In an attempt to combat rhinoceros poaching, a South African game reserve is test injecting the combination of a poison, which causes sickness in humans, and a permanent dye, into the animals’ horns, according to media reports.
The mixture will also kill off parasites that affect rhinos and the dye will turn the horns pink when viewed with an airport scanner, according to South African-based news agency, Newspoint. The Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve hopes that the poison will deter poachers.
“The chemicals have the dual threat of keeping away both natural and human parasites… and last for three to four years,” reserve spokesperson Lorinda Hern told Newspoint.
The consumption of rhino horns has soared over the past several years, especially in China, where the horns are thought to have medicinal benefit.
"Education would go a long way towards teaching consumers that rhino horn contains no nutritional or medicinal value,” Hern said, according to AFP.
The horn treatment has been tested at the park, which is located near Johannesburg. "A permanent solution would be to eliminate the demand for rhino horn altogether," Hern added, according to the news agency.
In 2007, there were only 13 reported cases of rhino poaching. Since the beginning of 2011 however, 279 animals in South Africa, where most of the world’s rhino population lives, have been killed for their horns, the park said according to the report.
The world’s rhino population has declined by around 90 percent in the past 40 years. Three species of rhino are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
