South African researchers test use of nuclear technology to curb rhino poaching

A sedated rhino is prepared to be tranquilized, before a hole is drilled into its horn and isotopes carefully inserted, at a rhino orphanage in the country’s northern province of Limpopo, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Researchers have started the final phase of a research project aimed at reducing rhino poaching by inserting radioisotopes into rhino horns to devalue one of the most highly trafficked wildlife commodities.

“We are doing this because it makes it significantly easier to intercept these horns as they are being trafficked over international borders, because there is a global network of radiation monitors that have been designed to prevent nuclear terrorism,” said Professor James Larkin, who heads the project. “And we’re piggybacking on the back of that.”, an international conservation body, the global rhino population stood at around 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.

“We’ve got to do something new and something different to reduce poaching. You know, you’ll see the figures they’ve already started going up,” said Larkin. “During Covid, they all went down but post Covid we are now starting to see those numbers go up again.”

Source: Tech Daily Report (techdailyreport.net)

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