US EditionSouth Africa Starts Injecting Rhino Horns with Radioactive Material to Curb Poaching
SOUTH AFRICA, JUL 31 – The University of the Witwatersrand's project uses radioactive isotopes to make rhino horns detectable by customs, aiming to reduce poaching that kills about 500 rhinos annually in South Africa.
- Supported by the IAEA, the University of the Witwatersrand began implementing a project Thursday to inject five rhinos with radioactive isotopes.
- With over 10,000 rhinos lost to poaching in the past decade, South Africa, home to 16,000 rhinos, loses about 500 annually, driven by illegal horn demand.
- The methodology demonstrated that even low-level isotopes trigger radiation detectors at airports and borders, and detection was confirmed inside full 40-foot shipping containers.
- Conservation authorities are being called, as the project combines isotopic tagging and nuclear security to deter and detect poaching, urging rhino owners and authorities to have their rhinos injected.
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65 Articles
Poachers are known to be brutal in the hunt for rhinoceros. Researchers in South Africa now want to counteract this – with an extraordinary method. Every year hundreds of rhinoceros horns are smuggled from Africa to Asia. South African researchers have now found a way to put an end to this and better protect the endangered animals. Employees of the "Rhisotope" project inject radioactive material into the horn of rhinos. This allows the horns to …
An intervention that is harmless to the animals makes it easier to detect the horns of animals killed by poachers during inspections.
A South African university has launched an anti-poaching campaign to inject radioactive isotopes into the horns of rhinoceros. Their objective is to deter poachers from killing rhinoceros by making their horns detectable by customs. - Make the horns of radioactive rhinoceros, a solution against poaching? (Environment).
Radio detectors at border posts can betray smugglers and thus prevent illegal export of horns
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