A South African game reserve with 1,993 rhinos, 213 African buffalo, 112 antelope and other wildlife went to auction Wednesday.
The Platinum Rhino conservation project and farm is being auctioned off by Brandon Leer on the online livestock trading platform SwiftVEE. The auction is open until 11 a.m. EDT Monday, and the bidding started at $10 million. Monday is Save the Rhino Day.
The farm contains 16% of all southern white rhinos in South Africa and an eighth of the subspecies’ global population.
Platinum Rhino has bred the beasts with the aim of being able to replenish wild populations weakened by poaching.
Up to 200 rhinos a year are born on the reserve, and no reserve rhinos have been lost to poaching since 2017. The project is capable of releasing 100 rhinos into the wild each year.
The breeding project is not profitable. Owner John Hume’s lobbying to legalize the trade in rhino horns, which can be sawed off a live animal and regrown, failed to bear fruit.
Without the proceeds from horn sales, Mr. Hume, a former billionaire, says he’s burned through cash.
If the auction fails, the project will have to disband.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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