Since 1977, all rhino species have been listed under CITES Appendix I, effectively banning international commercial trade.Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
A rhino rancher is seeking South African court approval to immediately export 479 rhino horns to Canada in what an international wildlife trade watchdog says could circumvent both the international ban on commercial trade in the product and Canada’s own regulations.
The international Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released a report this week that profiles the case of Hendrick Diedericks, a game reserve owner who wants to export 502 horns to eight locations.
China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Laos, Mongolia, the U.S. and Vietnam would receive three to five horns each.
But the bulk are proposed for a single Ontario address.
Rhinos return to protected Ugandan park four decades after poaching-driven extinction
“We were shocked to see Canada as the main prospective importer for these horns – and the massive number of horns to be sent there,” Taylor Tench, EIA senior wildlife policy analyst and lead author of the report, said earlier this week.
The case exposes a paradox at the heart of Canada’s wildlife trade framework – gaps in its regulations may be the reason that Canada is a safe bet, experts say. And what worries them more than whether the shipment arrives is what happens to it if it does.
The volume proposed for Canada indicates that Mr. Diedericks and his associate, Derek Lewitton – the U.S. citizen named to receive the Canadian imports – were confident that the federal government would allow it, said Mr. Tench. Neither Mr. Lewitton nor Mr. Diedericks responded to questions from The Globe and Mail about the proposed shipment.
The permit applications were filed in South Africa before Canada introduced new regulations in 2024 banning raw rhino horn and elephant ivory imports. But experts worry that Ottawa’s stricter regulations leave the door open.
“I’m guessing this regulation has never been tried yet,” said Sheldon Jordan, a former director-general of wildlife enforcement at Environment and Climate Change Canada and a onetime Interpol official. “It would be interesting, if a shipment arrives, how enforcement officers apply the definition of raw rhino horn in this regulation.”
Mr. Tench said that his reading of the regulations “indicates that they should be sufficient to prohibit the import – but a clear answer from Environment Canada is needed.”
The number of rhinos is slightly up but poaching has increased, too
The Environment Ministry is the country’s management authority for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – the global treaty that sets legally binding rules for the trade of wild animal and plant products for 184 countries and the European Union.
“Requests to import rhinoceros horn would be assessed on a case-by-case basis to determine if the request aligns with our implementing legislation,” Samantha Bayard, a spokesperson for the department said in a statement to The Globe. She added that “Environment and Climate Change Canada cannot disclose information related to applications for individual CITES permits.”
Mr. Jordan said that he does not “see a world where there is a market in Canada for 479 rhino horns.” He spent more than a decade as a border enforcement officer before moving into wildlife enforcement. “I’m not really worried about it coming into Canada illegally. I’m more worried about it leaving Canada illegally.”
Since 1977, all rhino species have been listed under CITES Appendix I – the treaty’s most restrictive designation – effectively banning international commercial trade. The global community has rejected 10 separate proposals to overturn that ban, including two at last November’s CITES COP20.
Proponents of legal trade argue that it could finance conservation and undercut poachers, while critics counter that it stimulates demand and makes it easier to launder illegal horn alongside legal stockpiles.
Having failed through every other channel, South African ranchers are turning to domestic courts. Decades of dehorning have created significant private stockpiles of “grey gold” that ranchers want to liquidate.
While most rhino species are critically endangered, the southern white rhino – the species at the centre of the Diedericks case – is listed as near threatened, with 76 per cent of the approximately 15,750 individuals found in South Africa.
The court challenge has been widely reported in South Africa since October, 2025, when the Northern Cape High Court ruled in his favour on a legal argument rooted in CITES Article VII(5), which exempts animals bred in captivity for non-commercial purposes from standard permitting requirements.
A wild white rhino in the North-West Province of South Africa in 2023.LUCA SOLA/AFP/Getty Images
The South African government has applied for leave to appeal; a hearing took place April 29 and a decision is pending. If the appeal is denied, Canada may have limited legal recourse to refuse the shipment.
Canada takes the treaty’s rules at face value, Mr. Jordan says – meaning if South Africa is compelled to issue the certificates, Ottawa may feel bound to accept them. “Canada is seen as a stable, rule-of-law place where, if it can go legally, that’s why it would come here.”
Canada strengthened its position in 2024 under wildlife trade legislation by revising regulations to ban raw rhino-horn imports except where destined for a museum or zoo, use in scientific research, or use in support of law enforcement. But the export-permit application lists a medicinal purpose code – one that could qualify under Canada’s scientific exception.
Rhino horn is made of keratin – the same protein as human fingernails – and has no evaluated pharmacological benefits. However, it is highly sought in Vietnam and China for unproven uses, from lowering fever to treating cancer.
Mr. Jordan estimates the proposed shipment’s wholesale value at approximately $26-million, rising to $80-million at street value – a rough estimate, given the clandestine nature of the trade.
Canada releases long-awaited strategy to protect endangered whales from fishing gear
It would not be the first time in Canada that legal product has moved into markets where it’s illegal. In the early 2010s, approximately 250 narwhal tusks legally harvested in Nunavut were smuggled into the U.S., where the import is prohibited. A cross-border investigation, known as Operation Longtooth, resulted in convictions in both countries – wildlife export violations in Canada, money laundering in the U.S.
The concern now is that 479 rhino horns could follow a similar route: entering Canada legally, then vanishing into illegal trade networks bound for Asia. The other proposed destinations cited in the report reinforce that concern: Laos is under active CITES trade suspension; the Vietnam address belongs to a four-star Hanoi hotel; and the Hong Kong company carries a Myanmar-linked name and doesn’t appear in any business registry.
“Nobody is going to suspect rhino horn coming from Canada,” said Mr. Jordan. “A Vietnamese or Thai authority is not going to be looking for rhino horn in a package from Canada the way they would in one coming from South Africa.”
“My concern,” he said, “is whether Canada is being used to stage rhino-horn-laundering.”
This story is produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.