Rather Chew on your Fingernails

In 2000, seven rhino were poached in South Africa. This year, already 230 have been killed. It's a question of limited supply and increasing demand. I always believed that rhino horn was sought after by people in Asia with flagging libidos (and no access to Viagra). After a bit of Internet research, however, I stumbled upon this article:

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/07/rhino-horn-and-traditional-chinese-medicine-facts.html

Apparently, ground-up rhino horn is believed to cure almost any ailment including loss of voice, fever, pus-filled boils and even devil possession. About the only place it supposedly has no place is, ironically, the bedroom. This may explain the growing demand, as it seems to be a cure-all. But as Rhishja Larson explains, rhino horn is really just agglutinated hair, much like fingernails. And a WWF study in 1983 concluded that it has no proven medicinal properties.

Phila is now the face of the anti-poaching movement. She is a brave female rhino who survived being shot in two separate poaching attempts, and who is now recovering at the Johannesburg Zoo. They hope to release her into the wild, but I ask if that is the answer. Surely she can't survive a third attack? Instead, why not educate the people who believe this beautiful animal is the answer to their prayers.

Phila, as taken by Tawanda Mudimu for AP

How about an ad campaign in countries like Vietnam or China, where rhino horn is coveted, that asks people that when they feel sick, to grind up their own fingernails and ingest that? I know which finger they could start with.