It’s odd that news stories about the
threatened extinction of the rhino focus on the poaching of rhinos and
smuggling of rhino horn, with pictures of dead rhinos and pieces of horn captured
while being smuggled through airport customs.
It’s all about supply.
Meanwhile there is a strange silence in the media about the consumers of
rhino horn – men living in China, Indonesia, and elsewhere in the Far East. Presumably
the silence is because these countries have strong and growing economies, so we’re
not allowed to laugh at their medieval delusions.
And now, we hear, criminal gangs are involved in poaching
and smuggling. There’s a surprise. Any day now there will be complaints from
end-users that the powdered horn is being ‘cut’ with aspirin or chalk; and a dawn swoop on a rhino ‘farm’
in the suburbs of Beijing.
Meanwhile the answer to saving the rhino is staring us in
the face.
Powdered Viagra tablets, dyed
the same colour as rhino horn, would make a perfect substitute.
And better yet, they would actually do the
trick.
The World Wildlife Fund could set
up a factory, label the packets ‘genuine rhino horn (substitute), guaranteed to work’ and
flood the Far East market with the stuff. Rhiagra, anyone?
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