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fullscreen A rhinoceros near South Africa’s Klerksdorp in 2017. The animal has had its horn ground down in the hope that it will reduce the interest of poachers. Photo: Renee Graham/AP/TT
South African rhinos have had radioactive materials injected into their horns.
It is hoped that the unique method will stop the widespread poaching of the endangered animals, which are being hunted and killed at an ever-increasing rate.
Several rhinos in northeastern South Africa are now walking around with small chips with radioactive nuclides in their horns.
The ground-breaking measure means that the heavily hunted horns are effectively useless, as the radioactivity makes them toxic to consume. Rhino horns are highly sought after primarily in Asia, where they are used in traditional medicine for their purported therapeutic properties.
The radioactive material also reportedly makes it more difficult to smuggle and trade in cut horns, according to the researchers behind the project. The dose is said to be so low that it does not harm the animals – but, on the other hand, is high enough to sound the alarm in the radioactive detectors used at border controls around the world.
– This is the best idea I have ever heard, Arrie Van Deventer, who runs a facility for abandoned rhino calves, told AFP.
Last year, almost 500 rhinos were killed in South Africa, according to the country’s environment ministry. Despite years of efforts to tackle poaching and smuggling, the 2023 figure represented an eleven percent increase from the previous year.
On the black market, rhino horn can be sold for kilo prices on par with gold and cocaine.
FACT Rhinoceroses
There are five different species of rhinoceros, two in Africa and three in South and Southeast Asia. All five are today threatened with extinction.
The African ones are the largest and the largest is the blunt rhinoceros, also called the white rhinoceros (although it is not white), which can weigh up to three tons. The northern subspecies is considered extinct in the wild.
Once upon a time there were as many as 30 species of rhinoceros in the world.
Source: WWF
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