Nairobi, Aug 24 – A South African breeder has received a permit to sell 264 rhino horns in an online auction, local media reported.
John Hume, who owns the world’s largesty private herd of 1,536 rhinos was granted a licence this week to auction the horns after winning a court case against the South African government. The online bidding for the horns is due to close on August 25.
“I firmly believe that this is the way to save rhino from extinction, to breed them better, to protect them better,” Hume told the BBC in an interview. “One of the ways to protect them better is not to make the horn completely unavailable to everybody.”
Hume has accumulated a stockpile of of rhino horn because he regularly cuts them off his herd to to discourage poachers. Rhino populations have declined dramatically as a result of poaching, fueled by high demand for their horns in Vietnam and China, where they are used as an ingredient in traditional medicine.
Global trade in rhino horn is banned under the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Rhino horn acquired legally in South Africa can not be exported, but conservationists have voiced concern that local buyers could illegally supply Asian markets.
