As part of a study aimed at reducing hunting, scientists in South Africa have injected nuclear material into 20 rhino ears.
The concept is that energy detectors installed at national borders would be able to find the antlers and assist in the incarceration of poachers and traffickers.
The study, which has involved the involvement of professionals and nuclear professionals, begins with the dog being tranquilized before a hole is drilled into its whistle and the nuclear materials properly inserted. Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Radiation and Health Physics Unit in South Africa injected 20 life animals with these atoms this year. They hope to use the technique to protect different exotic species that are vulnerable to hunting, such as elephants and pangolins.
Because there is a worldwide network of energy screens that have been designed to prevent nuclear terrorism, Professor James Larkin, the project’s lead, said,” We are doing this because it makes it considerably easier to catch these ears as they are being trafficked over worldwide edges.” ” And we’re piggybacking on the back of that”.
The world elephant population, according to figures released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international protection organization, was estimated to be around 500, 000 at the start of the 20th century. Due to the persistent desire for rhino ears on the black market, it is currently estimated at around 27 000.
With an estimated 16 000 rhinos in South Africa, the country is a hub for over 500 animals killed annually.
At the top of the Covid- 19 pandemic, the elephant hunting rate in the country significantly decreased around 2020, but the statistics increased as disease lockdown restrictions were eased.
We must try everything novel and unique to combat hunting. You know, you’ll see the images they’ve presently started going up”, said Larkin. ” During Covid, they all fell but now we are starting to see those numbers rise once,” says Covid.
The experts have had to overcome numerous social obstacles posed by critics of their methodology, despite the fact that some in the industry have supported the idea.
Pelham Jones, the secret elephant owner’s association chairman, is one of the reviewers of the proposed approach and doubts whether it will effectively deter poachers and traffickers.
“( Poachers ) have worked out other ways of moving rhino horn out of the country, out of the continent or off the continent, not through traditional border crossings”, he said. They avoid borders bridges because they are aware that that is the region where there is the greatest risk of being taken or interrogated.
The radioactivity’s dose is extremely low, according to Professor Nithaya Chetty, professor of the technology faculty at Witwatersrand, and extensive animal testing was conducted to assess its potential negative effects.
