Bid to curb rhino poaching

Researchers in South Africa have injected radioactive material into the horns of 20 rhinos as part of a project aimed at reducing poaching by detecting horns at national borders


University of Witwatersrand: Rhisotope Project uses small, measured quantities of radioisotopes, which can be picked up by radiation detection monitors at international borders – airports, seaports and land crossings

Detectors: Over 11,000 radiation monitors, which can detect smallest radioactive particles, are operated by thousands of personnel


Poaching deaths of African rhinos

South Africa
Other African countries

2014: 1,324 rhino poaching deaths of which 1,215 are in South Africa
  
2023: 499 rhinos killed in South Africa

13 1,350 548 566

1,000 
500
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023


Global rhino population: Stood at around 500,000 at beginning of 20th century – now stands at about 27,000

Poaching: “Every 20 hours in South Africa a rhino dies for its horn” – Professor James Larkin, Wits University


Sources: International Union for Conservation of Nature, Wits University 
Picture: Getty Images 
© GRAPHIC NEWS