Crossborderman

Hi there, thanks for asking this question! So it's time to put these rumors to bed, once and for all. The images that i'm guessing you are referring to were photoshopped (a picture of an elephant and rhino with pink tusks and horns). These images have been doing the rounds on social media for quite sometime with the accompanying note, "pink dye is applied to their horns/tusks to waive off poachers." The pink dye is actually designed to affect - mostly - the inside of the horn, not the exterior. So the colours on the outside are NO WHERE near as bright as in the pictures. This subtle pink dye actually has a few uses. Airport scanners are able to pick it up (even if it's ground up into a powder). The pink dye is also mixed with parasiticides, which is mostly used to kill ticks. However, if a person does ingest the ground powder with poison there are the side effects of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. More research is being done on this unique horn devaluation technique. - Morgan (Care for Wild Africa - World's Largest Rhino Orphanage)

Multiple times in this line of work you get this 'aha' moment! :) But for me, we had a little two day old calf arrive (which was touch and go for a while) as poachers had hacked his tiny body with a machete and he came to the Care for Wild Africa rehabilitation centre with extreme blood loss. Incredibly, he started to drink the milk, trust us (his human carers) and gain weight. My favourite part of the day was taking him out on walks with another injured orphan rhino called Venus (who had an injured foot) and an orphan Hippo called Emma. The three musketeers would always get themselves into mischief! - Morgan (Care for Wild Africa - World's Largest Rhino Orphanage)

All of it actually... the use of rhino horn as a medicine is only used by a very small percentage of people. The rest use it as a status symbol to show off wealth. - Morgan

Rhino orphanages are currently experiencing a massive upswing in the orphaned calves that arrive injured at the rehabilitation centres as poachers are getting more desperate. Even a calf with a horn that weighs 1kg can fetch $60,000 on the back market! The other reason they get injured is that while the poachers are hacking the horn off the mother, the calves can get in the way by annoying the poachers. The poachers in turn will try and chase away or injure the orphan so it leaves them along so they can get their job done and leave quickly. - Morgan (Care for Wild Africa - World's Largest Rhino Orphanage)

It is honestly as cute as you think it is! Check this video out of the little Warren... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBjEVFQlKrk