Is Faux Rhino Horn a Solution?

Each day at least three rhino die for two reasons: the belief that horn cures medical ailments, and as a status symbol in Vietnamese high society. But, attention rhino horn users: the vast majority of the horn you purchase is fake, according to an Oxpeckers report.

Karl Ammann from Natural History Magazine stated “probably up to 90 percent of end consumers (of rhino horn) unknowingly purchase products made of water buffalo or other bovine horn.”

The myth of rhino horn having medicinal value has survived for centuries.

Now a Seattle-based company, Pembient,  is adding to the market of “faux horn”. They are using biotechnology to fabricate rhino horn at prices below the level of poached horns. Their goal is to use this substitution to meet the demand. According to the company, you can’t physically tell the difference.

According to  one of Pembient’s founders, many wildlife traders would be happy to use a genetically…