In recent years people are poaching many endangered species, such as rhinos, allowing their species to go from endangered to critically endangered at an alarming rate. Rhinos are being hunted in South Africa because of the myth that their horns have the ability to cure hangovers, impotence, fever and cancer. Rhino horns have been proven to not cure any of the listed sicknesses or diseases because it contains keratin. Keratin is the main component of the rhino horn and the substance is largely un-digestible while passing through the human body with no side effect.

Due to the increasing amount of globalization and technology growth it has made it easier to establish illegal trading routes. The current poaching crisis is attributed to the growing demand for rhino horn in Asian countries, mainly Vietnam and China. Vietnam has been identified as the largest user country of rhino horn. As the demand has reached a high point of auctioning off a single rhino horn for $350,000, people around the world must be aware that the ingesting of this substance has no real effect. In the past few weeks, Corey Knowlton, went to Africa to hunt on of the last remaining Rhinos, claiming that the hunting this rhino would benefit the research and help the reproduction of Rhinos. In 2014, just over 1200 rhino have been poach and their horn’s sold illegally to consumers around the globe. The amount of the rhinos that have been poached in that period of time will have rhinos to be extinct in the next few years.

Stopping the demand will allow people to realize that there is no effect to benefit their health from the rhino horns. New ideas to stop the demand consist of creating a “pink horn”, this injection is harmless to the rhinos but if ingested in the human body the side effects will be vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. By stopping the demand and creating awareness, people will stop wanting rhino horns and have rhinos to repopulate rather than being extinct.

Poaching rhinos also have a major economic issue, as much of southern Africa wildlife tourism plays a vital role in local and even national economies. With rhino population declines the amount of economic disparity will increase with financial cutback, job losses and overall economic sustainability. Many communities rely on the wildlife to attract tourism, but will be greatly effected due to the negative effect of the economy.

We must stop the demand for poaching rhinos because poaching animals for non-effective medical resources will lead the species to extinction. Having the rhino population prosper and grow will greatly benefit the economy as well, with tourism and attraction. Rhino poaching must be stopped!