In short, yes. To date, fewer than 2% of treated animals have been reported as having passed away – either due to natural mortality or at the hands of poachers. In all cases, the horns were retrieved on-site. Over an eight year period, such successful rates are unheard of, and no other anti-poaching intervention can claim to have protected more animals from poachers. 

In fact, a graph compiled independently by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) shortly after a pilot project Rhino Rescue Project participated in at their request in 2013, clearly illustrates a dramatic drop in both incursions and poaching incidents in the months leading up to and immediately after the horn devaluation treatments had been done. The two reserves we worked in were, at the time, the two hardest hit by poachers in the entire province.