Rhino horn infusion in sketches

Rhino horn is apparently worth more than gold on the black market, but most importantly, it is attached to one of the most beautiful and impressive animals on earth. Fortunately, there are people trying to protect these animals from being ruthlessly slaughtered for money.

Last summer, while volunteering with Transfrontier Africa, I got the chance to witness a team of vets, wardens and volunteers do horn infusions on white rhinos in Balule Private Nature Reserve in South Africa. In a battered sketchbook I recorded what I saw. Here you can see a series of those sketches.

Rhino Horn Infusion is a process which infuses the horn with an indelible dye and which renders the horn useless for either ornamental or "medicinal" use (It was been scientifically proven that Rhino horn has no medicinal properties, but it is largely and falsely believed that they do). You can find an article that explains exactly what the horn infusions are and how they work here.

There’s a lot of effort being put into protecting rhinos, but unfortunately also into destroying them. I would like to ask you to help where you can, find out what you can do, and to support the people who do their best to protect black and white rhinos alike. Let’s keep it ‘the big 5’ and make an effort not to let any of them go extinct.