Inject Rhino Horns With Poison, That'll Stop Poachers

I don't think pink is a good idea. Now women will want it! haha

Rhino horns can get to be about 3 feet long. It takes about 10 years to get to that size... A smart purveyor of rhino horn would encourage their health and reproduction, tranq them to harvest the horn. Harvest them in a staggered manner so every year you have a constant supply... each Rhino can provide up to 5 horns in its lifetime instead of one (since they grow at about 3-4 inches a year)

This plan seems crazy, but I actually see no flaws with it. As long as the rhinos don't mind and horn harvesters are properly warned... this is actually a really good idea.

Wonder if it works for elephant tusks?

Can they do this with elephants too?

As long as none of this hurts the animal I think it is a great idea. Exploiting and killing an animal just to harvest a part of their body for their perceived medical properties is wrong especially with such an endangered species.

@koala,
no, it does not work with ivory. Tusks are a tooth, while horns are like fingernails.

@ppardee,
This is not done, because the authorities are afraid that it will lead to an escalation of poaching, and allow poached horn to be hidden among legally harvested horn. So the blanket approach has been adopted of no legal trade in Rhino horn at all. South African game park authorities are holding considerable stocks of rhino horn which is not marketed. Kenia has been burning huge piles of ivory on occasion over the years so it would not fuel the industry of ivory smugglers, traders, and carvers. Vietnam and China are the major market for the horn, where the smugglers have spread the rumor that it also cures cancer.

ppardee
, the problem is not the harvesting of horns, it's that the porchers are doing it because they can make a quick buck and they're DIRT POOR, tranqs cost money but bullets don't.. bullets cost almost nothing and neither do rifles. further, tranq guns, are practiclly paintball markers, they need compressed air and compressors that can reach 3000+psi aren't cheap or common even in developed nations. along with this you need air tanks, regulators, regular maintenance, oil, cleaning, the darts, yo uneed to track and follow an angry animal until it takes effect, you'll want reverser if you want the animal to live (the whole point of doing all of that in the first place) so the animal doesn't burn up in the heat, suffocate under it's own weight.. etc etc, injecting the reverser isn't easy (ear vein) and needs clean needles and training along with more money to buy.

then on top of ALL that, you'll need the government permits to import all of this into the country in an ongoing basis, which can be tracked, you'll need a legitimate vetrenarian for all of that who'll need to work at a sancuary or rescue already.. and the sancuary's and rescue centres ALREADY HARVEST THE HORNS AND ELEPHANT TUCKS to prevent poaching.

from what i hear, most of the time it is burned and rightly so.

so, why would a smart horn poacher tranq the animals again???

answer: He wouldn't .. he just plain wouldn't . because it's a). impossible and b). not feasible/smart at all