I wonder if this falls into the "fake news" department. Seems like you could just scrape off the paint and use the horn for whatever it is you use it for.
Last year, sometime, I read about the procedure about the pink rhino horns. It seems that it's injected, or penetrates the horn, in some way and is supposed to be permanent.It's not supposed to bother the rhino, so maybe this is a good thing!
I am (of course) against the idea that rhinos should be killed for the "health benefits" from the horn. But now my question is, if the outward appearance of the horn is not actually altered, how are poachers going to know? Wouldn't they kill them anyway until they know. Shouldn't rhino's be marked to indicate that the horn is not good? Die them all them, mark them all. Just sayin'
Another problem with this is that not all the Rhinos that are killed by poachers are shot.
Some are caught in snares and I doubt that the poachers will take the chance and time to release them if the see they marked or plugged.
Without being released, a slow death caught in a snare would be a hard way to go for these magnificent creatures.
I'd like to see the military get some 'practice' for drone operators via poacher hunting. Maybe they call in the game wardens, maybe they test the Hellfire missiles...