RHINO HORN TREATMENT DETERRENT FOR POACHERS
Infusion with toxin and dye proving effective, G’town game farm says
AFTER being darted from a helicopter with a low-dosage tranquilliser, a 1.8-ton rhino put up a mean fight and stood her ground for about a minute before plummeting to the ground. A team of veterinarians and Rhino Rescue Project members rushed in and drilled holes into her horns and infused toxins to prevent poaching.
The 22 000-hectare Buffalo Kloof Private Game Reserve just outside Grahamstown has embarked on the second phase of horn infusion as a means to curb poaching.
The project, coordinated by the Rhino Rescue Project, aims to devalue the rhino horns by infusing a compound of ectoparasiticides and indelible dye that contaminates the horn but is harmless to the animal – making it useless to be sold.
Warning signs along the fence of the game reserve caution people against coming in to contact with the toxins.
The horn is rendered useless to poachers as the dye is released throughout the horn, turning it red.
Rhino Rescue Projects co-founder and project manager Lorinda Hern said contaminating the horns made them less attractive to poachers.
“We want the word to spread in the community that the horns on this property are worthless commercially.
“We wanted to strike a balance between having a treatment that can be potent but also be safe for the animal, and this cocktail is not harmful to the animal at all.
“Also because there is no blood supply in the horn there is no chance of whatever we are putting into it making it back into the animal’s system.”
Hern said the treatment had been introduced about seven years ago and had shown phenomenal results.
William Fowlds, a wildlife veterinarian in the area, said the animals were darted with about four millilitres of tranquilliser.
If compared to a Disprin tablet, which is about 300ml, it takes less than a tenth of a teaspoon to knock the animals out.
“Most people won’t believe how little it takes to knocks these big animals out, but one very important thing to know is that when one female rhino is killed for her horns that takes away 10 potential calves from being born, which is devastating to the population of the species,” Fowlds said.
“The poaching crisis is severe and the more layers of protection we can pack around it the better and in this case it is a different kind of protection in that we are devaluing the horn.”
Game reserve owner Warne Rippon said the farm had been incident-free since they started the infusions four years ago.
“We strongly believe this is better for the animals. I think it is a good way of deterring poaching on the reserve and we feel it is a positive way forward.”
The more layers of protection we can pack around it the better