In 2022, poachers in Namibia had taken 14 white rhinos from private farms in six weeks, so farm owners started removing their horns.
asserted
owners → take → horns
That can take away the incentive to hunt the animals, because poachers want the horns.
asserted
poachers → take → horns
One cow had a horn 34 inches long.
asserted
cow → have → horn
Jaco Muller, an antelope breeder, said he was nearly in tears when it was removed.
asserted
it → say → tears
“It is such a magnificent animal,” he said at the time.
asserted
he → say → time
For Muller, the sight of a dehorned rhino was preferable to finding a dead one.
asserted
sight → dehorn → one
The idea for breeding rhinos came from his son, then 15, as a school project.
asserted
idea → breed → project
In 2010, Muller converted the family’s breeding operation into what became the Rhino Momma Project in Namibia’s Kunene region.
asserted
what → convert → region
Muller believed that breeding more white rhinos (Ceratotherium simum), keeping them secure enough to reproduce, and then replenishing populations across Africa could help save the species.
uncertain
breeding → believe → species
So he built a breeding program with a rhino-custodianship farm and the nonprofit Help Our Rhinos Now, or Horn.
asserted
he → build → Rhinos
The first calf was born in 2013; by 2025, the project had become one of Namibia’s larger privately run rhino-breeding operations.
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project → bear → operations
Kifaru Lodge, which Muller opened in 2018, brought in money from tourists to help cover security and rhino care.
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Muller → open → tourists
Muller also supported legalizing the trade in rhino horn.
asserted
Muller → support → horn
His argument was that prohibition let criminals collect the profits while farm owners and conservation groups paid for security.
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owners → let → security
He compared harvesting horn to shearing sheep: The animal would survive, the horn would grow back and a regulated market might finance protection.
uncertain
market → compare → protection
“Right now, only poachers make money from horns,” he said in 2025.
asserted
he → make → 2025
That was, and remains, a controversial argument.
asserted
That → remain → ?
Opponents question whether a legal trade would enable laundering of poached rhino horns or increase demand.
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trade → question → demand
For Muller, the case came from the economics of a breeding program: horns were valuable, and protecting the animals was expensive.
asserted
protecting → come → animals
He believed rhinos needed populations outside Namibia as well.
asserted
rhinos → believe → Namibia
In a controversial move in 2024, 42 white rhinos from Kifaru Lodge were exported to Texas.
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rhinos → export → Texas
He cited the Arabian oryx, which survived through captive breeding and reintroduction, as an example.
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which → cite → example
Muller often used a gyrocopter, which is something like a helicopter but has different physics, to survey the reserve from the air, looking for signs of intrusion and checking on rhinos across the property.
asserted
which → use → property
On Sept. 19, Muller, 53, was killed when the gyrocopter crashed while he was monitoring rhinos and wildfire flare-ups near Outjo.
asserted
he → kill → Outjo
By then, the school-project idea had become a herd of rhinos: The project had recorded 197 births since its first calf arrived in 2013.
asserted
calf → become → 2013
Butler is the founder of Mongabay, an independent news organization focused on nature.
asserted
Butler → focus → nature
The Aporia
