That won't make any difference whatsoever - the poachers aren't the end users and will still hunt every rhino they see because they get paid by the horn. The middle men won't care if the horns are toxic, because they get paid by the horn. And so on, down the line to the merchant selling the powdered horn to the consumer. And the merchant doesn't care if it might be poisoned - they are selling it as a medicine so their ethics are questionable to start with. If the consumer dies they would attribute that to the disease.
The other point is that the end product is powdered - coating the outside of the horn with a toxin will make little difference overall.
Tusks are teeth, so get the elephants hooked on coffee - that will stain the tusks. But make sure the coffee is decaffeinated; a herd of wide-eyed, overstimulated pachyderms is not good for tourism!
Hix
Yes good points. I am thinking 'first world' instead of 'third world'.
With regards to other posts, I don't agree with transplanting all rhinos to Queensland (or anywhere else for that matter) since there is a viable population in zoos already. I feel that rhinos belong in Africa, and conservation of those rhinos must be in situ.
Thylo, as with shark fins, I read somewhere that a fair bit of rhino horn being sold isn't actually rhino horn! It doesn't take away from the fact that hundreds of rhinos are dying every year.
Cutting off their horns doesn't work, as David pointed out, because even a few grammes of horn is worth some money, and dehorned rhinos are killed any way.
I like the idea of a farm in Queensland though. It would be a great revenue earner for us, but probably will not stop poaching in Africa, the same way that captive-bred macaws being readily available in the pet trade have not stopped wild birds from being taken in the wild.
In a region that has very little value for human life (humans are still enslaved, limbs are hacked off depending on religion/tribe/political party etc), I think it would be difficult to change attitudes towards wildlife (rhinos, elephants etc) quickly enough.
China is a lost cause for changing attitudes quickly enough, given the burgeoning (and increasingly affluent) middle class. They will change (e.g. the changing attitude of keeping dogs as pets versus eating them), but probably not quick enough.
I have not offered anything new: I have merely summarised your posts as I was off the forum for a few days. I don't think anyone has a solution, and I don't think that any one solution could work. But, we have to keep trying.
