The poisoning of the horns of living rhinos imposes a number of obvious complications for the animal concerned. The limited time and risks to the health of sedated rhinos also obviously undermines the efficacy of the poisoning procedure and the options for achieving this.

Surely it is also sad to have to wait for the sacrifice of these living animal in order for the poisoned horns to be introduced into the market supply chain to take their effect.

Why not properly poison (by soaking to allow adequate infusion) intercepted horns or already stockpiled horns. This is surely much cheaper as well. Then introduce these poised horns into, or back into, the poaching syndicate supply chain somewhere along the line – perhaps close to the source would be the easiest.

That is possibly going to be the most effective and least complicated way of ensuring that a significant number of properly poisoned horns get to the high end consumers, at the least environmental and financial cost.

For every poacher caught there will be hundreds more lining up to take their place willing to take the risk. Its ultimately a human population numbers game that is extremely costly and ultimately unwinnable in the face of growing poverty and growing demand for horns. I’m not saying anti-poaching is a waste of time, not at all – its absolutely vital to intensify those efforts. And to introduce a shoot to kill policy, as was the case in Zimbabwe to good effect.

But unless this is coupled with a high impact strategy that introduces a real risk for a large number of potential consumers, the demand will simply keep growing and as the commodity becomes scarcer, so will the price of rhino horn increase and so will the motivation among potential poachers to take the necessary risks for an increasing payoff.

As far as “humanitarian ethics” are concerned, imagine how many lives could be saved (game scouts and poachers alike) by upsetting the market in this way. Not to mention the huge costs savings!

The question is, would the authorities and / or the private sector have what it takes to take implement such a coordinated strategy?

Arthur Albertson
(Ecologist, Botswana)

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