A rhino is killed for its horn every 20 hours in South Africa and experts are turning to nuclear technology to try and stop this bloodshed.
Rhino horns are poached for use around the world in traditional medicines or as status symbols, so South African scientists are implanting radioactive material in the animals' horns to make them poisonous and prevent smuggling.
Last month scientists from Wits University, Johannesburg injected radioisotopes, atoms that have excess nuclear energy, into the horns of 20 rhinos on a reserve in South Africa.
Among the first rhinos to have the injection were Beckham, Mapimpi and Duane, who are named after the English football star and two Springbok rugby players.
It's hoped that the radioactive material will make their horns harder to smuggle internationally as they would set off radiation detectors installed at land border crossings, ports and airports to prevent nuclear terrorism.
The injected material should also "render the horn useless … essentially poisonous for human consumption", Nithaya Chetty, professor and dean of science at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told Agence France-Presse.
Experts insist the radioisotopes do not harm the rhinos, who are sedated and unaware while the material is injected into their horns, making it an "elegant solution to a very real problem", said Futurism.
Poaching is a "significant problem" in South Africa, which is home to the world's biggest rhino population, said The Times. Almost 500 rhinos were killed last year, according to government data.
If the radioisotopes experiment is successful the scientists hope to expand their work for the benefit of other endangered animals such as elephants and pangolins. | 
