With 764 rhinos at his Mauricedale Game Ranch and another breeding farm in North West province, Hume is the biggest rhino farmer in the world. "[M]y financial advisers tell me not to sell my rhino horn because its value is increasing more than any other investment," he said.
Hume is reluctant to disclose the size of his present stockpile, kept in safety vaults off his properties. By the end of 2010 it included more than 500kg of rhino horn with a retail value of an estimated R200-million. He has de-horned all his rhinos and shaves off about 1kg of regrowth every year. Private ranchers own about 25% of the estimated 18 600 white rhinos in South Africa. They also own a large part (although no one knows exactly how much) of the almost 20 tonnes of horn stockpiled in the country. In battling the scourge of rhino poaching in South Africa, private reserves are having to increase their security measures, look to alternatives like dehorning, and where possible, work together.
Even though his stash keeps growing and the price keeps rising, Hume has joined other private owners to demand that the trade in the horns of white rhinos be reopened. "I personally don't need the trade to be legalised," he said, "but it is the only chance we've got to stop the slaughter of rhinos." Limpopo rancher Steven Topham disagrees: "Dehorning and trading could be interpreted as saying to consumers that it is okay to use rhino horn, so long as they have a piece of paper. We should rather stop the trade in its tracks."
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