cancer. Oncologists say that no research has been published on the horn's efficacy as a cancer treatment. But even if rhino horn possesses dubious medicinal properties, that doesn't mean it has no effect on people who take it, says Mary Hardy, medical director of Simms/Mann UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology and a traditional medicine expert. "Belief in a treatment, especially one that is wildly expensive and hard to get, can have a powerful effect on how a patient feels," she says.

“One evening in Hanoi, Ms. Thien and I visited a busy lakeside café recommended to her by a friend who knew of her health concerns. She explained her situation to the owner, and he produced a chunk of amber-colored horn about the size of a bar of soap and a ceramic dish with a drawing of a rhino on the side. The dish's bottom was rough, like fine-grit sandpaper. He poured several ounces of water into the dish and began to rub the horn in a circular motion on the bottom. After a few minutes, the horn gave off an acrid odor, and the water turned a milky white. The other patrons paid no notice. As he rubbed, the café owner explained that he and a friend had bought the horn as a health supplement and hangover preventive, paying $18,000 for about 180 grams. Their interest had been prompted in part by one of Ho Chi Minh's former secretaries, a regular at the café, who told them that Ho, a firm believer in traditional medicine, had taken rhino horn every day.

“After 20 minutes of rubbing, the man poured the liquid into two shot glasses and handed one to Ms. Thien and the other to me. It had a faintly gritty texture but otherwise was tasteless. Ms. Thien drained her glass and set it on the table. "I hope it works," she said.

Who Uses Rhino Horn in Vietnam

Peter Gwin wrote in National Geographic: “ “To gain insights into the popularity of rhino horn in Vietnam, I traveled the country with a woman I will call Ms. Thien. A mammogram had revealed a spot on her right breast; a sonogram showed a worrisome shadow on an ovary. The attractive and irrepressible 52-year-old planned to seek modern treatment but also wanted to consult traditional doctors. I asked her if she believed rhino horn might help cure her. "I don't know," she said. "But when you think you might die, it can't hurt to try it." [Source: Peter Gwin, National Geographic, March 2012]

“Our travels took us from cancer hospitals and traditional clinics in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to herbal shops, boutiques selling exotic animal skins, and private homes in small towns. We found rhino horn every place we looked.

“Most of the users we met belonged to Vietnam's fast-growing middle class and included Western-trained doctors, a bank executive, a mathematician, a real estate salesman, an engineer, and a high school teacher, among others. Often families would pool money to buy a piece of horn and share it. Some donated it to gravely ill friends who couldn't afford it. Mothers gave it to children with measles. Old people swore it cured poor circulation and prevented strokes. Many considered it a sort of super-vitamin.

“Although a number of Vietnamese doctors I spoke with said rhino horn was not an effective cure for anything, let alone cancer, several other respected physicians claimed rhino horn could be part of an effective cancer treatment. Some said they prescribed it in pill form as a palliative for patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Others, including Tran Quoc Binh, director of the National Hospital of Traditional Medicine, which is part of Vietnam's Ministry of Health, believe that rhino horn can retard the growth of certain kinds of tumors. "First we start with modern medicine: chemotherapy, radiation, surgery," Tran said. "But after that, maybe some cancer cells still exist. So then we use traditional medicine to fight these cells." He said that a mixture of rhino horn, ginseng, and other herbs could actually block the growth of cancer cells, but he could not produce any peer-reviewed studies to support his claims.

Rhino Horn Market and Vietnam

Mike Ives wrote in Associated Press “Between 2006 and 2008, three diplomats at the Vietnamese Embassy in Pretoria were linked to embarrassing rhino trafficking scandals — including one caught on tape. In February, US agents busted an alleged interstate rhino horn trafficking syndicate with Vietnamese-American ringleaders. According to a court affidavit obtained by The Associated Press, Felix Kha, one of the alleged traffickers arrested in the recent US bust, allegedly travelled to China 12 times between 2004 and 2011 and to Vietnam five times last year. [Source: Mike Ives, Associated Press , April 4, 2012 /]

“In Hanoi, Vietnamese buy rhino horn on the streets of the city's bustling old quarter, where a traditional medicine dealer recently told the AP that the average prescription costs $10. Hanoi doctors report that some of their clients take the powder as a supplement to western medicines, believing it cures fever and other common ailments. Others use it as a last-ditch effort against cancer. Nguyen Huu Truong, a doctor at Hanoi's Center for Allergy Clinical Immunology, said a handful of patients visit him each year complaining of rashes he links to rhino horn consumption. "Many Vietnamese believe that anything expensive is good, but if you're going to spend a lot of money on rhino horn, you might as well bite your nails," he said. Rhino horns are composed of keratin, a protein found in human hair and fingernails. /

