On 3 of August 2016 the historical Royal Institute of Great Britain hosted a live debate between John Hume, South Africa's largest private rhino breeder and a pioneering advocate for legalising horn trade where rhino stays alive, with Born Free Foundation President and CEO, Will Travers, moderated by Ecologist and Author Dr. Craig Packer.

"The South African rhino conservation model which encouraged private rhino ownership and allowed trophy hunting, trade in live rhinos and domestic trade in rhino horn, not only made significant contribution to the future security of its rhinos, but increased rhino breeding and dispersal across the country and throughout the world- working as a buffer for the rhinos' survival in national parks and reserves."

"The sudden change in the once-bright future for rhinos in South Africa coincided with the national moratorium on the trade in rhino horn introduced in February 2009.
Over 6000 rhinos have been poached in South Africa in the last 7 years. This is in contrast to only a few hundred poached over the previous 40 years. By any standards this was a fatal change!"

"If the ban on trade in rhino horn is so good for rhinos, why then do rhinos get poached at a rate of three a day, with no sing that the extent of poaching is declining?" - John Hume.