South African poachers seeking to kill rhinoceroses for their horns now risk detection via a secret alarm. Scientists on Tuesday injected tiny radioactive chips into the horns of live rhinos at the Limpopo rhino orphanage in the northeast of the country "in a pioneering project aimed at curbing poaching," AFP reports. Scientists said the radioactive material would not affect a rhino's health or the environment. But it will "render the horn useless ... essentially poisonous for human consumption," said Nithaya Chetty, dean of science at the University of the Witwatersrand.
And it's strong enough to set off radiation detectors at international border posts and airports, said James Larkin, director of Witwatersrand's radiation and health physics unit. Arrie Van Deventer, founder of the Limpopo orphanage, said it's "the best idea I've ever heard" to combat rhino poaching.
"Rhino horns are as valuable as gold" on the black market, per Deutsche Welle. South Africa, home to 80% of the world's rhinos, found 499 were poached in 2023; that's a 11% increase over the previous year, AFP reports. "If poaching continues at its current rate, it is estimated that rhinos may become extinct within the next 20 years," according to Earthwatch. Just 20 rhinos will take part in the pilot Rhisotope Project. The animals are first put to sleep before a radioisotope is inserted into a small hole drilled in their horns, per AFP. The material will last for five years, Larkin said, adding the process is cheaper than dehorning rhinos every 18 months. (More rhinoceros stories.)
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