MOKOPANE, South Africa (AP) — Researchers in South Africa have injected radioactive material into the horns of 20 rhinos as part of a research project aimed at curbing poaching.
The idea is that radiation detectors already placed at national borders would detect the horns and help authorities arrest poachers and traffickers.
The study, in which veterinarians and nuclear experts participated, begins by anesthetizing the animal before drilling a hole in the horn and carefully inserting the nuclear material. This week, researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand The Radiation and Health Physics Unit in South Africa injected 20 live rhinos with these isotopes. They hope the process can be repeated to save other wildlife species vulnerable to poaching, such as elephants and pangolins.
“We do this because it makes it significantly easier to intercept these horns as they are traded across international borders, as there is a global network of radiation monitors designed to prevent nuclear terrorism,” said Professor James Larkin, who leads the project. “And we hitch a ride.”
This is evident from figures from the International Union for the Conservation of Naturean international conservation organization, the global rhino population stood at approximately 500,000 at the turn of the 20th century. Now it stands at around 27,000 due to the continued demand for rhino horns on the black market.
South Africa has the largest population of rhinos with an estimated 16,000, making it a hotspot where more than 500 rhinos are killed every year.
The country saw a significant drop in rhino poaching around 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but numbers increased as lockdown measures due to the virus were eased.
“We need to do something new and different to reduce poaching. You know, you’ll see that the numbers have already started to rise,” Larkin said. “During Covid they all went down, but post-Covid we are now starting to see those numbers go back up.”
While the idea is supported by some in the industry, the researchers had to overcome many ethical hurdles raised by critics of their methodology.
Pelham Jones, president of the Private Rhino Owners Association, is one of the critics of the proposed method and doubts whether it will effectively deter poachers and traders.
“(Poachers) have devised other ways to move rhino horn across the country, across the continent or off the continent, not through traditional border crossings,” he said. “They bypass the border crossings because they know this is the area. of greatest risk of seizure or interception.”
Professor Nithaya Chetty, dean of the Witwatersrand Faculty of Science, said the dose of radioactivity was very low and the potential negative impact on the animal had been extensively tested.
