Shownotes Transcript
That's a rhino. Most of the world's rhinos live in South Africa, but it's also a poaching hotspot, with hunters killing them illegally for their horns. Some species, like the black rhino, are now critically endangered. The poachers are part of organised criminal networks that track and kill the animals and then smuggle their horns across borders. South Africa is cracking down hard on this. Recently, some poachers were sentenced to 22 years in prison.
Beyond tough sentencing, conservationists are testing some pretty creative ways to protect these animals. Today, you're going to hear how scientists are injecting radioactive substances into rhino horns to deter poachers, and why some rhinos are being airlifted upside down by helicopter to safer habitats. I'm Hannah Gelbart, and you're listening to What in the World from the BBC World Service. ♪
To find out more about this, I'm speaking to Ayanda Charlie, our reporter in South Africa. So let's start off with the problem. How serious an issue is poaching in South Africa? Poaching in South Africa is actually quite serious. So an average of one rhino is killed each day, right? Which is already so concerning. But what you find is that
On the continent of the 586 reported rhino poachings in 2023, 499 of them happened here. So we, as much as rhino poaching might be decreasing at times, we seem to have a steady poaching culture here. How endangered are rhinos? How many are left in South Africa?
So in total, there are 28,000. We've got 17,464 of the white rhinos who are near threatened. And then there's much less black rhinos, which seem to be poached much more frequently. And those are sitting at 6,421. And the rhinos are predominantly poached for their horns, right? What is it that the horns are used for?
So horns don't really have much kind of properties for them to really be used for anything. People who poach or buy these horns from poachers tend to be just people who want them for status symbols. There are parts of the world where it's believed to be medicinal. However, there's no real evidence that that is true or that that is the main demand.
Are there large markets for rhino horns in some parts of the world? There are. So in Vietnam, there are huge markets and in China as well. In terms of where they're sourced, it's unclear because there are other rhino populations around the world. And so we're not sure what lines of trade start where and end where. But it is said that, you know, the demand happens to be in Asia. So why is it that rhino poaching is so hard to stop?
Well, the thing about rhino poaching is that it's not a crime that happens in and of itself. It's usually connected to a number of other crimes around it. So human trafficking, arms dealing. And so to find the perpetrators, you would have to be quite familiar with how they work and we'd have to understand how those trafficking rings work. And so investigations tend to take a long time.
And when you think about the methods that, you know, owners or people who take care of rhinos use, like dehorning and things like that, they don't really always help because poachers don't mind going in and poaching just a rhino with a little bit, you know, of a horn of what's left or whatever is growing. I want to talk about some of the other ways that rhino poaching is being tackled, in particular, this quite new method that you saw up close where radioactive material is being put into rhinos' horns. Yeah.
Yes, yes. So Professor James Larkin of the University of the Wettbewerd-Wasserstrand has developed this method where they put radioactive material, a very small dose of it, in what might look like a pellet. It's called an isotope. And they insert it into the rhino horn. And the idea is because radioactive material is detectable at every port,
and border gate. The idea is that if a horn makes it to the border, it's detectable and the person who's trying to poach it is arrested not just for poaching a horn but also for handling radioactive material out in public because that's also a biohazard and is considered a...
crime along the lines of terrorism. Could it cause any harm to the rhino? Well, firstly, how they insert it is that they take the pellet itself, which would be put together in a lab, and they drill into the rhino's horn right to the centre. They've gone through great lengths to make sure that they don't drill too far. And they place the pellets right in there. And then once they're done, they just seal that part of the horn so poachers can't tell if the rhino has been implanted. And then, in terms of whether or not this is good for the rhinos,
All evidence so far suggests that there's no reason to believe it's not good for them, but there is a pending lab test to make sure that the rhinos who were implanted in that pilot stage have not had any complications to their body. But the science of it is essentially that the rhino horn is essentially made of the same thing our hair is, and that means that the body can
send nutrients to the horn, but the horn doesn't send anything back into the body. So there's no chance scientifically of the material making its way back into the blood flow or just the head area of the rhino. And how does this actually stop the poaching or is it just a deterrent?
It's a deterrent. Hopefully, I mean, when I spoke to the people who do this method, they said, well, it's designed for them to not even bother. Right. But once they do, the repercussions are supposed to be so extreme that word ultimately gets around that like this is just not worth coaching anymore. So has this been successful?
Well, so far, the project hasn't gone public, but only once it's out in the world where we know if it's actually deterring poachers, if it's actually landing people in jail. But so far, conceptually, there's a lot of reason to be optimistic. What are some of the other methods that are being used to tackle rhino poaching?
Well, dehorning has been the main method so far. Usually security is what most rhino herders will use. And a lot of it, you know, and this is also credits to the people who do this, a lot of it boils down to investigators keeping their eye on how these poachers work. And so, so far, the dehorning seems to be the only other option.
viable competitive method to this method. So let's talk about some success stories, some positive outcomes. Where have rates of poaching rhinos gone down?
So there's a really inspiring story in Kenya where the initiative to save the Eastern Black Rhino has been quite successful. So in 1984, they went from a population of 240 of these rhinos to 966 by the beginning of 2024.
And their plan is to get to 900 by 2037, which they seem to be well on their way. Ayanda, you went to see these rhinos when they were being sedated for testing. Let's hear a clip of you talking about what that was like. Two bulls out of a total of seven.
are currently laying on their stomachs near a bush and they're surrounded by the veterinarians who are of course taking the measurements. How they sedate the rhinos is very different to what you might imagine.
