Rhino horns nicked from museum

2008-04-14 18:07

Cape Town - Thieves have made off with two "priceless" horns from a mounted white rhinoceros at the Iziko South African Museum in Cape Town.

The theft, the latest in a series targeting rhino horn at museums, took place at the weekend, Iziko chief executive Jatti Bredekamp said on Monday.

"Evidence at the scene indicated that the theft was carefully planned and that the exhibit was deliberately targeted," he said in a statement.

Museum official Susan Glanville-Zini said there were two rhino specimens in the mammal hall.

She said the thieves smashed their way into a reinforced glass cabinet and ripped the horns off one specimen, but could not remove those from another, which were more securely attached.

Professionals

The thieves had not touched anything else, not even nearby elephant tusks.

Glanville-Zini said the museum had 24-hour security, but that it was important to realise that what had happened at the weekend was not a "typical museum theft".

"These guys are professionals, going after rhino horn: you're dealing with a very determined type of criminal here," she said.

"They can't get them (horns) in the wild, and so they're going after them in museums."

Bredekamp said that following an earlier attempted theft, Iziko had removed several specimens of rhino horn from public display.

"However, the mounted animals in the mammal gallery serve an important educational function, and we consider it important to give visitors an opportunity to experience actual specimens rather than replicas," he said.

"The two rhinos on display were historical specimens, dating back to the late 19th century.

Toxic

"As such, they were priceless artefacts and far more valuable intact than the black market value of the horns."

Bredekamp said the thieves could unknowingly be exposing themselves or their clients to more than the danger of arrest and prosecution.

Before the mid-twentieth century, taxidermy mounts were prepared by being soaked in arsenic and preserved from insect infestation through regular applications of DDT, both highly toxic.

It was not impossible that the stolen horns might end up on the Asian market, where rhino horn, used as an aphrodisiac, was ingested in powdered form.

"This could have unforeseen consequences," he said.

In 2002 a thief stole an 80cm horn off a prime specimen of white rhino in the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria.

Syndicate?

Two years ago thieves broke into the Reinet House Museum in Graaff-Reinet and made off with the horn of a rhino shot in the area 120 years ago.

Police said at the time they suspected a syndicate was involved.

Glanville-Zini said a group of armed men had also stolen horn from the King William's Town museum.

Rhino horns are valuable ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine.

In Yemen, rhino horns are traditionally carved into ceremonial dagger handles.

Before rhinos were protected from international trade, Yemen was the world's largest consumer of rhino horn.

- SAPA