“Giang, the young Vietnamese woman who regularly uses rhino horn to prevent hangovers, says she's unfazed by doctors' assessments of the substance's efficacy and doesn't care to know how her father acquired the horn. Experts say some rhino horns passing through Vietnam are fakes, and the AP couldn't verify the authenticity of Giang's horn, which she grinds on a plate with a rough finish made specifically for the task. She ingests the liquefied form when she has allergic reactions or after tippling on too much top-shelf liquor. Because Giang only takes rhino horn shots once or twice every three months, she estimates her horn will last another 10 to 15 years. But once her stash is depleted, there may not be any rhinos left on earth to satisfy her craving. /

“Tran Dang Trung, who manages a zoo outside Hanoi that imported four white rhinos from South Africa, said he worries for the animals' safety even though the zoo has 24-hour security. "If thieves wanted to kill the animals and steal their valuable parts, they could," Trung said recently outside the rhinos' basketball court-sized outdoor pen.” /

Rhino Horn Trade in Vietnam

Karl Ammann wrote in Natural History magazine, “Our survey took us to Traditional Chinese Medicine shops in the Old Town of Hanoi. When it came to rhino horn, we were clearly told that it did not have any kind of aphrodisiac qualities, which many Westerners assume must be the reason the product is valued in Asia. (We were offered alternatives, however.) Instead we were told that it reduced fever and cleansed the body, especially after bouts of overconsumption of alcohol, food, and drugs. In the course of our investigations, we met dealers who said the product could be beneficial in the treatment of a variety of other ailments, ranging from epilepsy, hepatitis, high blood pressure, and rash to snakebite, the bite of a rabid dog, and cancer. But most were more reserved in their claims. [Source:Karl Ammann, Natural History magazine, September/ October 2012 ***]

“Since this was just at the start of the national lunar new year (Tet) festivities, one dealer invited us to his family quarters above his shop for a glass of rice wine and then freely showed us tiger bone cake, claws, a rhino horn, elephant skin, and other items. After we drank some of the rice wine and again bought a very small sample of what the dealer represented as rhino horn, the lady of the house opened a brown plastic bag and offered us all a sampling of powdered horn, which she instructed us to sprinkle into our rice wine. She assured us that no matter how much we drank during the holidays, we would not have a hangover. The dealer explained that rhino horn was only for the very rich, and our guide backed that up with some anecdotes of his own, illustrating that the demand on the Vietnam side was already high and increasing in line with the increasing affluence of some of the elite. Handing out rhino horn had become one way to illustrate that one had “arrived.” Our hosts also sold us the tool with which to grind down our own piece of horn into powder—a ceramic plate with a rough inner surface. A rhino drawing decorated the rim. (When we returned in 2012 to the same family for the same new year’s celebrations, the wife was on her own. Her husband had died of liver cancer—a result of too much drinking, she believed. So much for the rhino horn cure.) ***

We confirmed the nature of the demand for rhino horn over and over again when talking to other dealers. Many did not want to discuss the sale of small samples, but were only interested in negotiating big items priced in the tens of thousands of dollars. They were accustomed to dealing with people of means, not tourists looking for a few grams. The possession of rhino horn is a status symbol like a Mercedes or diamond ring. Wall-mounted trophies, including many African ungulate horns (set on molded plastic heads covered in cow skin), also belong in this category. We were told that rhino horn pieces were also used to bribe officials and were offered generally as a present to people in power. Since the original trip in 2010 I have been back three more times to Laos and Vietnam, and I am convinced that Vietnam is today one of the key end-consumer countries for rhino horn, tiger bone, and bear bile products. ***

Peter Gwin wrote in National Geographic: “Not all rhino horns enter Vietnam illegally. South African law, which complies with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), allows a rhino's horns to be exported as trophies. In 2003 a Vietnamese hunter flew to South Africa and killed a rhino on a legal safari. Soon after, dozens of Asian hunters arrived, each paying $50,000 or more for a hunt through a certified safari outfit. Many of these hunters are believed to work for syndicates. Back in Vietnam, an average pair of horns, weighing 13 pounds, could be cut into pieces and sold on the black market, yielding a profit that could easily top $200,000 after costs.[Source: Peter Gwin, National Geographic, March 2012]

Combating the Rhino Horn Trade in Vietnam

20080311-rhino_medicine wwf.jpg
Rhino horn medicine Mike Ives wrote in Associated Press “Between 2006 and 2008, three diplomats at the Vietnamese Embassy in Pretoria were linked to embarrassing rhino trafficking scandals — including one caught on tape. In February, US agents busted an alleged interstate rhino horn trafficking syndicate with Vietnamese-American ringleaders. According to a court affidavit obtained by The Associated Press, Felix Kha, one of the alleged traffickers arrested in the recent US bust, allegedly travelled to China 12 times between 2004 and 2011 and to Vietnam five times last year. [Source: Mike Ives, Associated Press , April 4, 2012 /]

“Laws in Vietnam surrounding the business of importing horns are murky and crackdowns are rare despite government pledges to root out traffickers. Officially, no more than 60 horns are legally imported into Vietnam as trophies bagged from South African game farms each year, but international wildlife experts have estimated the actual number of trophy horns taken by Vietnamese nationals from South Africa each year may exceed 100. /

