South African scientists on Tuesday injected radioactive material into live rhino horns to make them easier to detect at border posts in a pioneering project aimed at curbing poaching.
The country is home to a large majority of the world’s rhinos, and as such, is a hotspot for poaching driven by demand from Asia, where horns are used in traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic effect.
At the Rhino Orphanage in the Waterberg area of Limpopo province a few of the thick-skinned herbivores grazed in the low savannah.
Photo: AFP
James Larkin, director of the University of the Witwatersrand’s Radiation and Health Physics Unit who spearheaded the initiative, said that he had put “two tiny little radioactive chips in the horn” as he administered the radioisotopes on one of the large animals’ horns.
The radioactive material would “render the horn useless ... essentially poisonous for human consumption” said Nithaya Chetty, dean of the university’s Faculty of Science .
The dusty rhino, put to sleep and crouched on the ground, did not feel any pain, Larkin said.
The radioactive material’s dose was so low it would not affect the animal’s health or the environment in any way, he said.
In February, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs said that, despite government efforts to tackle the illicit trade, 499 of the giant mammals were killed last year, mostly in state-run parks.
This is an 11 percent increase from 2022.
Twenty live rhinos in total would be part of the pilot Rhisotope project, whereby they would be administered a dose “strong enough to set off detectors that are installed globally” at international border posts originally installed “to prevent nuclear terrorism,” Larkin said.
In addition to the thousands of radiation detectors installed at ports and airports, border agents often have handheld radiation detectors that can detect contraband, the scientists said.
Rhino horns are highly sought after on black markets, where the price by weight rivals that of gold and cocaine.
Arrie van Deventer, the orphanage’s founder, said that dehorning the rhino and poisoning the horns has failed to deter poachers.
“Maybe this is the thing that will stop poaching,” Van Deventer said. “This is the best idea I’ve ever heard.”
More than a dozen team members performed the delicate process on another rhino. Larkin meticulously drilled a small hole into the horn, hammered in the radioisotope, then finished off by spraying 11,000 microdots all over the horn.
The last phase of the project would be the animal’s aftercare following “proper scientific protocol and ethical protocol,” project chief operating officer Jessica Babich said.
The team would then take follow-up blood samples to ensure the rhinos are effectively protected.
The material would last five years on the horn, which is cheaper than dehorning every 18 months, Larkin said.
About 15,000 rhinos live in South Africa, the International Rhino Foundation has estimated.
OUT OF NIGER: The US joint chiefs of staff chairman is in Botswana for a gathering of African chiefs of defense as Washington seeks to rebuild its presence in the continent The top US general is making a rare trip to Africa to discuss ways to preserve some of the US presence in West Africa after Niger decided to kick out the US military in favor of partnering with Russia in a major setback for Washington. US Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters before landing in Botswana yesterday for a gathering of African chiefs of defense that he was going to speak with several partners in the region. “I do see some opportunities. And there’s countries that we’re already working with in West Africa,” Brown
MONEY MATTERS? Hanoi said the US and Vietnam talked about developing their partnership, which involves significantly more trade than with Russia A senior US diplomat on Saturday held talks in Vietnam and said that the trust between the two countries was at an “all-time high,” just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Hanoi. US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said that his trip was unrelated to Putin’s visit on Thursday. Vietnam last year elevated the US to its highest diplomatic status, comprehensive strategic partner, putting it at the same level as China and Russia. The elevation of the US ties suggested that Vietnam wanted to hedge its friendships as Western companies look
LITHIUM BATTERY: Twenty foreign workers, including 18 Chinese, were among the fatalities in the massive blaze that engulfed the Aricell factory in Hwaesong Twenty-two people were killed — including 18 Chinese nationals — in a massive fire at a South Korean lithium battery factory, the fire department said yesterday, one of the nation’s worst factory disasters in years. More than 100 people were working in the factory when workers heard a series of explosions from the second floor, where lithium-ion batteries were being inspected and packaged, firefighter Kim Jin-young told media. In the massive blaze that ensued, 22 people were killed, including 20 foreign nationals — 18 Chinese, one from Laos and one of unknown nationality, he said. “Most of the bodies are badly burned so
An ethnic armed group in Myanmar has seized the nation’s most popular beach resort town, with junta troops holed up in a nearby airport, military and local sources said yesterday. Clashes have rocked western Rakhine state since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked the military there in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the 2021 military coup. For days, fighting has raged around Ngapali beach in the south of the state, where upmarket resorts dot the pristine, palm-fringed sands of the Indian Ocean. The town of Thandwe, a few kilometers from the beach and home to the local airport, was largely