To prevent robberies, banks have found a solution: Their branches no longer keep cash on hand. At worst, criminals target ATMs; at best, they give up. In the fight against rhino poaching, national parks in Africa have used a similar strategy for more than 30 years. They dehorn the pachyderms − though not all of them, as the procedure can seem unnatural. But faced with the devastation caused by illegal hunting, which just 20 years ago seemed to be pushing the species inexorably toward extinction, national park managers have accepted this necessary evil.
This strategy is both necessary and effective, according to a study published onJune 5 in the journal Science. From 2017 to 2023, an international team tracked the fate of white rhinos – the most common – and black rhinos – much rarer – in 11 reserves in and around Kruger National Park. Eight of these reserves dehorned all or some of their animals, while the other three did not. In total, 2,223 rhinos were sedated and then deprived of their two nasal appendages (African rhinos sport two horns, while Asian rhinos have only one). During the same period, authorities recorded the loss of 1,985 individual rhinos, victims of traffickers.
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