Joy as 'dehorning' cuts rhino poaching by 80%

THOUSANDS of rhinos have been saved after poaching slumped by almost 80% because their horns had been removed.

- By Stephen Beech

The horns fetch huge prices on the black market, particularly in Asia, because they are thought to have medicinal properties.

But dehorning more than 2,000 of the endangered animals has reduced the threat to the five rhino species.

By cutting the incentives, poaching has fallen by 78%. The findings come from an analysis across 11 reserves in the Greater Kruger region of South Africa between 2017 and 2023 by an international team, including Oxford University researchers.