WildLife Group
of the SAVA
Effective rhino dehorning
Rhino Dehorning a Sensitive Topic
Jacques Henry O’Dell,
Faculty of Veterinary Science,
University of Pretoria
When one brings in the issue of legalizing trade
in rhino horn, things really heat up. Regardless of
whether you are pro-trade or anti-trade, dehorning
has the potential to save rhino, and thus as wildlife
veterinarians we must use dehorning as one of the
options to protect these magnificent animals.
permanent dehorning, like hot-iron burning, have
been done in the past, but the ethics of this method
needs to be looked at. Temporary dehorning can
be grouped into two groups namely dehorning for
optimal horn yield and dehorning for anti-poaching.
Dehorning could be either permanent or temporary.
Surgical dehorning with the idea of establishing a
nucleus breeding herd of permanently dehorned rhino
is currently being researched. Hopefully we never get
to the point where these rhino are indeed needed for
the future survival of rhino in Africa.
Dehorning for optimal horn yield would involve using
a thin blade, like a reciprocating saw, to remove the
horn with as little wastage (in the form of shavings
and dust) as possible. The main goal obviously is to
have the highest possible yield of rhino horn, with the
hope of future trade option. The horn is removed by
doing a simple square cut (Figure 1).
The method developed during this research
might however be of immediate value for the
highly threatened Asian rhinos. Other methods of
This method has its place, especially for the
commercial rhino (horn) farmer, but in terms of
preventing poaching it is inferior.
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