South Africa's Kruger Park invites bids for rhinos

South Africa’s Kruger National Park is inviting bids for rhinos under a plan to move 500 of the animals to safety to counter a wave of poaching for their horns, highly prized in some Asian countries as a sign of wealth.

In newspaper ads on Sunday, South African National Parks invited potential buyers to “make a written offer to purchase white rhinos in batches of 20 or more”.

Private ranchers own around 5,000 of South Africa’s 20,000 rhinos, part of a thriving game farming industry in Africa’s most advanced economy.

More than 1,000 rhinos were poached in South Africa last year, three times the tally in 2010, to meet soaring demand for rhino horn, which is used as an ingredient in traditional medicine in fast-growing economies such as China and Vietnam.

Government data shows at least 821 have been killed illegally so far this year, 531 of them in Kruger.

Rhinos are used to attract tourists to a lodge for game viewing and for legal trophy hunts and are traded in an open market. – (Reuters)