Advanced anti-rhino poaching technology and techniques are driving a clandestine offshoot crime - the illegal sale of toxic drug concoctions by vets to poachers. Strong enough to kill a person within minutes, the drugs are often too weak to kill a rhino, which lies maimed as it bleeds to death with its horn hacked off.With syndicates being paid up to $100,000/kg for rhino horn, the drugs are considered cheap, costing poachers R80,000 for 5ml on the black market, enough to poach 10 rhinos, the horns of which will weigh on average 3kg.The drugs are meant to be used by wildlife vets to tranquillise animals in game catching, tagging and monitoring programmes.Wildlife vet and Saving the Survivors founder Johan Marais said that darting by poachers had become more common in recent times."New technology allows the sound of a gunshot to be triangulated and the location of the shooter tracked. But, with a dart gun, a poacher can be 200m from a game ranger and will not be heard," he said.Marais, who is also president of the SA Veterinary Association, said: "Far more stringent regulations are needed to curb black-market sales of vets' drugs."Six-year-old Hope is one rhino that has survived the toxic drug concoction - but not without injury as poachers left her with half her face hacked away.Yesterday she became the first rhino to undergo an hour-long operation normally performed on humans. The pioneering operation involved the use of a Canadian-designed pulley and clamp system used in abdominal surgery.The system uses elasticised cords to draw wounds closed, stimulating cell regeneration. As Hope's wound closes, collagen will be inserted to encourage cell regeneration.Hope's carers will have to wait two weeks to see if the operation was a success.Marais said it was clear from the extent of Hope's injuries she was not properly sedated when poachers removed her horn."She would have been in extreme pain and would have fought back. That would have contributed to her extensive injuries."Vet Megan Sinclair, who runs Shamwari Game Reserve rhino rehabilitation centre where Hope first began her recovery, said Hope's operation could set a precedent in saving other rhinos with similar wounds...