“The South African government said it was working with the Vietnamese to stop the potential abuse of hunting permits. Hanoi has also been asked to conduct inspections to make sure rhino trophies imported from South Africa still remain in the hunters' possession. It's impossible to track how other rhino horns are entering Vietnam, wildlife advocates say, but they point to local media reports suggesting Vietnamese diplomats are implicated in the international trade that's been largely banned since 1976. /

“In 2006, a diplomat at Vietnam's South African Embassy was arrested for trafficking rhino horn, while another was filmed two years later trading the substance outside the mission's gates. A third diplomat was also questioned that same year after 18kg of rhino horn was found in his car outside a casino. In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi said those incidents reflected badly upon Vietnam's image, and that the diplomats all faced disciplinary measures.” /

Homegrown Efforts to Combat the Rhino Horn Trade in Vietnam

"There is a small group who have the money for rhino horn. We need to get out scientific evidence to show the people of Vietnam that it doesn't work," Vo Tuan Nhan, vice chairman of the Vietnamese parliament's science and environment committee said.

On the efforts of the Vietnamese group Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV), a representative with savetherhino.org wrote: “II met with Ms Dung who is the operations director at ENV and is in charge of the awareness programme in illegal wildlife trade...and then I was introduced to the rest of their 35 strong team. The team do an absolutely fantastic job and came across as very professional, knowledgeable and welcoming to me...Their work includes raising awareness about wildlife crimes to the Vietnamese general public, they manage a wildlife crime hotline, they carry out investigations into wildlife crimes and work with authorities and manage and deliver campaigns in Vietnam. They have a fantastic volunteers programme that includes around 3,800 volunteers all over Vietnam, their volunteers get involved in reporting wildlife crime and awareness raising campaigns. [Source: savetherhino.org, August 2013 *]

“ENV have done very successful campaigns in the past on reducing the demand for bear bile in Vietnam. Bear bile is an illegal activity but unfortunately there has been very little law enforcement and so the practise has continued but through the work of ENV this practise has been vastly reduced in Vietnam. ENV have been working on reducing the demand for rhino horn since 2012. I then travelled with Tran Tuyet Minh, who is a Wildlife Trade Programme Manager at ENV, via her moped to Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street which is one of the main streets in Hanoi for TCM shops. Each shop seems to sell the exact same thing as the one next door. *

“With Ms Minh’s help I was able to go into many of the shops and take photos and ask questions of the shop owners. Rhino horn was not openly being sold in any of these shops (there was however signs for bear bile which is illegal). ENV had previously visited all of these shops and asked if they would place signs saying rhino horn is illegal. About one quarter agreed, however most of the signs were tucked away at the back of the shop.” *

The owners of the shops “explained that TCM customers mostly want treatment for their general good health a bit like taking vitamin tablets. People don’t generally come in and ask for a specific product, they tell the practitioner what their problem is and they will diagnose what they need. It takes many year to train to become a TCM doctor and they are well respected. Customers tend to choose which TCM shop to go into through a recommendation or they already trust and know the shop, trust is important to their trade. Some of the practitioners have been asked by customers for rhino horn but all denied ever selling it”. *

Later “I attended a workshop organised by Naomi Doak (Traffic Vietnam) and facilitated by PSI who are a global change behaviour agency who specialise in changing people’s behaviour in relation to health issues.The workshop was also attended by members of the Vietnamese government and WWF. The workshop analysed the two consumer surveys that had been commissioned by WWF and Traffic in Vietnam in 2013. The aim of these surveys was then help to plan a targeted behaviour change campaign to reduce the demand for rhino horn. The workshop identified three key rhino horn user groups and the steps to running a campaign to change the key user groups behaviour. It also looked at who would be the best type of ambassador for the campaign. Many of the participants in the workshop were Vietnamese nationals who were fighting to stop the illegal wildlife trade. They explained that when growing up as children you were not taught much about wildlife and why it is important to protect it. Therefore, it isn't something that people consider. Their focus is generally on doing the best for their families. *

It was very exciting to able to be involved at this stage in such a great project but there is still a long way to go to make this campaign happen including raising funds for the project. SRI are starting to fundraise for the campaign as we believe it is one of the best ways to tackle rhino poaching occurring throughout Africa and Asia and you can be involved by helping support this project. See more about the work being done on demand reduction here.” Vietnam “is a country that seems to have somehow lost its relationship with wildlife and I can't help but worry that as more and more people are able to afford rhino horn this will have a negative impact on our rhinos and other wildlife. The demand for wildlife products only seems to be increasing. However, there are positive signs. The young people of Vietnam do seem to be changing and do want to protect wildlife but many species don't have enough time to wait for several generations before a culture fully changes. The work that ENV, Traffic Vietnam, the Vietnamese government and other organisations around the world, including SRI, do in Vietnam in the next couple of years is going to play a major role in the survival of so many species including our rhinos!” *

Image Sources:

Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Vietnamtourism. com, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, CIA World Factbook, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Global Viewpoint (Christian Science Monitor), Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, Fox News and various websites, books and other publications identified in the text.

Last updated January 2025