What do you think of the controlled dehorning of rhinos in Africa to discourage poaching?
The incidence of rhino poaching has increased exponentially in South Africa with 448 rhinos being killed last year and already in March 138 rhinos have been killed for their horns.
Thanks! Didn’t see that thread. In the meantime, a couple of people asked in that thread if rhino horns grow back, yes they do, but very slowly. They grow at a rate of 1 to 3 inches a year. Since the horns are basically compacted keratin, cutting them off will not hurt the rhino physically as long as the base is not cut into (kind of like cutting your nails). It may, however, play a role in their social interactions.
On preview, yes Grumman! The poachers leave gaping wounds that usually get infected or the animal bleeds out if they don’t shoot to kill in the first place.
That thread is from 2007 :). Rhino poaching has increased since then and I think it’s a relevant topic. Apparently they are now saying that rhino horn cures cancer (on some chinese herbal medicine sites), which is why it has become more valuable.
I know that South Africa has a massive stockpile of rhino horn from natural deaths etc. Would making the sale of rhino horn legal actually reduce poaching?
There aren’t enough rolleyes on the internet for your comment. This has nothing to do with “offending” the poachers, and everything to do with game wardens and ranchers being murdered by poachers while corrupt government officials look the other way.
I also wonder if it wouldn’t be possible to flood the market with fake rhino horn. It’s not like it will be any less potent. and once its powdered how easy would it be to tell the difference?
Back to the OP I don’t see much argument against rangers doing this. Anyone want to take the contrary side?
I understand the reasoning and I agree it’s better than having the animals murdered or left to die of infections, but I’d prefer to see them work to change the equation and make poaching less viable instead of doing the poachers’ jobs for them.
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I have been told the respective governments are too corrupt to declare open season on poachers.
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Pretty much. It’s the same dynamic in play for folks who raid archeological sites to swipe the treasure, destroying all of the data in the process. There is a huge market for both products, and what you get is poor folks in those countries willing to do the dirty work, and officials who are willing to look the other way because of the bribes from the folks who really profit by the illegal trade.
It’s a Catch-22 situation, and there are no easy, silver bullet type solutions to this problem. In order to REALLY stop it you have to attack the market that feeds it…and there is no real, viable way to do that. You can’t stop people wanting illegal drugs. You can’t stop folks wanting illegal artifacts. And you can’t stop people who want rhino horn to supposedly make their dicks hard or do some other magical horseshit.
Hell, you can’t even point solely at the fact that these are 3rd world nations with systemic corruption…the archeological thing happens even in the US and the UK (from what I’ve seen, it actually is pretty common in the UK actually…they even have a term for it, something like ‘nighthawks’ IIRC), and the only reason why rhinos aren’t slaughtered everywhere for their horns is that they are worth more to zoos and such, on the hoof so to speak, in countries that don’t have rhinos wandering about naturally than their horns are worth…otherwise it would probably happen here too. That’s the trouble when you have illicit trade in some commodity that has a large appeal (as rhino horn does in Asia especially)…someone is going to try and cash in, especially in places where rules are more ‘guidelines’ cast in sand than actual hard rules cast in stone.