There are around 15,000 white rhinos left in the world and that number is falling every week. The loss comes at the hands of poachers seeking the highly coveted rhino horn. A single tusk can fetch nearly $100,000 from wealthy Chinese men who believe in its erotic powers. Park rangers in South Africa can't keep up with the better-equipped, better-funded poachers. But the owner of the Rhino and Lion Reserve near Johannesburg has a novel, albeit controversial plan.
Ed Hern is experimenting with injecting cyanide into rhinos' horns. Due to the absence of blood vessels in the ivory, the cyanide won't harm the rhino- only the person consuming it. Hern tells Sky News, "The aim would be to kill, or make seriously ill anyone who consumes the horn" adding "if someone in China eats it and gets violently sick, they are not going to buy it again."
The South African Government does not endorse the poison method and has asked Hern to instead focus on improving security at the refuge. But what do you think? Is Hern a conservationist or vigilante? Is harming a human life (even if that life is breaking the law) worth saving an animals?
Flickr/ By STC4blues
