SA rhino farm sale ‘a lifeline thrown to a near-threatened species’

The world’s largest herd of privately held rhino changed hands this week, following the Competition Commission’s approval of the sale of breeder John Hume’s Platinum Rhino to NGO African Parks.

African Parks is active in 12 countries across Africa and manages 22 protected areas in partnership with authorities in the various jurisdictions. Platinum Rhino is based in North West and Hume, controversially at times, ran one of the most successful captive breeding programmes in the world. It also trades legally in rhino horn.

Platinum Rhino to the rescue

The Platinum Rhino herd represents one in 15 surviving global stock of white rhino and did not form part of the national herd, as the animals were privately owned.

Presently, the global white rhino population is estimated to hover just under the 13 000 mark. About 500 white rhinos are poached annually, slicing the population by 5 000 animals over the past decade.

ALSO READ: SA rhino farm, world’s largest, bought by NGO

Security company Nsele, which provides security services exclusively to Platinum Rhino, will be acquired at the same time.

“I am ecstatically happy,” said Kim da Ribeira of Outraged South African Citizens Against Poaching. “It is a great initiative and African Parks have the right approach. We welcome the deal.”

African Parks said it plans to re-wild the herd across various geographic locations and make strategic injections into populations where numbers are critically low. This will happen over the next decade.

Until the acquisition, the organisation did not have any South African operations. Platinum Rhino’s facility will be wound down as all the animals are reintroduced to reserves.

ALSO READ: Kruger Park records ‘steady decline’ in rhino poaching

“If anyone can pull off a project of this magnitude, they can,” said Da Ribeira. “It is a big win for rhino conservation.”

“It’s the best thing that could have happened to the herd, said another conservationist, who also agreed that African Parks is likely to be the only organisation that has the capability to manage large and complex projects.

Sale welcomed

Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy welcomed the transaction as an effective conservation solution for rhinos in captivity.

“Our government is guided in our approach to conservation by the UN Convention on Biodiversity and our own white paper. In this regard we are ready to support African Parks and other partners with technical and scientific advice in developing a conservation solution that includes translocating the animals over a period to suitable parks and community conservancies in South Africa and on the African continent,” Creecy said.

ALSO READ: Hawks investigate R9m rhino horn stockpile theft

Hume was not available for comment, but a statement issued by Platinum Rhino affirmed that the African Parks re-wilding project would be a continuation of his initial conservation intent.

“Platinum Rhino’s vision to take the project into the next phase of re-wilding the surplus animals will now become a reality. We hope that Africa will long benefit from the contribution Hume has made to ensure the survival of the species,” it said.

Last year, the department revealed that the proportion of rhinos on private land grew from about 30% in 2012 to about 60%. Poaching continues to decimate wildlife reserves on the continent and in South Africa.

The Platinum herd was temporarily exposed to the potential risk and could have been lost three weeks ago when Platinum Rhino was placed on auction, but no successful bidders were identified at the time.

At a cost of R40 000 a day, Platinum Rhino was unable to fulfil its financial obligations. Trafficking in wildlife is estimated to be worth up to $20 billion (about R385 billion), according to United for Wildlife, an organisation headed by Britain’s Prince William, bent on disrupting illegal trade in animals and wildlife body parts.

Hume said before the sale that through the years he had lavished around $150 million on his massive philanthropic project to save the world’s second largest land mammal. Security and surveillance was the farm’s biggest cost, he said.

ALSO READ: More rhinos poached in Limpopo

“I’ve used all my life savings on that population of rhinos for 30 years. I finally ran out of money,” he said in April.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature said the move was a “lifeline thrown to a near-threatened species”.

– news@citizen.co.za