Cutting off rhino horns a deterrent

THE best and cheapest way to protect rhinos, whose population has plummeted over the last 15 years because of poaching, is to cut off their horns, according to researchers who carried out a seven-year study in southern Africa.

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The analysis of poaching before and after the de-horning of almost 2 300 rhinos showed that removing the keratin-based protrusions cut the crime by 78%. The researchers are from three South African universities - Nelson Mandela, Stellenbosch and Cape Town - and the UK’s University of Oxford.

Over that period, poachers reportedly killed almost 2 000 rhinos in the area under study.