‘Ab Fab’ star in fight against rhino poaching
BRITISH Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) award-winning actress, author and activist Joanna Lumley has joined the fight against rhino poaching as a patron of Rhinos’ Last Stand, a project which poisons the horns and dyes them pink in a bid to deter poachers.
Lumley said: “Currently, each day, three rhinos are needlessly hunted, butchered and killed for their horns. At this rate the species will be extinct in less than 4 000 days, which is truly terrifying.
“The horns are brutally poached for high-paying consumers, who wrongly believe that they cure cancer and all manner of illnesses and ailments.
“Fresh thinking and new technology is needed, and it’s now available thanks to Rhinos’ Last Stand and its years of research, testing, and trials. Their aim is to use a combination of expertise and technology to help protect and save this most beautiful mammal, once and for all. I am honoured to become a Patron of this project, and encourage all generations to come together and help put an end to this carnage before time runs out.”
Rhinos’ Last Stand’s radical approach works by treating a rhino horn with four substances – an infusion of an animal and habitat-friendly liquid that is toxic to humans, an indelible pink dye to signal a horn as unfit for human consumption, a forensic DNA taggant unique to every rhino treated, and a UV marker for instant detection of the forensic DNA.
The toxin and indelible dye render a horn valueless, and the risk of being caught and convicted is significantly increased thanks to irrefutable DNA evidence.
Rhinos’ Last Stand founder and chief executive Mike Kendrick said that significant attempts have been made over the years to stop poaching of rhinos for their horns, but it has focused on more patrols, more guns, and more penalties.
“Unfortunately, they haven’t worked, as the risk of getting caught and convicted was very low. By using the forensic DNA, we’re able to now establish where a seized rhino horn originated and the premises it belonged to, which is vital for arrest and conviction.
“The other side to it is the poison. We thought about the fact that demand is coming from people who believe rhino horns work wonders for a range of illnesses, when it’s little more than chewing your own fingernails.
“And so if we poison it, not only will those who dare to use it for such purposes become ill, but in the longterm it should remove the demand for consumption altogether.”