The Best Way To Save The Rhinos May Be To Poison Them

May 24, 2015 in Daily Bulletin

Jared Goyette and Bobby Bascomb reported on an audacious new plan to save the rhinos: poison them.

  • The low number of living rhinos means that they’re expensive for zoos and reserves. Each one can cost over $20,000.
  • But poachers can get $200,000 for their horns.
  • To protect their investments zoos buy insurance – costing around $700 a year per rhino – against poaching.
  • In order to secure this insurance one company requires that the Rhinos horns be poisoned.
  • By injecting poison deep into the horn of the rhino, anybody who later ingests it after it is poached will fall violently ill.
  • The hope is that if enough of the market becomes worried about poisoning, demand for rhino horns will drop.
  • There are enough rhinos that it’s not possible to poison all their horns – but if a majority are that should be enough to dissuade buyers.
  • In order to spread this fear, the injection of poison into rhino horns is usually done in public with a large audience, in order to disseminate the message.
  • As the horns grow quickly, the poison has to be re-injected into the horns every four years.

Read about those behind the idea, its effectiveness, why the South African government doesn’t really believe in it, and more over here.

Source: PRI

Via: Marginal Revolution