Howard Buffett Donates $24-Million to Fight Rhino Poaching
March 24, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
Philanthropist Howard Buffett has contributed $24-million to South Africa’s national parks service to fund a high-tech campaign against the illicit trade in rhinoceros horn, Reuters reports.
The donation announced earlier this month will support a 30-month effort to track down poachers in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, supplying rangers with a helicopter, an aerostat balloon, and sensor-equipped ground vehicles. Hunters from neighboring Mozambique infiltrate the park, creating a situation Mr. Buffett, the son of billionaire investor and donor Warren Buffett, likened to “our drug war on our U.S./Mexican border.”
Rhino horn is prized as a traditional medicine in newly affluent Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, fueling a flourishing market. South Africa is home to most of the world’s rhinos, more than 1,000 of which were killed by poachers last year, up from 668 in 2012 and 448 in 2011.
