Hit poachers where it hurts most - the horn: iLIVE

"Fight stepped up as 515 rhino die" ( July 25) refers.

The figure so far equates to an average kill rate of more than 73 rhino a month for the first seven months this year. By December the number will probably be in the order of 882.

When will the government, senior officials at the Environmental Affairs Department and most well-meaning South Africans realise that current conventional methods to save rhino are doomed? All this achieves is to rob a few Mozambican households of their breadwinners. Also, the occasional game ranger, or soldier, deployed to protect rhino in reserves is caught in the cross hairs.

It's just a waste of human lives, time, money and effort. It's tantamount to rearranging the deckchairs when the Titanic was sinking.

The consumers of rhino horn in Vietnam and China will not change their habit, which is what fuels rhino poaching. The way forward is clear if we are truly serious about saving rhino.

We must spoil the product by poisoning rhino horns - those of all rhino. Also, we must run a major campaign in Vietnam and China, informing these consumers that taking ground rhino horn will not cure their ailments. In fact, the inexplicable belief will be broken once these consumers are told they will end up feeling a lot worse after consuming ground rhino horn.

The market for rhino horns in these countries will dry up, and, so too, poaching here.