South Africa starts injecting rhino horns with radioactive material to curb poaching
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Why South Africa is injecting Rhino horns with radioactive isotopes
Five rhinos received the harmless isotopes. These are designed to be detectable by customs agents. University hopes this marks the start of a mass injection programme. The radioactive isotopes even at low levels can be recognised by radiation detectors at airports and borders, which can lead to the arrest of poachers and traffickers. South Africa has the largest population of rhinos with an estimated 16,000 but the country experiences high levels of poaching with about 500 rhinos killed for their horns every year.
The University of the Witwatersrand, alongside nuclear energy officials and conservationists, initiated the project on Thursday, with five rhinos receiving the harmless isotopes. These are designed to be detectable by customs agents. The university hopes this marks the start of a mass injection programme for the nation’s declining rhino population.
Last year, about 20 rhinos at a sanctuary were injected with isotopes as part of initial trials that paved the way for Thursday’s launch. The radioactive isotopes even at low levels can be recognised by radiation detectors at airports and borders, which can lead to the arrest of poachers and traffickers.
Professor James Larkin injects the horn of a rhino with radioactive isotopes, at a rhino orphanage in Mokopane, South Africa, Thursday, 31 July 2025 (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Researchers at Witwatersrand’s Radiation and Health Physics Unit say that tests conducted throughout the pilot study confirmed that the radioactive material was not harmful to the animals.
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“We have demonstrated, beyond scientific doubt, that the process is completely safe for the animal and effective in making the horn detectable through international customs nuclear security systems,” said James Larkin, chief scientific officer of the Rhisotope Project.
“Even a single horn with significantly lower levels of radioactivity than what will be used in practice successfully triggered alarms in radiation detectors,” said Larkin.
The tests also confirmed that individual horns could be detected inside full 40-foot shipping containers, he said.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international conservation body, estimates that the global rhino population stood at around 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century but has now declined to around 27,000 due to continued demand for rhino horns on the black market.
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South Africa has the largest population of rhinos with an estimated 16,000 but the country experiences high levels of poaching with about 500 rhinos killed for their horns every year.
Private and public rhino owners and conservation authorities have been urged approach the university to have their rhinos injected.
Why South Africa is injecting Rhino horns with radioactive isotopes
University of the Witwatersrand launches anti-poaching campaign. Five rhinos injected with harmless isotopes designed to be detectable by customs agents. South Africa has the largest population of rhinos with an estimated 16,000. But the country experiences high levels of poaching with about 500 rhinos killed for their horns every year. International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that the global rhino population stood at around 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century.
The University of the Witwatersrand, alongside nuclear energy officials and conservationists, initiated the project on Thursday, with five rhinos receiving the harmless isotopes. These are designed to be detectable by customs agents. The university hopes this marks the start of a mass injection programme for the nation’s declining rhino population.
Last year, about 20 rhinos at a sanctuary were injected with isotopes as part of initial trials that paved the way for Thursday’s launch. The radioactive isotopes even at low levels can be recognised by radiation detectors at airports and borders, which can lead to the arrest of poachers and traffickers.
Professor James Larkin injects the horn of a rhino with radioactive isotopes, at a rhino orphanage in Mokopane, South Africa, Thursday, 31 July 2025 (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Researchers at Witwatersrand’s Radiation and Health Physics Unit say that tests conducted throughout the pilot study confirmed that the radioactive material was not harmful to the animals.
“We have demonstrated, beyond scientific doubt, that the process is completely safe for the animal and effective in making the horn detectable through international customs nuclear security systems,” said James Larkin, chief scientific officer of the Rhisotope Project.
“Even a single horn with significantly lower levels of radioactivity than what will be used in practice successfully triggered alarms in radiation detectors,” said Larkin.
The tests also confirmed that individual horns could be detected inside full 40-foot shipping containers, he said.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, an international conservation body, estimates that the global rhino population stood at around 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century but has now declined to around 27,000 due to continued demand for rhino horns on the black market.
South Africa has the largest population of rhinos with an estimated 16,000 but the country experiences high levels of poaching with about 500 rhinos killed for their horns every year.
Private and public rhino owners and conservation authorities have been urged approach the university to have their rhinos injected.
Julia Whelan has narrated 600 audiobooks and counting. So why isn’t she paid like it?
