South African Conservationist John Hume will auction off his Rhino farm, the world’s largest, to the highest bidder later this week after spending $150 Million on Rhino Conservation. He squandered his great riches in a 30-year campaign to conserve rhinos, today, at the age of 81, his money is almost gone.
“I’m left with nothing except 2,000 rhinos and 8,000 hectares (20,000 acres) of land,” Hume quipped in an interview with AFP ahead of the sale.
South Africa is home to roughly 80% of the world’s rhinos, making it a hotbed for poaching fuelled by demand from Asia, where Rhino horns are utilized in traditional medicine for their alleged curative value. Despite improved protection in national parks such as the renowned Kruger, the government reported that 448 of the endangered animals were killed across the country last year, only three less than in 2021.
Poachers are increasingly targeting privately held reserves in their search for horns, which are mostly made of hard keratin, the same protein found in human nails. They are highly sought after on the black market, where the price per gram rivals gold and cocaine at an estimated $60,000 per kilogram.
Rhino conservationist John Hume spent over $150 million on his initiative to protect the species
Hume claimed to have spent over $150 million on his vast humanitarian initiative to conserve the world’s second-largest land mammal throughout the years.
“From a rhino point of view, it was definitely worth it,” the bespectacled octogenarian, wearing a chequered shirt, said in a Zoom interview.
“There are many more rhinos on Earth than when I started the project.”
Hume, a wealthy businessman who made his money constructing tourist destinations, said he fell in love with the creatures by chance, having purchased the first specimen after retiring with thoughts of owning a farm.
“I’ve used all my life savings spending on that population of rhinos for 30 years. And I finally ran out of money,” he said.
His carefully guarded farm, located at an undisclosed location in North West province, is home to over 2,000 southern white rhinos, a species that was hunted to near extinction in the late nineteenth century but has since returned thanks to decades of protection and breeding efforts. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List now classifies white rhinos as “near threatened,” with only about 18,000 left after a decade-long decline.
There are miles of fencing, cameras, heat detectors, and an army of rangers patrolling the complex, which employs roughly 100 people. The strong protection is intended to deter would-be poachers by delivering the message that “they don’t stand a chance,” according to Brandon Jones, the farm’s head of security. (emdrprofessionaltraining.com) However, speaking from the control room, Jones stated that the exercise is only partially effective because poachers will simply kill rhinos somewhere.
“We are simply diverting them from our reserve. We know that they will target areas where it is easier to penetrate and where the risk-reward ratio is to their advantage,” he said.
Rhino farmer puts farm up for sale for $10 million, including 10-tonne stock of rhino horns
The precise nature of the security measures implemented, as well as the number of armed rangers on duty, remain unknown. Nonetheless, Hume claims that the farm’s largest expense is surveillance, and potential owners will need deep pockets.
“I’m hoping that there is a billionaire that would rather save the population of rhinos from extinction than own a superyacht,” Hume, a gruff outspoken man, said.
“Maybe somebody for whom five million dollars a year is small change.”
The starting bid is $10 million. The farm, along with its animals, land, and machinery, will be up for sale on Wednesday. The addition of its 10-tonne stock of rhino horns to the lot is negotiable, according to Hume.
The horns were surgically removed to deter poachers from killing the animals, and they are valued at more than $500 million on the illicit market. Hume believes they should be auctioned to raise funds for conservation programs, thereby creating a legal market for them.
“I have the solution. But the rest of the world and the NGOs don’t agree. And we are losing the war,” laments Hume angrily.