Environmentalists give rhinos of radioactive horns to save them from poachers

Injecting radioactive isotopes in the horn of a living rhinoceros is much easier than it seems, explains James Larkin.

“You essentially pierce a hole in the horn, put a radio isotope carefully selected in the horn in a few places, then you seal it, you reversed the tranquilizer and you send the rhinoceros en route for the next five years,” he said to In this case The guest host Paul Hunter.

“It’s easy. All done and sprinkled in a few minutes.”

Larkin is the director of sciences of the Rhisotope project, which aims to protect rhinos in danger of South Africa by returning their radioactive horns.

The doses, he says, are too low to pose risks for animals, but strong enough to trigger nuclear security system alarms at international borders. The goal is to dissuade people from poaching rhinos and catch those who do it.

Scientists who are not involved in the project welcome the innovative effort to protect animals in critical danger of extinction, but underline that this work alone not enough to save them.

Low doses have proven to be safe in the trial

The Rhisotope Project project is a collaboration between nuclear energy officials and scientists of environmentalists, in partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the South African University of Witwatersrand, where Larkin is director of the physics of radiation and health.

“Having seen enough of these videos of mutilated animals … It has come to me that, hey, maybe I could do something using my history,” he said.

First of all, he said, they had to make sure it worked and was sure for rhinos.

So, in the past six years, he and his colleagues have tested the idea, first in the laboratory with computer modeling to determine the safest effective dose, and later in the field, where they injected 20 black and white rhinos into the rhinoceros orphanage in the province of Limpopo in South Africa.

Monitoring studies on rhinoceros, he says, have not shown any negative effect of radiation, which, according to him, is the human equivalent of obtaining three computed tomography per year.

“No, it will not harm animals and, no, they do not shine in darkness.” Said Larkin.

The radiation is however strong enough to trigger radiation detectors in airports and other border passages.

“Over the years, due to the threat of nuclear terrorism, these detectors have been installed worldwide in ports, airports and places like this to stop the illegal movement of radioactive materials,” said Larkin.

“So we stand on the shoulders in many ways. The systems are there. The operating procedures are there. So we just said: use this to help reduce rhino horror traffic.”

The goal, he says, is not only to catch people who treat horns, but to dissuade other poachers from even worrying about trying.

“Using nuclear safety infrastructure already installed in a new way, we can help protect one of the most emblematic and threatened species in the world.”

The director general of the IAEA, Mariano Grossi, said that the project shows how nuclear science “can be used new ways to meet global challenges”.

“Using nuclear security infrastructure already installed in a new way, we can help protect one of the most emblematic and dangerous species in the world,” he said in a United Nations press release.

This is one of the many new approaches to rhino conservation in recent years. A study published last year also showed that Destroy rhinos The poaching reduced by 78% over a period of seven years in eight reserves.

The dehortion does not affect the health or capacity of animals to procreate, but A 2023 study revealed that this can have an impact on their behaviorSocializing them less and reducing the size of their domestic ranges.

Hundreds of rhinos killed every year

The Rhisotope project has injected five rhinos so far from the original test group, but hope that their work will lead to mass injections across the country. They encourage owners of private wild parks and national conservation authorities to connect.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature believes that the world population of rhinoceros was around 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century, but has now decreased to around 27,000 due to the continuous demand for rhino horns on the black market.

South Africa has the largest population of rhinoceros with around 16,000 but the country experiences high poaching levels with around 500 rhinos killed for their horns each year.

Larkin says that a horn of rhinoceros can recover up to US $ 60,000 ($ 82,000 CDN) on the black market. It is sometimes used in traditional drugs in Asian countries, but Larkin says that their main objective is a symbol of wealth and status.

“Nowadays, it is being able to show your commercial friends and colleagues, to be honest,” he said.

Berger says that he hopes that this method can be adapted to protect other very pointed animals, and says that it is already in talks with environmentalists who work to protect elephants, who are poached for their horns and pangolins, who are driven for their scale.

Joel Berger, Wildlife environmentalist at Colorado State University who is not involved in the project, praised the initiative.

“Having studied the rhinos in black and white in southern Africa and looked at the horrible assessment of poaching, now – around thirty years later – it is incredibly exciting that new technologies are tested to try to thwart illicit trade,” said CBC in an email.

“The use of radioactive isotopes located in horns to improve the detectability of smuggling horns through borders offers the hope of capturing specialists in gourmet marketing of innocent icons in the world.”

However, he said, it is not enough to save the rhinos. Authorities must also suppress criminal networks that keep the rhino horns trade, he said.