A couple weeks ago on Steve Scott's Safari Journal show he suggested just safely removing the horns off all rhinos and selling it thus bringing it's value way down to take away the incentive to poach. At the rate rhinos are being poached it may be the only thing that saves them. That vast amount of money could be used mightily in anti-poaching campaigns as well as add campaigns in China to show those people that it is worthless for what they buy it for. Anyway, with the horns gone they won't be worth poaching.

Nothing new or unique here. This was in fact tried a number of years ago. I don't recall all the details, but it did not work. The poachers killed the rhino anyway, just out of spite, and who would expect anything else from them?

The best solution I have ever seen was in Kenya some 20 years ago. A squad of fully automatic weapons carrying soldiers/scouts was assigned to each group of rhino and travelled on foot with them day and night, providing protection and camping in the bush. They were also in radio contact with support staff 24/7. Some of them became so affiliated with the beasts that they could walk right alongside them without the rhino taking offense.

Keep in mind that there are two major uses for the horn. The most common known is as an aphrodisiac in Asia when ground into a powder. The second is for the handle of ceremonial daggers in some arabic nations.

I was a big fan and believer in the darting of rhino rather than killing them - darting was actually more difficult, IMO, than hunting one with a rifle. I still believe it was the bunny huggers amongst the RSA DVMs that put a stop to the darting program.

Poison it. But then, I'm an asshole.

The controlled commercial use of Rhino horn will definitely have a positive effect on Rhino conservation efforts. Read the various reports and articles by Peter Flack and Ron Thompson. Cites is a big problem with all the animal rightest organisations that use money to bribe the poor countries to get their votes. In Africa we also have numerous so called freedom fighters that uses Rhino horn, Ivory, gold and diamonds to funds their wars. Most of the Rhino poached in RSA are poached in the KNP by Mozambique citizens. The precision with which the poaching takes place suggests that the poachers had military training. I am reasonably sure that Renamo is involved to fund their renewed uprising trying to get more influence in Mozambique. It is a bloody money game all over Africa. There is no way of stopping the demand, the only way is to supply the products through a regulated market at a lower price than the poached goods. No ban have ever worked and it will surely not save the Rhino from possible extinction.

Make a substance so much alike the real horn no one could tell the difference. Then add some poison to it. Thin the buyers out that way might cut down on the demand. It's all an allusion that don't really work anyway.
George

Yes mix it with Monk Weed & anti depressant.

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
Make a substance so much alike the real horn no one could tell the difference. Then add some poison to it. Thin the buyers out that way might cut down on the demand. It's all an allusion that don't really work anyway.
George

Jaco not Renamo but people within the government institution are involved and it looks like some SA people are involved as well!

quote:

Originally posted by Jaco Human:
The controlled commercial use of Rhino horn will definitely have a positive effect on Rhino conservation efforts. Read the various reports and articles by Peter Flack and Ron Thompson. Cites is a big problem with all the animal rightest organisations that use money to bribe the poor countries to get their votes. In Africa we also have numerous so called freedom fighters that uses Rhino horn, Ivory, gold and diamonds to funds their wars. Most of the Rhino poached in RSA are poached in the KNP by Mozambique citizens. The precision with which the poaching takes place suggests that the poachers had military training. I am reasonably sure that Renamo is involved to fund their renewed uprising trying to get more influence in Mozambique. It is a bloody money game all over Africa. There is no way of stopping the demand, the only way is to supply the products through a regulated market at a lower price than the poached goods. No ban have ever worked and it will surely not save the Rhino from possible extinction.

That Russian "Krokodil" concoction would be a treat if it could be incorporated in powdered horn - would it work if ingested though ?

quote:

Originally posted by 376 steyr:
A couple weeks ago on Steve Scott's Safari Journal show he suggested just safely removing the horns off all rhinos and selling it thus bringing it's value way down to take away the incentive to poach.

The criminal element just buys all the horn they can at the lower price and on sells it on the black market,
which has an insatiable appetite for the stuff.
Even horn from other animals sold as Rhino horn, fetches $15,000 a kilo...the real stuff $100,000 kilo.

I think some have no idea of how many cashed-up people there are in Asia willing [and competing] to pay insane prices for Rhino horn.
Just look at how much money Asians blow in the Macau casinos, hence black market price for rhino horn is in no way a hurdle to them.
Its not uncommon to see wealthy Asians betting between $100,00 and $500,000 per hand, in casinos.
and You will see regular $20,000-$30,000 bets on just about any of the several hundred tables on the gaming floor.
They each can buy Rhino horn, and not even feel the difference in their wallet.
...and its all just a small fraction of the large disposable cash wealth segment of the population in Asia.

I think that people suggesting these 'bright ideas' to stop the illegal poaching-negate the black market,
seriously lack perspective of the real world.

Fujo,

Desomorphine is just a drug. It's benign. You are freaking brilliant. I was thinking about arsenic and strichnine.

This will work and look like a drug overdose.

quote:

Originally posted by Trax:

quote:

Originally posted by 376 steyr:
A couple weeks ago on Steve Scott's Safari Journal show he suggested just safely removing the horns off all rhinos and selling it thus bringing it's value way down to take away the incentive to poach.

The criminal element just buys all the horn they can at the lower price and on sells it on the black market,
which has an insatiable appetite for the stuff.
Even horn from other animals sold as Rhino horn, fetches $15,000 a kilo...the real stuff $100,000 kilo.

I think some have no idea of how many cashed-up people there are in Asia willing [and competing] to pay insane prices for Rhino horn.
Just look at how much money Asians blow in the Macau casinos, hence black market price for rhino horn is in no way a hurdle to them.
Its not uncommon to see wealthy Asians betting between $100,00 and $500,000 per hand, in casinos.
and You will see regular $20,000-$30,000 bets on just about any of the several hundred tables on the gaming floor.
They each can buy Rhino horn, and not even feel the difference in their wallet.
...and its all just a small fraction of the large disposable cash wealth segment of the population in Asia.

I think that people suggesting these 'bright ideas' to stop the illegal poaching-negate the black market,
seriously lack perspective of the real world.

True, there will never be enough Rhino horn, legal, or illegal to supply the demand.

The best and only way is to contaminate the horn so that it becomes deadly to use it. And put a big old sticker on the product that says :" Using Rhino horn may lead to breast cancer" OR "The use of Rhino horn causes heart diseases"

Trax:

That's what happens when all these folks buy
imports. Don't matter what it is in the way of
product, anything imported fills their pockets in Asia and takes American jobs along the way.
George

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Poison it. But then, I'm an asshole.

I agree...on the poison part anyway

Why not sell dart hunts on them, harvest the horn, sell horn and use that money to put guards on the herds. The guards could be well paid, well equipped and have plenty of ammo to handle poachers.

You will run out of rhino, before you flood the market. It would be like trying to flood the crack/cocaine market.

I dont know why they dont take them all out of the wild [they will only get killed ultimately anyway ]put them in secret farm locations, sell the horn through an accepted Legal CITES agreement ,put that money back into conservation, until the time comes in the future that something is done about the illegal Trade ,or the mentality changes somehow in Asia ,which i dont think they care whether the horn actually does anything or not, but merely the exotic nature of Rhino horn itself.The biggest hurdle of course is the animal rights ''do gooders'' ,whose whole mentality is based on emotion, not common sense or practicality ,and are blatantly against any sustainable use of wildlife, include the sale of ivory,which is typfied by the idiotic burning of that pile of ivory some years ago which achieved nothing whatsoever ,they are the biggest stumbling block to deal with ,another example is their flat rejection of sustainable crocodile hunting in Australia