Why Rhino horns are being poached?

Rhinos are majestic mammals but they are being poached for their horns which are used in traditional medicine. A rhino’s horn is not made of bone but of a protein called keratin which is found in our hair and nails. Did you know that a rhino’s horn, if trimmed, can grow back? However, trade in rhino is illegal. Today, less than 30,000 rhinos are left in the world of which 70% live in South Africa.

Rhino horn is used as an ingredient in certain Traditional Chinese Medicine practices. The surge in poaching during the 1970s and 1980s was caused by the increased demand coming from South-East Asian countries. Rhino horn was removed from the official list of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Chinese Medicine Pharmacopeia in 1993, as there are no measurable health benefits and no scientific evidence supporting its use. In 2018, China reversed the ban on trade on rhino horn. Despite this lack of evidence, many users of Traditional Chinese Medicine still believe rhino horn has medicinal benefits and use it to treat a wide variety of illnesses such as headaches, fevers, convulsions and in some cases cancer. The horn is crushed into a fine powder and manufactured into tablets or dissolved in boiling water and consumed orally.

The total number of rhino deaths have since fallen. In 2018, 769 rhinos were poached in South Africa, and in 2019, 594. Sentences of 24 to 25 years in prison have been handed out to convicted poachers in 2019 and 2020. Mitigating measures implemented by 2020 include improved situational awareness and reaction times, deployment of technology and improved information collection and sharing among law enforcement departments. National en regional cooperation was enhanced while participation of the private sector, non-governmental organisations and donors is encouraged. The table below shows the number of rhinos poached in the various provinces of South Africa as well as the rhino deaths due to poaching in the whole of the African continent from 2007 to 2018.

Picture Credit : Google

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