[imagesource: MaxPixel]

The world’s largest rhino breeding and conservation farm is being put up for auction in mid-April.

South Africa’s privately owned Platinum Rhino project has been struggling to keep things going and has decided to sell the farm to someone new.

This special SA conservation initiative will come complete with around 2 000 rhinos, being the primary home to 16% of SA’s Southern white rhino population, as well as 8 500 hectares of stunning savannah land.

The project has been incredibly successful at helping save the species from extinction already, but despite project founder John Hume’s best intentions, it is becoming far too pricey for him to manage.

Indeed, it is an “expensive game”, notes SAPeople, requiring around R5 million monthly for feed, management and anti-poaching measures, with no government aid or outside investment, nogal.

In 2019, Hume issued an appeal for funds to feed his rhino. The animals needed supplementary feed due to the devastating drought in the North West province.  In 2021 he again issued a plea to be allowed to sell rhino horn in order to save the rhino.

Rhino horns are in demand in parts of Asia – used as a traditional Chinese medicine or status symbol – and could, controversially, help fund the project if they sell the horns with careful regulations and conservation considerations intact.

The now 81-year-old Hume is hoping for the buyer to be “a person or foundation with a passion for conserving rhinos and the means to keep the breeding project going”.

200 rhinos are born per year, which is enough to save the species from extinction, according to Platinum Rhino:

Dr Michelle Otto, the project’s wildlife vet, says: “We have so much rewilding power here. The project’s rhino could repopulate the whole of Africa, where we lose hundreds of rhinos each year to poaching. We have rewilding partners on board, but the project needs funding and it needs the right person to continue to drive it in the right direction.”

Last year the farm said it could release 100 rhinos back into the wild each year, and has interested conservation stakeholders throughout the world with this idea.

However, most unfortunately, they have been “unable to secure the funding” to make this happen.

It is good to note that poaching on the farm is minimal, with the last incident taking place in 2017:

“Keeping the breeding programme going is vital to ensure not only the survival of the animals, but also the sustained livelihoods of the people who are supported by the project. Platinum Rhino employs 100 people, who each provide for another four people on average. That represents a community of around 500 people who rely on the project to survive,” Platinum Project says on its website.

Whoever gets their hands on this project will have a huge challenge, albeit with a massive reward, too.

Contact tammyhume@platinumrhinocbo.co.za for more info about the auction.

[source:sapeople]