Edna Molewa, the Minister of Environmental Affairs, plans to appeal against a High Court judgment that sets aside a moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horn. Her decision was yesterday welcomed by conservation groups, who warned that any trade could make it easier for rhino horn to fall into the hands of criminals."This ruling is a blow to the government, which imposed the moratorium in February 2009 in response to a sharp rise in rhino poaching and concerns that the national trade was facilitating the illegal international trade in rhino horn," said Jo Shaw, rhino programme manager for World Wildlife Fund South Africa.Rhino owners John Hume and Johan Kruger had argued that it was their constitutional right to earn a living and that selling horn could help combat rhino poaching.Judge Frans Legodi overturned the moratorium on a technicality - when it was signed into law in 2009 the minister had not followed a proper consultative process.He noted that the minister conceded that the moratorium had not reduced rhino poaching."There is a concession that the moratorium did not and does not assist in the reduction of rhino poaching, neither is there any evidence that it helps in ensuring that the smuggling of rhino horns into the international market does not take place," he said.Pelham Jones, chairman of the Private Rhino Owners' Association, said he was delighted by the ruling."We can now generate revenue that can be given back to rhino conservation," he said.But Adam Welz, spokesman for WildAid, siad: "The act of selling rhino horn is inherently an endorsement of the product, which increases consumer demand. Legalising the trade in rhino horn means that sellers can openly advertise it, which also increases demand. " Welz said consumer demand for rhino horn in Asia was currently low because horn was not advertised and its sale was stigmatised, but even with low demand there was still poaching."There are not nearly enough rhinos in South Africa to supply the tsunami of Asian consumer demand for horn that could be ignited via legalisation and the advertising that would follow," said Welz.While legal action may have opened the way for trade in rhino horn, David Newton, of Traffic, said that the CITES ban on cross-border trade ensured that yesterday's ruling remained an isolated decision...