Dehorning Black Rhinos

Dehorning Black Rhinos

Dehorning black rhinos helped save them from extinction in the early 1990s from poachers because the armed guards patrolling the National Parks did not prove to be effective. Another way to preserve the rhino is to find substitutes for the horns.

Black rhinos, also known as the hooked-lip rhino, were poached mainly for their horns in the early 1990s, which led to the rhinos near extinction. The black rhino once roamed the extent of Africa’s sub-continent. Now the rhinos are primarily found in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Nimibia and Zimbabwe because of the demand for the horns. The rhino population has declined in those countries from 65,000 in the 1960s to 25,000 today (Rhino, Internet).

Rhino horns are used for pharmaceutical and ceremonial reasons in countries such as China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Thailand (Rhino, Internet).

Rhinos are also hunted for other reasons besides their valuable horns. The skin is used for skin disease, the bones are used for bone disorders, the blood is used for women with menstrual problems, and the penis is used as an aphrodisiac (Tudge, 1991, 34).

The main importing countries of rhino horn include South Korea, China, Thailand, and Taiwan. In 1987 China paid about $16,000 per kilogram, in 1988 South Korea paid $4,410 per kilogram, in 1990 Taiwan paid $4,221 and Thailand paid $10,284 per kilogram of horns (Rhino, Internet).

The Chinese have been using rhino horns for medical purposes for about 2,000 years to make remedies for flu, fever and convulsions (Tudge, 1991, 34). Chinese studies have shown that rhino horns reduce fevers in lab rats, but rhino horn does not compare to aspirin (Tudge, 1991, 38).

In Yemen the horns are carved into ceremonial d...

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...e than dead (Rhino, Internet).

Dehorning, substitution, and armed guards have saved the black rhino from near extinction in Africa in the early 1990s.

Works Cited

Armstrong, Sue "Cutting the Rhino’s losses." International Wildlife. 20 (January, February 1990): 22-24

Atkinson, Mark "Dehorning" [Internet] http://www.rhinos-irf.org/programs/dehorning.html (No Date Given)

Johannesburg. "Tusks and Horns and Conservationist." The Economist 343. (May 31,1997): 44

Knox, Margaret "Horns of a Dilemma" Sierra (November, December 1989): 58-67

"Rhino Horn Import Ban (RHINO)" [Internet] http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/ted/RHINOBLK.htm (No Date Given)

Tudge, Colin. "Can we End Rhino Poaching?" New Scientist. 132 (October 5, 1991): 34-39

Wright, Martin. "Old Enemies Join Forces in Namibia’s war Against Poaching." New Scientist 132 (October 5, 1991): 36-37