A western black rhino photographed with her calf. A picture that can never be taken again.
Due to poaching over many years, the population of rhinos have been declining drastically, with numerous species now extinct or near the brink of extinction. One of the most recently extinct species is the Western Black Rhinos. This specie was heavily hunted in the early 20th century for their horns (ivory).
A dead Western Black Rhino with its horn removed.
It has been said that if more effort were put in for conservation, perhaps the fate of these extinct/near extinction species could be very different. However, the root cause is due to poaching. As business people who believe in creating shared value, there are things that we can do to help animals who are poached for their ivory. For example, ivory are mainly used for jewelry, medicine, ointment, or simply decoration. (http://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/threats_to_rhino/poaching_for_traditional_chinese_medicine) Those are things that can be substituted with a multitude of other products that contain similar “ingredients”! Entrepreneurs can see this as a “painkiller” start up idea and come up with ways to replace the use of ivory in the aforementioned products; this is an issue that is bugging the world right now, and horns will be missing in the future if the extinction of rhinos keep increasing. If entrepreneurs can provide a commendable solution to this issue with products that will satisfy the same customer needs, the market can become more sustainable and ethical.