WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-04-21 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
A 120-year-old stuffed rhinoceros is back on display, without its horn, which was stolen recently during a night-time robbery, possibly by a gang seeking to sell it on the Asian black market.
Museum authorities have warned that if the powdered horn is ingested, it could have lethal consequences because it was preserved by the use of deadly arsenic and DDT.
Cape Town museum officials decided on Friday to reopen the mammal gallery, including the white rhino.
A black rhino mount, which was damaged as thieves tried and failed to hack off its horns, was removed from the display to be stored in safety.
“It is a graphic reminder, not only of the modern-day risks of museum management, but also of the plight faced by this endangered species in its natural habitat,” said Jatti Bredekamp, chief executive officer of Iziko Museums.
Trade in rhino horn is banned because the rhino is an endangered species.
But because the horn is believed to hold medicinal powers in Asia and the Middle East, poachers always have a ready market.
Bredekamp said museums were being targeted, as security in game reserves had been improved.
There has been at least one other similar incident in South Africa.
Police are still searching for the thieves, who apparently hid inside the Iziko South African Museum as it was closing for the night on April 12.
Museum officials say they suspect a highly organised gang because only the rhino display was targeted and there was no other damage.
In February unknown perpetrators tried to smash the reinforced glass of the rhino display, but at that stage it was dismissed as vandalism.
Bredekamp said the rhino was donated to the museum by Cecil John Rhodes in 1896 and was considered priceless.
Bredekamp said the thieves had unknowingly exposed themselves to more than the danger of arrest and prosecution.
Before the mid-20th century, taxidermy mounts were prepared by being soaked in arsenic and preserved from insect infestation through regular applications of DDT, which stay toxic even after decades.
Bredekamp said if the stolen horn ended up on the Asian market to be used as an aphrodisiac, it would have “unforeseen consequences”. –
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20080421061622603C504316