SA: Few buyers participated in rhinoceros horn online auction after outraged protests

South Africa’s first online auction of rhinoceros horn – held amid outrage from conservationists – attracted fewer buyers than anticipated, lawyers for the organiser said on Saturday. John Hume, owner of the world’s largest rhinoceros farm, organised the controversial three-day selloff which ended on Friday. Hume “has successfully concluded the world’s first legal online auction of rhinoceros horn,” his lawyers said in a statement, 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 100,000 rand ($7,626) registration fee to gain access to the 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 tonnes of rhino horn, eventually secured a permit for the auction.