Toxic avenger: One man's desperate idea to save the rhinos--poison their horns

Toxic avenger: One man's desperate idea to save the rhinos--poison their horns

www.scientificamerican.com

With rhinoceros poaching in Africa approaching an all-time high, one nature preserve owner has had enough. Ed Hern, owner of the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve near Johannesburg, South Africa, is experimenting with injecting cyanide into his rhinos' horns.

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He believes the poison will not harm the rhinos, because there are no blood vessels in the horn to carry the poison the rest of the rhino's body. But if anyone kills the animals and sells the horns for use in traditional Asian medicine, the end-consumer could pay the ultimate price.
"The aim would be to kill, or make seriously ill anyone who consumes the horn," Hern told Sky News. He also hopes this could help disrupt the market for illegal rhino horns. "If someone in China eats it and gets violently sick, they are not going to buy it again," he said.

This is ethical and very clever. Currently the poacher setup traps on ground or shoot darts from helicopter. Poachers land near the drugged rhino and cut the horn with a chainsaw, leaving the animal to bleed to death. The customers that drive this poaching also deserve a horrible death.

www.scientificamerican.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 2-9-2010 by Sheol]

This is hard... The people taking the horns are unquestionably criminals, I don't think anyone could argue that.

The problem is, as acknowledged by Mr. Hern, people will die.

It brings up an interesting question as far as responsibility goes. If you break into my house and steal something that ends up making you sick, is it my fault?

Any lawyers in the house?

Well Im no lawyer, but in South Africa there is already precedent for legaly harming a thief . In SA they have had a big problem with carjackings. One of the most fantastic methods that car owners use to get round this problem , is to fit flame throwers under the sides of the car, triggered when someone attempts to open the door while the car is stopped with the engine running, and all the passengers seated. It burns the legs of the potential thief, turning everything from the knee downwards into char. Effective, and by the laws of SA as legal as can be. Also if a person is caught stealing on a persons property , the property owner can shoot them, as long as the culprit remains on the property. I think if this method of preventing Rhino hunting was to be legal anywhere, it would probably be South Africa.

reply to post by Djarums


First of all... Awfull smelling and tasting cigarettes....
2nd... Who caresif the buys get sick or die?.. The species is going extinct...

People on ATS have no problem blaming the companies that hire the Illegal aliens .... Without the jobs they would'nt come here!!!

Same theory.... Kill off the buyers.. Demand drops.. supply stops.. Good day for all.

I think that there should be a hunting lisence / reward for killing the poachers-

uh....... does anyone else think injecting cyanide into a living rhino's horn is a bad idea? These creatures develop their own defense mechanisms through evolution for a reason. Sure, the guy might think it won't affect the rhino, but what about anything else that gets hit by the rhino's horns?

And really, this is a stupid idea. Like poachers aren't smart enough to find ways around this? It's just going to cause problems that don't even exist. Why not just form special forestry squads to hunt down and shoot all the poachers, then maybe animals and man can live in peace instead of us poisoning their horns so we won't hunt them.

reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

Why not just form special forestry squads to hunt down and shoot all the poachers, then maybe animals and man can live in peace instead of us poisoning their horns so we won't hunt them.

Lots of the parks have rangers that shot poachers on sight..
Problem is there is more money in poaching and little to spend on rangers..

Maybe when a few of the consumers of this caveman herbalism start kicking the bucket, they'll think twice before continuing this nonsense.

Bear gall bladders, tiger penis, rhino horn. Pathetic medieval nonsense.

Get with the 21st century or die? I'm on board with this dudes idea.

[edit on 2-9-2010 by Darkrunner]

Originally posted by CynicalM
reply to post by Dimitri Dzengalshlevi

 

Why not just form special forestry squads to hunt down and shoot all the poachers, then maybe animals and man can live in peace instead of us poisoning their horns so we won't hunt them.

Lots of the parks have rangers that shot poachers on sight..
Problem is there is more money in poaching and little to spend on rangers..

You know what? If people really cared, money wouldn't be an objective. There would be teams out there hunting down poachers and setting examples not for money, but to contribute to the quality of our environment.

It's really all about the money, and that's the sad thing. String a few of these poachers up in a tree and let the rhinos take a few swings back and you'll probably see some changes.