Wildlife Conservation: If poachers need elephant tusks and rhino horns, why do they kill the animals? Can't they just shave the tusk or horn off?

Answer:

When Zimbabwe first began de-horning rhinos they found the poachers still shot them. The reason for this is that If they left them alive then they might end up wasting their time tracking a hornless animal at a later date.

Poachers will also shoot a rhino for a little bit of regrowth because the horn is so valuable. The only way for de-horning to work is for all the animals in a wildlife area to be de-horned and for the horns to be cut off again when they grow back.

Source: https://www.quora.com/Wildlife-Conse...sk-or-horn-off