The news of China ending its 25 year ban rhino horn trade came as a blow to Kifaru Primary School pupils and staff in Nairobi's Umoja Estate, a school that prides itself on working to save the mighty herbivorous mammals as ambassadors for the endangered rhino or kifaru in Swahili that are native to Africa and some parts of Asia.

"It's the wrong step towards the environment. Rhinos are rare animals in most countries in Africa and the world at large. If we keep on poaching rhinos then the next generation will have nothing," Moses Kuol Malual, a former pupil at Kifaru Primary told DW.
"Most countries in Africa depend on tourism for their income."
In 2011, environmental activist Sam Dindi began working to raise awareness at schools in Nairobi and Kisumu, a port city on Lake Victoria, about the plight of the endangered species.
Dindi found Kifaru Primary a perfect model for his rhino education platform because of its name. "I first began by taking the students to Nairobi National Park. This is because some of the students had never seen a real rhino," Dindi says.
"I told them to be ambassadors of the animal when they return to school. They now understand what a rhino is and its importance."

Three of the five species of rhino are listed as critically endangered. Their numbers have been decimated by the poachers who are after rhino horn, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine or as a supposed aphrodisiac.
Rhino numbers declined in Africa during colonial times, when the animals were hunted for sport and meat. The demand for rhino horn has since shifted to Asia and the Middle East, where one kilogram can fetch up to $60,000 (€52,700) (Ksh. 6,211,800) on the black market.

In a policy directive on October 29th, the Chinese government said it would allow the use of rhino horn and tiger bones for "medical research" or "healing." The horn would have to be sourced from rhino raised in captivity, excluding zoos, it noted.
Beijing's lifting of the ban could roll back efforts to save the animals, the Kenyan government and wildlife conservationists have warned.

International trade in rhino horn has been illegal since 1977 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES).

"The pronouncement of China is against the international goodwill to protect endangered species," said Kahindi Lekalhaile, Director for Public Affairs at the Africa Network for Animal Welfare (ANAW).
"Banning the trade of the rhino horn both domestically and internationally was appropriate as a precautionary principle to avert the extinction of any remaining species of rhino in the world."
Lekalhaile warned the move could "actually trigger a poaching spark in Africa and Asian countries."