Rhinos are among the African mammals most at risk of extinction. Besieged by climate change and human activities, which constantly modify and reduce their natural habitat, and by poachers, who continue to exterminate hundreds of specimens every year to sell their precious horns in Asia, where they are used as remedies in traditional medicine. After having tried practically everything to discourage poaching, in South Africa a group of scientists has decided to resort to an extreme solution: making rhino horns radioactive.
The program is called the Rhisotope Project, and is being carried out by researchers at Wits University. And it was born after the realization that all previous attempts in South Africa had not produced the desired results. Cutting rhino horns, for example, is expensive, debilitating for the animals, and is not a permanent solution, because it must be repeated periodically to prevent the horns from growing back and the animals from attracting the attention of poachers again. Even poisoning the horns was not enough, given that last year almost 500 South African rhinos were killed by poachers, a significant number in a country that is home to just 2,000 black rhinos (critically endangered) and 13,000 white rhinos (nearly critically endangered), and an 11% increase compared to the previous year.
Hence the extreme ratio that the researchers of the Rhisotope project resorted to: inserting rafdioactive radioisotopes into the horns of rhinos, so as to make them toxic for potential human consumers, and at the same time, extremely easy to detect by border police and anti-poaching units, routinely equipped with Geiger counters. Obviously, the dose chosen is calibrated to be completely harmless for the animals, but still sufficient to trigger the anti-terrorism alarm systems of airports and customs stations.
The radioactive material chosen has a duration of five years. It is not a permanent solution, therefore, but it is still much more durable than the removal of horns, which must be repeated every 18 months and therefore has much higher management costs. Currently, the animals that have been treated in this way are only 20. But it is a pilot project, which could soon be expanded to other areas of the country if the monitoring planned for the next six months gives the desired results.