Rhino Horns are being Injected with Radioactive Material to Curb Poaching in South Africa

Scientists in South Africa are injecting radioactive material into rhino horns as part of a project aimed at battling the issue of poaching .

Knewz.com has learned that the presence of the radioactive material inside the horns will make them easier to detect at border posts.

The poaching of rhinos in South Africa is a significant issue the country has been battling for over a decade now.

According to the Save the Rhino project, the poaching crisis began in 2008, with the number of rhinos killed peaking at 1,349 in 2015.

"South Africa holds the majority of the world’s rhinos and has been the country hit hardest by poaching criminals , with more than 1,000 rhinos killed each year between 2013 and 2017," the project notes on its website .

While the numbers had been decreasing since 2017, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a sudden surge in the crisis.

"In 2021, rhino poaching increased in South Africa for the first time in six years. It’s likely that this change was due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic ... As those [pandemic-related] restrictions started to lift, criminal syndicates started to seize their opportunities to find rhinos again, causing poaching to increase by 13% since 2020," the project mentioned.

In 2022, 448 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa, and the project notes that a rhino is poached in the country every 20 hours.

To curb the issue, "The Rhisotope Project" came up with a unique solution: injecting radioactive implants into rhino horns.

James Larkin, director of the University of the Witwatersrand's radiation and health physics unit and the person who spearheaded the initiative, told AFP (via CBS News ) that he had put "two tiny little radioactive chips in the horn."

Nithaya Chetty, professor and dean of science at the University of the Witwatersrand, explained that the radioactive material would "render the horn useless… essentially poisonous for human consumption."

Explaining the project, the official website of The Rhisotope Project writes:

"By inserting measured quantities of radioisotopes into the horns of live rhinos, this project aims to use nuclear science in a novel way for conservation. This non-lethal yet powerful solution aims to radically reduce the demand from end-users and save rhinos from the very real threat of extinction ."

"Making rhino horns horn radioactive, reduces their desirability as a commodity. Radioactively treated horns are more likely to be detected at international borders, making it more likely that smuggling syndicates are exposed, prosecuted, and convicted under anti- terrorism laws."

Jessica Babich, the COO of the project assured that the last phase of The Rhisotope Project will ensure the aftercare of the rhinos part of the project, following "proper scientific protocol and ethical protocol," per CBS.

Professor Larkin also mentioned that the radioactive material is injected into the horn while the rhino is sedated, adding that the dosage of the material is so low it would not impact the animal's health or the environment in any way.

The radioactive material will last around five years in the rhino horns, which, according to Professor Larkin, is a more effective method as compared to de-horning rhinos every 18 months or so.

Arrie Van Deventer, the founder of the Limpopo Rhino Orphanage, also agrees that he has found de-horning and poisoning the horns to be ineffective methods in the fight against poaching.

"Maybe this is the thing that will stop poaching... Maybe this is the thing that will stop poaching," he said in a statement via CBS.