The RhinoProtect Treatment

For a long time Inverdoorn's staff and team of professionals had been thinking of ways to prevent their rhino from being poached. One of the considerations was producing a horn treatment that would make the horn worthless. After many months of research they developed a substance that, if injected into the horn, would not be harmful to the rhino, but would have a two-fold effect in protecting it: the horn would be unfit for human consumption and almost impossible to smuggle through an airport terminal.

On 2 December 2011 Inverdoorn administered their barium and dye-infused horn treatment to their three rhinos, just a few days after neighbouring game reserves had their rhinos poached and injured. The dye stains only the inner core of the horn so the beauty and dignity of the animal is preserved and the barium causes it to become more detectable on an airport scanner. The procedure is quick and painless, significantly reducing any stress to the animal, and poses no threat to its health.

While the horn treatment makes the horn, or any by-products created with the horn, unpalatable for human consumption, it is not lethal nor will it have any long-term, harmful effects for humans.

RhinoProtect is primarily concerned with administering this revolutionary treatment to as many rhino as they can, to ensure that more rhino are protected than poached. While the treatment has proved to be effective thus far, it relies heavily on the involvement of the public to spread the word. Inverdoorn hopes that community-driven awareness programmes will get the message out to those who care about protecting our natural heritage, but also to poachers and ultimately the end-user.

For more information visit www.rhinoprotect.org