Julia Whelan is the award-winning narrator behind more than 600 audiobooks. She’s also narrated long-form articles for The New Yorker, The Atlantic and Vanity Fair. Her first novel, 2018’s “My Oxford Year,” has been adapted to a Netflix film, out Friday. Despite her various pursuits, though, she has no plans to leave narration behind, she said. “I feel like I was born to do it,’ she said of the audiobook industry. ‘It’s everything that I love and that I’m good at and everything I want to be doing,‘ she said about narrating books for TV and books for the audiobook industry. “The financial aspect makes zero sense, for narrators,” she says. “I get everything I get apart if I’m sick, especially when I’m doing 70 books a year, especially for error’s, especially if there’s no room for error’”
You may have read her own writing, too. Whelan’s first novel, 2018’s “My Oxford Year,” has been adapted to a Netflix film, out Friday, starring Sofia Carson. The story actually began as a screenplay by Allison Burnett and had been gestating in development for years. Whelan was brought in to help with the script because she had studied abroad at Oxford her junior year of college. Producers then asked if she thought it would make a good book.
“I was like, ‘Nothing has ever wanted to be a book more. Please let me do this,’” she recalls. It ended up an international bestseller. Her second novel, 2022’s “Thank You For Listening,” was critically praised. (“Thank You For Listening” is about a former actor-turned-audiobook narrator who falls in love with another audiobook narrator.)
You may have even seen Whelan on TV — she began her career as a child actor, with roles in “Fifteen and Pregnant” and on the series “Once and Again.” Despite her various pursuits, though, she has no plans to leave narration behind. “I feel like I was born to do it,” she said. “It’s everything that I love and that I’m good at and everything I want to be doing.”
That’s a good thing, because the audiobook industry is growing. Statista projects this year it will reach $9.84 billion because of smartphones, the increased popularity of audio content and people’s desire to multitask. Despite the appetite for audiobooks, for narrators, “the financial aspect makes zero sense,” says Whelan. She’s founded her own publishing company, Audiobrary, to help narrators get paid more fairly.
Whelan, who has narrated as many as 70 books in one year, spoke to The Associated Press about the audiobook industry, Audiobrary and her own writing. Answers are edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Why did you start your own audiobook publishing company?
WHELAN: The only reason I was doing 70 books a year was because that’s how many books you have to do when you’re first starting out to keep your head above water because the rates are low. It would be OK if there were a kickback for success, but narrators don’t get royalties. As we’ve seen the industry grow and as we’ve seen the cache of certain narrators expand, and we know listeners will seek out audiobooks that their favorite narrators record. It doesn’t make sense to me that we should be cut out of the long-term financial benefit of success. Audiobrary does a profit-share model with writers, who I also feel don’t get enough percentage of the pie, and a royalty share for narrators. We are also a direct-to-consumer retail channel, so when you buy directly from us, you’re not giving 50-75% of that sale to a retailer. You’re giving it directly to the people who made the product.
AP: How do you prepare before narrating?
WHELAN: I create character lists. I create pronunciation lists, and I do the necessary research for that. The prep time can vary book to book significantly, depending on how complicated the book is.
AP: If you feel a cold coming on, do you panic? Do you have to protect your voice?
WHELAN: It ruins everything. I’m probably the only person left who wears a mask on a plane at this point, but everything falls apart if I get sick. You’re messed up for three or four months. Everything just gets delayed, especially when I was doing 70 books a year, there’s no room for error there.
AP: There are big-name celebrities who narrate audiobooks. Do you worry about them taking jobs?
WHELAN: At this point, there’s still enough work to go around and they are doing the books that have the budget frankly to use them. But I think that audiobook fans — not your casual audiobook user, but fans — have favorite narrators and they’re going to look for books by those narrators. So, in stunt-casting situations, sometimes someone is incredible at it, and they are perfect for the book. But sometimes it feels like a very craven, just marketing ploy. I don’t feel infringed upon by them, but I do worry about a future situation where most of the work is going to AI. I don’t lie awake at night worried, but everyone’s threatened right now. It’s very, very hard to even begin to predict what the future could look like.
AP: What do you say to people who are almost sheepish about admit
ting to listening to an audiobook instead of reading it?
WHELAN: I think the kids would say that it’s ableist to say that if you didn’t read a book with your eyeballs, then you didn’t read it, considering many people have many limitations that would prevent them from physically reading a book. So then are you telling them they’ve never read a book before? Actual data and studies show that listening to a book actually triggers the same response in the brain as reading it, and that the interpretation and understanding of that book is on par with having read it.
AP: When do you see yourself writing another novel?
WHELAN: There’s been about four ideas that are constantly in rotation, but I think I’ve narrowed it down. I think I’m ready to at least start exploring one of them at the beginning of next year.
