South Africa’s privately owned Platinum Rhino breeding and conservation project, the largest of its kind in the world, is set to go on auction in mid-April 2023. The project has been in operation since 2009 and currently protects close to 2 000 Southern white rhinos on an 8 500-hectare (21 000-acre) savannah landscape in South Africa.
Project founder John Hume says the ideal buyer is a person or foundation with a passion for conserving rhinos and the means to keep the breeding project going.
The project was set up to ensure the survival of a genetically diverse population of rhinos, which is now similar in number to the white rhino population of the Kruger National Park. Due to its breeding success, it has the greatest ability to save the species from extinction. With 200 rhinos born a year, the project has the power to make a significant difference and bolster declining rhino populations on the African continent.
“We have so much rewilding power here,” says the project’s wildlife veterinarian, Dr Michelle Otto. “The project’s rhino could repopulate the whole of Africa, where we lose hundreds of rhinos each year to poaching. We have rewilding partners on board, but the project needs funding and it needs the right person to continue to drive it in the right direction.”
The project has the foundation and potential to continue its current success at rhino conservation by providing rhino for rewilding and range expansion projects as well as contributing breeding animals for the re-establishment and/or re-enforcement of other rhino populations, far into the future.
Platinum Rhino, which is home to over 16% of the Southern white rhino population in South Africa, announced last year it can release 100 rhinos back into the wild every year. The Platinum Rhino team has engaged with conservation stakeholders throughout the world on this initiative, but has been unable to secure the funding to make this happen.
The resident rhino population has also been recognised by the IUCN African Rhino Specialist group as a Key 1 population, which is vital for the continued conservation of South Africa’s rhino population.
A total of 448 rhinos were poached in South Africa in 2022, slightly down from the 2021 figure of 451.
Poaching is rare at the Platinum Rhino project, however. Since its inception in 2009, over 9 700 rhinos have been poached elsewhere across South Africa. During this time, only 32 rhinos at the project were lost due to poaching. The last poaching incident occurred in March 2017.
Keeping the breeding programme going is vital to ensure not only the survival of the animals, but also the sustained livelihoods of the people who are supported by the project. Platinum Rhino employs 100 people, who each provide for another four people on average. That represents a community of around 500 people who rely on the project to survive.