South African researchers putting radioactive material into rhino horns to try to stop poaching

[thewayne]

It's an interesting concept. They tranq the rhino, then drill a small hole and emplace nuclear material. Presumably afterwards they fill in the hole and try to match the color, much like a dentist.

The concept is that radiation detectors at border stations will detect the material, forcing a deeper search of things passing through. Not a bad idea. They say they've studied their test subjects extensively and this represents no health threat to the rhino. So that's good.

But what the article goes on to say is that there are doubters who say that the poachers have other ways of moving rhino horns out of the country without going through border stations. And, with this information being made public, won't the poachers start carrying Geiger counters and possibly cut the horns down to exclude the radioactive material? I'm curious if the material will spread through the horn, making it all radioactive.

But it's always a case of cat and mouse, or whack-a-mole, when it comes to conservationists/rangers trying to thwart poachers.

The demand for rhino horn is "medicinal" as it's a popular ingredient in a lot of alleged medicines and treatments.

https://apnews.com/article/south-africa-rhino-poaching-nuclear-technology-f5b116134bfa5065d6ddb5b5ccf436b8

Comments

[thewayne]

One would think they're also experimenting with elephants.  There's also a risk that the poachers might get sloppy bringing it back into their 'base country', or perhaps the ground-up horn could be detectable.

[silveradept]

That would make sense, to get the elephants too.

[thewayne]

Of course, my favorite poaching stories are where the animal kills the poacher.  Just wish there were more of those.