This major rehabilitation project will release 2,000 captive white rhinos

2,000 captive white rhinos to be released in a 10-year restoration project across Africa.

A South African non-governmental organization has bought the world’s largest rhino breeding business. It now plans to reintroduce the animals across the continent.

African Parks intervened after breeder John Hume’s online auction of £2,000 failed to receive any bids.

Over the next 10 years, the conservation organization aims to relocate animals to protected areas across the continent to help secure the future of the species.

Why were 2,000 white rhinos sold at an online auction?

Former billionaire John Hume plowed his fortune into building the world’s largest rhino farm in 2009.

It is located in Klerksdorp, 170 km southeast of Johannesburgthe well-kept farm costs more than $425,000 (€396,000) a month to run, according to auction documents.

A large part of this has gone to security, while costs have risen sharply in recent years due to a prolonged drought that has increased the cost of feeding animals.

To further deter poachers, the horns were cut off the horns on Hume’s farm. This does not harm the rhinos but can change their behavior and have long term effects. If they are cut correctly, the horns can grow back over time.

In 2017, the controversial businessman won a legal battle to end a 2009 ban on the domestic trade in rhino horn in South Africa, despite an international ban. This was both an attempt to finance him maintenance project and is expected to reduce the price of horns on the illegal market.

In 2016, CNN reported that the farm had nearly 10 tons of horns worth nearly $500 million. In 2015, the price of rhino horn is higher than that of gold and cocaine.

In April, unable to continue running the 7,800-acre farm, Hume put it up for online auction.

The price paid by African Parks has not been disclosed but the auction, which ended in May, was open to bids starting at $10 million (9.3 million).

What will African Parks do with rhinos?

African Parks is maintenance NGO. It manages 22 national parks in 12 African countries, in partnership with governments and local communities.

With the support of the South African government, he plans to repeat 2,000 southern white rhinos, which will represent 15 percent of the world’s remaining wild population.

The NGO claims to have experience in managing protected areas and transfers wild animals in large numbers, including returning rhinos to Rwanda, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It received emergency funding to buy rhinos and protect them from potential disasters poaching and cracking.

Over the next 10 years, it plans to relocate the rhinos to well-managed and safe areas, appointing or adding skilled people to protect the future of the species.

“The scale of this action is huge, and therefore terrifying,” said Peter Fearnhead, CEO of African Parks. “However, it is one of the most interesting and universal strategies maintenance opportunities.”

It will be one of the largest landmasses in the world repetition Projects can be of any kind.

What are the threats facing rhinos in South Africa?

After they were hunted nearby end In the late 19th century, southern white rhinos became a conservation success story.

Their numbers have grown from fewer than 40 animals in the 1930s to around 13,000 today thanks to conservation and breeding schemes. Yet that number has dropped from 20,000 in 2012 due to poaching.

Rhinos are often hunted for their horns, which are used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of ailments from reducing fever to stopping nosebleeds and preventing strokes, according to WWF.

By 2022, 448 will be killed in South Africa according to the report maintenance love Save the Point.

Southern white rhinos are now listed as close threatening by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The northern white rhino, meanwhile, is gone, with two barren females in captivity in Kenya.

More than half of Africa’s white rhinos are now owned by private landowners, who often have a lot of money to protect.

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