American philanthropist pledges $24 million to protect rhinos in flagship park
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA Associated Press
March 15, 2014 - 8:58 am EDT
JOHANNESBURG — A son of investor Warren Buffett has pledged nearly $24 million for protecting rhinos in South Africa, earmarking the money for ranger teams, sniffer dogs and other security measures in what he hopes can be a robust model for fighting what he calls the "overwhelming" problem of poaching in parts of Africa.
Howard Buffett said Friday that the three-year program in one-third of the vast Kruger National Park, which struggles to contain poachers crossing from neighboring Mozambique, will employ some of the same methods used by the United States to monitor its border with Mexico. They include aerostats, large, tethered balloons with infrared cameras that can scan the landscape around the clock.
"We're going to do it at a scale that hasn't been done," Buffett said in an interview with The Associated Press. He described the initiative, which will also focus on cross-border criminal investigations and intelligence networks, as way of learning "what works and what doesn't work" in a southern area of the park that has 4,000 rhinos. South African is home to most of the continent's rhinos.
Buffett acknowledged that the $23.7 million initiative doesn't directly address soaring demand for rhino horn in Vietnam and other parts of Asia where it is viewed as a status symbol and a healing agent for serious illness, although there is no evidence that rhino horn, made from the same material as fingernails, is an effective medicine. "I have no illusions about this," said Buffett, who announced the initiative with the South African national parks service at Standard Bank headquarters in Johannesburg. "This is an overwhelming issue."
Read more: http://www.therepublic.com/w/AF--South-Africa-Rhinos
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