A new report from our partner in the UK, Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, puts the international rhino trophy-hunting industry under scrutiny. Rhino Trophy Hunting & Trafficking estimates that trophy hunters killed as many as 1,142 rhinos between 2020 and 2024, including 23 black rhinos. The report attributes 515 of those deaths—about 45 percent—to American hunters. Alongside these figures, it examines hunting companies’ marketing, hunters’ own accounts, and Safari Club International’s record books and awards: an industry that turns living animals into collectible prizes.
The report also revisits documented cases in which criminal networks recruited people to pose as trophy hunters, using hunting permits to obtain rhino horns for illegal sale. European Commission guidance described this practice in 2016, confirming that the misuse of trophy hunting channels is a longstanding concern. These cases show why legal trophy hunting and the illegal horn trade cannot be treated as entirely separate issues.
For CompassionWorks International, rhinos deserve protection from both trafficking and recreational killing. A permit does not make an animal’s life expendable, and a trophy is no measure of conservation success. We thank Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting for bringing this evidence together and helping expose the demand behind the killing. Read the full report, then visit CWI’s trophy-hunting page to learn more about our work and ways to speak out. Rhinos are NOT TROPHIES.
