Sale of animals brings in big bucks for Ezemvelo

MORE than 1 500 wild animals went under the hammer in Durban yesterday, raising more than R15 million for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

And, despite rising poaching levels, the price of white rhinos rose again at the annual KwaZulu-Natal game auction, with these animals fetching an average of R365 000 each (about R75 000 more than last year’s average).

By comparison, white rhinos sold for about R45 000 each at similar sales 20 years ago.

Altogether, 24 white rhinos were sold yesterday, with the top price being R710 000 for a single female adult with a calf.

Ezemvelo’s acting chief executive, David Mabunda, said he had been contacted by the Outraged South Africans Against Rhino Poaching group not long before the auction, protesting against the sale of rhinos at a time when poaching had reached unprecedented levels.

Mabunda said that while he shared the group’s concern aboutpoaching levels, Ezemvelo was grateful that there were still financial incentives for local land owners to own rhinos – unlike in Kenya, which had banned wildlife hunting in 1977.

“In Kenya, they have now lost 70% of their wildlife by taking away the (financial) incentives from emerging and established game ranchers,” he said.

Ezemvelo raised R15.2m yesterday from the sale of 1 580 animals.

The two-dozen rhinos on sale collectively fetched R8.7m.

The next biggest source of revenue came from the sale of 429 blue wildebeest, which fetched just more than R1.1m.

While the average price for a blue wildebeest was about R2 600, a group of nine males was sold for R16 000 each.

Nearly 170 nyala antelope were sold at an average price of R15 600 each, with one large bull selling for R25 000.

Nearly 180 impala, mainly from the Mkhuze and iSimangaliso Wetland Park, were sold at average prices of R1 500 each, while a dozen giraffe fetched an average price of R13 000 each.

Warthog and springbok fetched about R1 100 apiece, with kudus going for about R6 000 each.