Chopping off horns save rhinos from poachers

CAPE TOWN: Armed with a dart gun in a helicopter hovering above Somkhanda game reserve in South Africa, the vet Dr Mike Toft has just shot a powerful cocktail of drugs into the massive white rhino below, reports The Guardian. The 2,000kg (315st) bull starts to stagger and sinks slowly to its knees as the drugs take effect. Though immobilised, the rhino is conscious. So, once it has been moved into the right position by a team on the ground, foam earmuffs and a blindfold are placed on its head to reduce stress levels.

After marking the ideal cutting point to avoid damaging the living growth plates at the base of the horns, Toft fires up a chainsaw and slices both of them off. Those magnificent horns, which have helped to protect this species for millions of years, are the reason that more than 7,000 rhinos have been killed in South Africa in the past decade. A persistent human desire for rhino horn – for everything from traditional medicine to hangover cures or status symbols – drives the slaughter of more than 1,000 of the animals each year in the country that has the largest rhino population in the world.

 

Chopping off horns save rhinos from poachers

CAPE TOWN: Armed with a dart gun in a helicopter hovering above Somkhanda game reserve in South Africa, the vet Dr Mike Toft has just shot a powerful cocktail of drugs into the massive white rhino below, reports The Guardian. The 2,000kg (315st) bull starts to stagger and sinks slowly to its knees as the drugs take effect. Though immobilised, the rhino is conscious. So, once it has been moved into the right position by a team on the ground, foam earmuffs and a blindfold are placed on its head to reduce stress levels. After marking the ideal cutting point to avoid damaging the living growth plates at the base of the horns, Toft fires up a chainsaw and slices both of them off. Those magnificent horns, which have helped to protect this species for millions of years, are the reason that more than 7,000 rhinos have been killed in South Africa in the past decade. A persistent human desire for rhino horn for everything from traditional medicine to hangover cures or status symbols drives the slaughter of more than 1,000 of the animals each year in the country that has the largest rhino population in the world.