By Thu Minh, a United Nations Environment #WildforLife Campaign Champion.
I have a confession to make. Despite years of performing live in front of large audiences all over the world, I still get incredibly nervous before I walk on stage and sing. My nerves manifest themselves in a way that will be familiar to most people: I bite my fingernails.
It’s a terrible habit and it makes my stylist incredibly cross. But it does serve a useful purpose, for whenever I chew my nails I’m reminded of something I hold dear to my heart; I’m reminded of the rhino, that charismatic mega-herbivore that has roamed the Earth for 40 million years.
You might think that the connection between my fingernails and a rhino is a bizarre one to make and granted it does sound strange even as I write this. But let me explain. A rhino’s horn is made from the same material as our fingernails and toenails – Keratin. It’s the same protein that also goes into making our hair grow.
Given this fact, I find it shocking that people in Vietnam and other parts of the world still spend their hard earned money on rhino horn in the belief that something that’s just like a human fingernail or a horse’s hoof can cure cancer or defeat a hangover. The science is out there for everyone to read: rhino horn serves no medicinal purpose. You may as well chew your own fingernails.
What’s even more shocking is the impact that this misguided belief is having on such a mighty creature. Because of the demand for their horns, rhinos are being slaughtered on an industrial scale by poachers and international criminal cartels greedy for money. At the turn of the 19th century, there were approximately one million rhinos. Today, there are only around 28,000 rhinos left in the wild. If this massacre continues, then within ten years there may well be no more rhinos left in the wild. This has already happened here in Vietnam with the loss of one of our national treasures, the Javan rhino, the last of which was killed in 2011 by poachers who hacked off its horn.
It’s not only rhinos that are being driven to the brink of extinction because of human greed or a misguided belief in the healing properties of animal body parts. Elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory tusks and tigers are being killed for their skin. Pangolins, hornbills and even trees could be lost forever as wildlife crime around the world soars.
These senseless crimes do not only threaten species with extinction. They are fuelling global insecurity, funding armed groups, destroying our forests, ruining tourism and fuelling corruption in countries that are desperately struggling to improve healthcare and education for their people.
I have another confession to make: there was a time when I myself believed in the healing powers of animal body parts. Although I never used rhino horn, my friends – most of them successful and wealthy – used to tell me that it worked as a cure for all sorts of things. But then I started to read up on the science and soon learnt that rhino horn has absolutely no medicinal purpose. I travelled to South Africa and saw first-hand how a misplaced belief, which is peddled by fake healers who are only interested in money, can lead to the murder of one of Earth’s oldest animals.
That is why I decided to speak out against the trade in rhino horn, even if to do so meant alienating my peers and even my friends. I realised that to be successful, smart, healthy and charismatic requires strength of character, not a piece of horn made from the same stuff as our fingernails.
That is why I am calling on you to join me in supporting the United Nations campaign that seeks to put an end to the illegal trade in wildlife. The “Wild for Life” campaign aims to build awareness of wildlife crime and embolden everyone to take action to stop it.
As individuals, that means avoiding fads that threaten species. It means shopping carefully to avoid buying illegally sourced products and it means supporting conservation efforts that urge authorities to get serious about the illegal wildlife trade.
When it comes to rhino horn, the solution is simple: don’t be fooled by those who falsely believe that rhino horn can make you feel better. If you know someone who uses rhino horn, tell them to take aspirin to cure their hangover or to seek proper medical advice from a qualified doctor if they have a more serious ailment. Tell them that, ultimately, when it comes to their health, there is as much sense in biting their own fingernails as there is in buying rhino horn.
Thu Minh is a United Nations Environment #WildforLife Campaign Champion. Find out more about how you can get involved in the ‘Wild for Life’ campaign at www.wildfor.life
