For the first time in the world. Scientists make rhino horns radioactive to fight poaching

South African scientists have injected radioactive material into the horns of live rhinos to make them easier to detect at border posts. The radioactive substance will "make the horn poisonous for human consumption" as poachers hunt rhinos en masse to take the horn, which is used in medicine.

The Rhisotope project, which aims to curb poaching, is still a pilot project. However, if its results are successful, this technique with radioactive materials will be implemented in the future, Sciencealert writes.

James Larkin, the project leader and director of the Department of Radiation Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, emphasized that the radioactive substance injected into the rhino's horn does not harm the animal. The scientist put the rhino to sleep so as not to stress the animal, and then carefully drilled a small hole in the horn, injected the radioisotope, and then completed the work by spraying 11,000 microdots throughout the horn. According to him, the dose of radioactive material was so low that it had no effect on the rhino's health or the environment.

Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Science at the same university, Nithaya Chetty, added that the radioactive material "would make the horn useless, unfit and even poisonous for human consumption. And this should reduce the interest of poachers in these animals.

Twenty live rhinos will be part of the Rhisotope pilot project, whereby they will be injected with a dose of a specific substance that will trigger detectors installed around the world at international border posts. According to the scientists, border guards often have portable radiation detectors that can detect contraband, in addition to the thousands of radiation detectors installed at ports and airports.

According to the founder of the South African Limpopo Shelter, Arry Van Deventer, horn removal, which is currently practiced by animal rights activists, does not stop poachers. So all hope is for a new method of animal protection. "Maybe this is what will stop poaching. It's the best idea I've ever heard," he said.

Instead, James Larkin emphasized that the radioactive material injected into rhinos will last five years on the horn. This is even cheaper than removing rhinos' horns every 18 months.

South Africa is home to the vast majority of rhinos in the world. According to the International Rhino Foundation, there are about 15 thousand of these animals in the country. Therefore, it is here that these mammals are hunted the most. The poaching is caused by the demand for rhino horns in Asia, where they are used in traditional medicine for their alleged therapeutic effect. The horns are in high demand on black markets, where their price competes with gold and cocaine.

South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs said that despite government efforts to combat illegal trade, 499 giant mammals were killed in 2023, mostly in state parks. This is 11 percent more than in 2022.

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