A few weeks ago we posted a story about scientists who were developing fake rhino horns. Their assumption is the by flooding the black market with fake horns prices would be depressed and rhino poaching would be unprofitable. A large number of conservationist believe that feeding more material fake or real into the horn market will have the opposite effect - it will encourage market growth. Their argument is that we must change human behavior throughout the rhino horn supply chain.
Perhaps most obviously, selling fake rhino horn doesn’t do anything to address the end-user demand for these illegal products, which are driven by either fortunes or phony medicinal claims. These are ultimately the reasons rhinos and many other species are poached in the first place. As a result the best way to eliminate the financial incentive to sell these wildlife products is to get consumers to understand why they shouldn’t be buying them in the first place.
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