AP: Do you think “Thank You for Listening” could ever be adapted for the screen?
WHELAN: I very much think we could. I have said no up to this point because, this time around, I want to be very creatively involved. There’s just too many things about audiobooks that someone could get wrong not knowing anything about the industry. I want be involved so I’m willing to hold onto it until the right situation comes along.
Kirby Smart opens preseason camp for 10th season at Georgia with young team after 2024 SEC title
More than half of Georgia’s players are starting their first or second years. Georgia returns only four starters on offense. Quarterback Gunner Stockton took over for injured Carson Beck in the Southeastern Conference championship game. Offensive guard Micah Morris entered camp as a projected starter.“We are young … but we are hungry,” coach Kirby Smart says of his team.. Georgia finished 11-3 last season and No. 6 in The AP Top 25 final poll. It was the team’s eighth consecutive top 10 finish under Smart, including back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022.. The team’s 2025 motto: “fire, passion, energy” is the team’s 2025 motto, Smart says. The season opener is against Marshall on Aug. 30, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2. The game will also be streamed live on the ESPN2 network.. It will be available on DirecTV and the ESPN App, as well as the ESPN 2 satellite channel.
More than half of Georgia’s players are starting their first or second years. Smart knows his lessons won’t quickly sound stale for the defending Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs. With only seven returning starters, Georgia opened practice with a long list of young players eager to seize their first starting jobs.
“We are young … but we are hungry,” Smart said Thursday. “We’ve got a team that’s fun to coach. … A lot of them haven’t had an opportunity to play, and now this is their opportunity. Sometimes when you’re coaching, it’s a lot more exciting for guys when they’re having their first time. Now that being said, the lack of experience sometimes can show, but we’re going to try to get through that in camp.”
A more experienced Georgia team finished 11-3 last season and No. 6 in The AP Top 25 final poll. It was the team’s eighth consecutive top 10 finish under Smart, including back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. Last season’s SEC championship was Georgia’s third with Smart.
Georgia returns only four starters on offense. That total includes two tight ends — Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie, who made seven starts. Right tackle Earnest Greene III is the only returning starter on the offensive line. Wide receiver Dillon Bell is the fourth returning starter on offense.
Quarterback Gunner Stockton took over for injured Carson Beck in the second half of Georgia’s 22-19 overtime win over Texas in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta. Stockton started in the Bulldogs’ 23-10 Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals.
Smart says Stockton is still competing with Ryan Puglisi, but it would be a major surprise if the junior doesn’t start in Georgia’s season opener against Marshall on Aug. 30. Following Beck’s transfer to Miami, Stockton strengthened his hold on the job with a strong spring practice and directed the first-team offense in the G-Day spring game.
The defense includes only three starters: lineman Christen Miller, inside linebacker C.J. Allen and cornerback Daylen Everette.
Fire, passion, energy
Smart, 49, was asked if he still lives up to the team’s 2025 motto: “fire, passion, energy.”
“I feel it every day, because if you don’t have it, it’s hard to be successful,” Smart said. “You can’t keep up. Our staff has it. Our staff has great juice. We’ve had a chance to reenergize.”
A championship standard
Delp was a freshman on Georgia’s 2022 national championship team. He said he’s motivated to help the Bulldogs win another title and has tried to share lessons from that team with new players.
“I came back for a reason,” Delp said when asked why he didn’t enter the NFL draft. “I want to have a great season.
“I know how it was when when we won games and we won national championships. I was here for that and so I just kind of share with them the standard and what those older guys were holding me to when I was younger. I just try to keep it the same, you know, the standard is the standard. You’ve got to do it certain ways to win championships.”
‘Big Mike’ finally has his chance
Offensive guard Micah Morris (6-4, 330) entered camp as a projected starter. The fifth-year senior was a fill-in starter last season. This is his long-awaited opportunity to be a full-time starter.
Morris, who has a nickname of “Big Mike” and a reputation as the strongest player on the team, said he never considered finding an opportunity to start at another school through a transfer.
“This is my home, this is where I committed,” Morris said. “This is where I wanted to be when I was a 17-year-old kid. … I knew I could develop here even if I wasn’t starting.”
Jackson facing internal discipline
Smart said backup offensive lineman Jahzare Jackson, a sophomore, “is disappointed, obviously, in the decision-making process” following his arrest in Athens on July 16 on possession of more than an ounce of marijuana, a felony. “He’s being disciplined internally, but he’s with the team,” Smart said.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football