The southern white rhinos, thought to be the largest single population of their kind, were put up for auction in April with a starting price of $10 million. But the conservation group African Parks announced this month that it had reached a deal to take over the herd. “We felt we had a moral obligation to step in,” Peter Fearnhead, the group’s co-founder and chief executive, said. The 30-square-mile farm, Platinum Rhino, about 100 miles southwest of Johannesburg, was set up in 2009 by John Hume, a businessman originally from Zimbabwe. Mr. Hume has said that he created the farm because he wanted to help rhinos by building up their numbers.

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Persons: ” Peter Fearnhead, John Hume, Hume Organizations: African Parks, Rhino Locations: South Africa, Johannesburg, Zimbabwe