Researchers in South Africa injected radioactive material into live rhinos’ horns. Won’t that harm the behemoths? On the contrary. The project could save rhino lives by reducing poaching.
Huge-bodied, thick-skinned, and small-brained, rhinoceroses are some of the largest animals on Earth today. These giant herbivores display one or two horns protruding from their skulls. The horns are made of keratin, the same substance as human hair and fingernails.
The grand creatures are dying at an alarming rate. According to figures by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the global rhino population stood at around 500,000 about 100 years ago. Now only about 27,000 remain.
The decline is mostly due to black market demand for rhino horns.
Poachers kill rhinos merely for their horns. People use them mostly in Chinese traditional medicine and for decoration.
In Africa, some rhino species may be hunted. But certain species are endangered. Killing those species is illegal.
To stop the poaching, South African researchers are testing a new plan. They inject the horns with radioactive particles.
Veterinarians and nuclear experts are joining in the horn research. So far, they’ve injected 20 rhinos.
After tranquilizing one of the huge animals, vets drill a hole in its horn. They carefully inject nuclear material.
Project head James Larkin says radiation detectors already exist at national borders to “prevent nuclear terrorism.” These devices would pick up the material injected into the horns. Larkin’s team plans to use that existing network.
The injection “makes it significantly easier to intercept these horns,” Larkin claims. An alert triggered by a horn would help authorities identify and arrest poachers and traffickers.
Some people support the nuclear injection idea, but critics abound. Some fear the radioactive substance is dangerous to the animal.
Pelham Jones, chairperson of the Private Rhino Owners Association, opposes the injections. He doubts they will deter poachers and traffickers anyway.
He says poachers already avoid “border crossings because they know that is the area of the highest risk” of being caught.
Professor Nithaya Chetty is dean of the science faculty at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand where the horn treatments happen. He insists scientists have widely tested the effects of the very low dose of radioactivity on the animals.
If the radioactive injections work, scientist hope someday to use the process to protect other wild species vulnerable to poaching—such as elephants and pangolins.
South Africa is home to more than half the world’s rhinos, or about 16,000. Poachers kill over 500 yearly.
Larkin says, “We’ve got to do something new and something different to reduce poaching.”
Why? The impulse to preserve animal species is God-given. When we care for His creations, we honor Him and the mandate He gave to humankind in Genesis 1:28.
