When folk medicine meets global markets and high profits … the results aren't pretty.
How do you disincent people from paying ungodly amounts for rhino horn, when they are convinced that it will cure impotence and cancer? Well, there are a few interesting ideas here.
'A cunning approach has been devised by a South African firm, Rhino Rescue Project (RRP). For about $600 per beast, RRP drills two holes into a sedated rhino’s horn and pumps in a secret cocktail of toxins into its fibres. Consume powder from that horn and expect a migraine, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, or, after a big serving, permanent twitching due to nerve damage, says RRP’s co-founder, Lorinda Hern. Signs warn of the dangers of illegal horn. RRP has treated more than 300 rhinos in South Africa since 2010. Since the horn is dead material, the firm says there is no danger to the animal.
A private reserve near the northern South African town of Phalaborwa paid RRP to treat about 30 rhinos. “We’re trying anything,” says one of the owners. Locals were invited to watch so word would spread. Poacher incursions dropped from about two a month to just four in two years, with no losses.'
A dilemma of horns
POACHING rhinos is a grisly business. Rather than attract attention with gunfire, many poachers prefer to use a tranquilliser dart to immobilise the rhino and then…
