African Parks, an organization with which Prince Harry is associated and which manages around twenty protected parks on the continent, announced on Monday that it is the new owner of 7,800 hectares of land located less than 200 kilometers southwest of Johannesburg and 2,000 White rhinoceros hosts 15% of the world population of this species.
“African Parks has become the new owner of Platinum Rhino, the world’s largest private captive breeding company for rhinos,” the NGO stressed in a statement.
The 81yearold multimillionaire John Hume opened the rhino farm in 2009 with an investment of around 130 million euros.
Burdened by the exorbitant costs of his huge project, Hume put his estate up for auction in April and said he was looking for another millionaire to take control.
“Rhinocorus farming is an expensive hobby,” the businessman emphasized in an interview with the AFP agency before the sale, adding that he had “no money left.”
Without an offer to purchase the farm, these rhinos are “at high risk of poaching,” African Parks emphasized.
The organization’s CEO, Peter Fearnhead, quoted in the press release, said it had fulfilled a “moral obligation to find a solution to this declining wildlife.”
The NGO, which did not disclose the amount paid, received support from the South African government and animal rights organizations as well as financial support for the purchase.
South Africa is home to almost 80% of the world’s white rhino population, and is currently estimated to number less than 13,000.
The country has become a hotbed of poaching, driven by Asian demand, where keratin horns, the same substance as human fingernails or hair, are used in traditional medicine for their supposed therapeutic or aphrodisiac effects.
According to the government, 448 rhinos were killed in the country in 2022, despite increased antipoaching measures in national parks.
Horn thieves, whose price per kilo rivals the price of gold on the black market and reaches $60,000, have adapted their strategy and are now targeting more vulnerable private parks.
African Parks plans to reintroduce captive rhinos into the wild over the next decade, including relocating them to protected areas in Africa.
One of the strategies to combat rhino massacre is to preemptively cut off the coveted horns that can grow back.
In South Africa, trade in rhino horn within the country is permitted, although controversial, but export is illegal.
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