The auction of controversial rhino breeder, John Hume’s Mauricedale Nature Estate on Wednesday to save his large herd of white rhinos, was a dismal failure.

Mauricedale, a 6 600 hectar nature estate outside the Kruger National Park, was put on auction by ClareMart Auction Group to raise funds to maintain the rhino breeding operation of 1 732 rhinos.

However, not a single bid was received. It was all over within a few minutes. “I don’t understand auctions very well, but I do think that the auctioneer did not try very hard. I think he started too close to our reserve price,” said Hume.

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He added that perhaps the drought-like condition of the estate and the poor current economy also played a role.

“It is very dry on the estate after four years of drought, and not as green and lush as it can be. Of the seven dams on the farm, five are bone dry and two are almost dry.”

Hume wistfully added that he can only pray for a good rain season and that he will retry the sale in a few months’ time.

Hume is the owner of the world’s largest private rhino herd with a population of well over 1 700.

These rhinos are kept on a different farm in the North West. For the past few years he has been struggling to raise enough funds to cover the monthly costs of at least R5 million that are spent on field protection, feeding, and veterinary expenses.

He already claimed bankruptcy in 2018, and said he was putting his life savings into the project.

“I was hoping the sale of Mauricedale would buy me time, but now I have to put my thinking cap on again.”

Hume does have other fund-raising initiatives on the go, including a GoFundMe account. His main hope remains an application to have his rhino ranch, Buffalo Dream Ranch, granted “captive breeding” status by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

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Hume has always been an advocate for the conservation of the endangered species. However, somewhere along the way, he lost a considerable amount of support trying to push for the legalisation of the rhino horn trade.

The breeder, who is a leading supporter of the legal, international trade in rhino horn, successfully challenged the government’s 2009 moratorium on the domestic trade in rhino horn in 2017.

The ban on the international trade remains in place. Conservation groups have expressed concern that South Africa’s reopening of the domestic trade risks creating further opportunities for leakage into the illegal trade