Fewer rhino horn buyers than expected

SOUTH Africa’s first online auction of rhino horn – held last week amid outrage from conservationists – attracted fewer buyers than anticipated, said lawyers for the organiser.

John Hume, owner of the world’s largest rhino farm, organised the controversial three-day sell-off which ended on Friday.

Hume “has successfully concluded the world’s first legal online auction of rhinoceros horn”, his lawyers said, but gave no details.

“The auction yielded fewer bidders and fewer sales than anticipated,” they added, “but the legal domestic trade has now been re-established and the road has been paved for future sales”.

But “bidders were duly authorised to participate in the auction and were issued with legally required permits to participate”, the lawyers said.

The auctioneers did not set any opening prices for bids, but all potential bidders had to pay a R100 000 registration fee to gain access to the online auction.

The auction was delayed for two days after a legal challenge and protests from conservation groups arguing that the sale would fuel poaching and undermine a 40-year global ban on the rhino trade.

Hume, who owns 1 500 rhinos on his farm north of Johannesburg and has amassed six tons of rhino horn, eventually secured a permit for the auction. However, the auction organisers blamed the delays for the subdued sales.

Hume harvests the horns by tranquillising the animals and cutting them off – a technique he says is humane and wards off poachers. Hume organised the sale to dispose of 264 pieces of horns weighing a total of 500kg. He is planning an offline auction next month.

The government has not publicly commented on the auction, which came after South Africa’s top court lifted an eight-year moratorium on the domestic trade of rhino horns in April.

South Africa home around 20 000 rhinos, about 80% of the worldwide population, but poachers have killed more than 7 100 is to rhinos in Africa over the past decade. Rhino horns are highly prized in Asia, where they were previously estimated to fetch up to $60 000 (R781 000) per kilo on the black market. But researchers say the going black market rate for the horn in Vietnam is around $24 000 (R312 000) a kilo. — AFP