NATIONAL NEWS - South Africa’s largest rhino breeder, John Hume, may be in danger of financial collapse, which could place his more than 1 600 rhinos at grave risk.
“A combination of factors have made it impossible for me to continue with my rhino breeding project,” Hume wrote in an appeal for assistance.
“Because of difficulties with permits, I have received very little money from the sale of rhino horns. Likewise, with permits to export rhinos to other countries, I’ve been stymied by our government and the bureaucracy of the Cites system.”
Hume said horn had been proving difficult to sell and, coupled with the poaching threat, had rendered the sale of live rhinos in South Africa almost impossible.
“And even if you could, it would be at a price of about half of what it cost you to breed and protect them,” said Hume.
Unlike national parks where rhinos are essentially public stock, private rhino owners receive little to no help from government in securing their animals against poaching and must fork out protection money from their own pockets.
