{"id":85023,"date":"2025-08-21T01:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T01:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85023\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T01:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T01:28:07","slug":"south-african-rhino-breeder-detained-amid-smuggling-scandal-dw-08-20-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/85023\/","title":{"rendered":"South African rhino breeder detained amid smuggling scandal \u2013 DW \u2013 08\/20\/2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South African prosecutors have accused a high-profile\u00a0animal breeder of running an illegal <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/us-court-jails-rhino-horn-and-elephant-ivory-trafficker\/a-62860822\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rhino horn smuggling network<\/a> across the globe.<\/p>\n<p>John Hume, 83, once owned one of the world&#8217;s largest rhino herds at his ranch near Johannesburg. He and five others are accused of running a scheme to export more than 900 rhino horns valued at $14.1 million (\u20ac12.2 million).<\/p>\n<p>All five arrested on Tuesday following a &#8220;complex investigation into transnational trafficking of rhino horns&#8221; that began in 2017, the police&#8217;s specialized Hawks unit said.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/south-africa\/t-46830055\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">South Africa&#8217;s<\/a>\u00a0Environment Minister Dion George said the investigation was\u00a0&#8220;a powerful demonstration of South Africa&#8217;s resolve to protect its natural heritage.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rhino horns smuggled with false permits<\/p>\n<p>Zimbabwean-born Hume owned the 7,800-hectare (19,270-acre) Platinum Rhino ranch in South Africa&#8217;s North West province until 2023,\u00a0<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/south-africa-worlds-largest-rhino-farm-bought-by-ngo\/a-66724251\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">when it was bought by wildlife NGO African Parks<\/a>\u00a0in a bid to rewild the animals.<\/p>\n<p>The ranch is home to around 2,000 animals \u2014 around 15% of the world&#8217;s remaining wild population of southern white rhinos.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators said they uncovered fraud involving government officials who issued permits for 964 rhino horns to be sold domestically, but which were actually shipped to illegal markets in Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n<p><img data-format=\"MASTER_LANDSCAPE\" data-id=\"73710324\" data-url=\"https:\/\/static.dw.com\/image\/73710324_${formatId}.jpg\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\" alt=\"John Hume's ranch in South Africa\" style=\"padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; max-height: 0;\"\/>John Hume&#8217;s ranch was home to around 15% of the world&#8217;s remaining rhino population [FILE: February 3, 2016]Image: Mujahid Safodien\/AFP<\/p>\n<p>South African law allows the domestic trade of rhino horns. But overseas sales are banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.<\/p>\n<p>Rhinos were once abundant across Africa but have <a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/latest-rhino-count-a-mixed-bag-for-worlds-five-species\/a-73565696\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dramatically fallen in number<\/a> following due to large-scale hunting and\u00a0<a class=\"internal-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/south-africa-will-radioactive-chips-stop-wildlife-poaching\/a-69481106\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">poaching<\/a>. Alongside ivory, rhino horns are highly sought-after in Asia as status symbols and for their supposed aphrodisiac properties.<\/p>\n<p>Edited by: Darko Janjevic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South African prosecutors have accused a high-profile\u00a0animal breeder of running an illegal rhino horn smuggling network across the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":{"0":"post-85023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}