Instead of shooting it with a dart from a distance, they take a much gentler approach, which involves dropping a heap of grass for them to feast on. One of the vets takes out a long yellow pole that has the dose at the end of it.
Oh, it was amazing. Number one, they are just majestic creatures. They're humongous. And because they were sedated, I was able to get quite close. They have personalities. They're animals with quite a presence. And interestingly enough, because they're beastly, right, and they seem so rough and rugged, you wouldn't think that there's any softness to them. But touching their eye, touching the back of the ear, the crevices and how soft they are was really surprising for
It was actually also quite endearing, you know, that they have soft parts to them. So it was really a once in a lifetime opportunity. Ayanda, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you so much for having me. Ayanda mentioned other methods of rhino conservation. Well, in some countries, including South Africa, the animals are being moved to different areas hung upside down by...
helicopter. I'm speaking to Riley Farrell, a BBC reporter in Washington in the US, who's been looking into this. Hi, Riley. Howdy, how are you? Good, thank you. First of all, why do rhinos need to be rehomed? How does that help them? Right, so rhinos are rehomed for three main reasons. One, to protect them from poaching or illegal hunting. Two,
Two, so rhino researchers can take the opportunity to monitor them. So maybe they'll stick a satellite GPS into their horns.
And three, rhinos are rehomed to diversify their genes. You know, black rhinos are critically endangered, which means there are only 6,500 black rhinos. And the ones that exist are mostly living in protected reserves. So intervention is really needed to prevent inbreeding.
Let's talk about how some of these rhinos are being airlifted using helicopters. What does that process involve? How do you get a rhino onto or under a helicopter? Yeah, obviously slinging a rhino is no small feat. So I talked to the scientists involved to learn what it takes. So
So first off, they said you need a team of dedicated researchers and wildlife veterinarians who are constantly watching out for the rhino's well-being. And then you need a plan. Which rhino are you going to rehome? Typically, these rhinos are youngsters or dominant bulls. And for supplies, you've got to have an opioid or a vaccine.
or a tranquilizer, which are usually used together to dart the rhino and immobilize them. Finally, you'll need some strong straps that can carry this dinosaurian animal that weighs literally a ton and whatever type of helicopter you're going to use.
I want to paint a picture of this for people listening because I have been watching videos of how they do this and the rhino lies on its back with its legs up in the air and it's attached to this helicopter and literally flown across the sky. Does being carried upside down in this way, does it affect the animals at all? Does it affect their breathing?
Right. So I hear you. Airborne inversion totally looks wonky. But the scientists who have studied this say that this is actually the safest option. And these scientists have studied pretty much every method of helicopter moving. You know, they've tried putting rhinos on
sideways on boards, but that causes excess swinging. They've tried putting these rhinos in nets, but the inverted airborne moving is just the safest. And that's because the anatomy of the rhino means that it is remarkably able to breathe upside down. So if you can imagine
These rhinos are hanging by their legs and they're able to comfortably extend their head and neck downwards, sort of straightening their spine and breathing real easy. Also, and this is incredible to me, the rhino horn acts as a tail feather or a wind vane when they're upside down. So upside down, their horn actually reduces the risk of spinning. It sounds almost like being in a hammock, quite relaxing the way that you paint it.
Is this method safer than, say, travelling by road? So conservationists really only consider helicopter slinging as a solution when the capture site or the release site is inaccessible by road or when slinging significantly cuts down on transport time. So it's like if you're taking a cross-country road trip at a certain point, you've got to ask,
Is it just more efficient to fly there? If the release sites that you're going to are in these mountainous rough regions or there's a lack of a road network, then airborne inversion is the quickest and safest option. Is there any data that suggests that this method of rehoming rhinos is making a difference?
Yeah, so slowly but surely, helicopters are making a difference. One scientist that I spoke to said helicopters have, quote, revolutionized black rhino conservation. You know, whether we're talking about using the helicopter to dart the rhinos or to
literally airlift them, they are making a difference in terms of population and genetic diversity. The World Wildlife Fund's Black Rhino Range Expansion Project says that it has moved
270 rhinos and a majority of those have been airlifted. And just another example of success is in the mountainous region of northwest Namibia called Kunin. About 30 years ago, the black rhino population there was totally depleted according to my sources. But then 2010 happened
Helicopter translocations started there, and airlifts allowed the introduction of rhinos into those previously inaccessible areas. You know, rhinos have existed for 50 million years. And fossils indicate that there were once upwards of 150 rhino species. And now there are five. So scientists and conservationists are sort of willing to do whatever it takes
Even if it looks a little bit wonky to save the rhinos. And the rhinos, by the way, are being moved to new homes so that they can feed and breed without a care in the world. A little bit of science. Black rhino population growth rates are what is called density dependent populations.
This means that if a rhino community is just a bit too crowded, the female rhinos will start having longer intercalving periods, which is the time between the birth of one calf and the next.
And so they'll produce fewer calves. And this is a rhino's adaptation for resource management. So basically, moving rhinos means more rhinos. And presumably in the places that they're moved to, they can be protected better from poachers. Absolutely. Mostly black rhinos exist in protected private and public reserves. Riley, thank you so much for coming on to the podcast. Thank you for having me. Thank you.
That is it for today. But if you like this episode, do have a listen to some of our other ones. We've got one about whether zoos should exist. Are they more for animals or humans? And we've talked about how harvesting fog could provide drinking water for some of the world's driest cities. You can find those wherever you're listening to this. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Hannah Gelbart. This is What's in the World from the BBC World Service. And we'll be back with another episode soon. Bye.