rhinofarmers throw the towel. After a lot of deliberation and soul searching , I have decided that I will join the ranks of the sensible farmers that decided to get rid of their rhinos. I have had rhinos for 20 years, I started with 5 rhinos in 1994. Introduced new blood and actually managed to sell a few a long long time ago. I now have 24 rhinos , including 4 rhinos from a farm in the district that was hit by poachers in an armed attack a few years ago. I was offered top notch buffalo breeding stock in a barter arrangement for 16 rhinos and I managed to sell of the rest to a new game lodge (German euros) that will start up some time next year. Because 4 of the rhinos do not belong to me , I informed the owner that I plan to sell of all the rhinos and offered to pay over the proceeds once the sale is concluded. He politely refused. According to him , he donated the rhinos to me when I offered to take them in and provide a safe haven for them after the poaching incident It probably sums up the current sentiment from private landowners towards keeping rhinos. The debate on whether the sale of rhino horns should be legalized will continue whilst the number of rhinos on private land will diminish. The costs involved to safeguard (worthless) rhinos, coupled with the risk of armed attacks on workers,family and visitors have hit my tolerance level a long time ago. I am unable and unwilling to fork out R50K/month with ZERO guarantees that I would be able to at least recoup a portion of the expenses in the short term. 6 rhinos were relocated during the past 3 days and the rest will be relocated between now and April 2015 (cool weather permitting) I am sad and angry that I am unable to conduct my business(game farming) as a sustainable resource. I am disappointed that I am getting rid of the rhinos for the wrong reasons (thank you Cites) At least I can focus my energy on getting the new buffalo breeding project going. Some of the rhinos were dehorned at some stage in an effort to try to reduce the risk of poaching. The regrowth of the horns can be seen in some pics.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 13:10:16 +0000
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