Soul of a Lion by Barbara Bennett

Author:Barbara Bennett
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: National Geographic Society
Published: 2010-06-12T16:00:00+00:00

Marieta takes a group of volunteers for a baboon walk

{chapter eight}

MONEY and CHANGE

If all the beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to the man. All things are connected.

—Chief Seattle

NICK AND MARIETA FOUND THAT FINANCING A GROWING enterprise like their animal rescue program was an unending challenge. One by one, they sold off their cattle farms to pay for what was once called Marieta’s hobby but what was becoming the family’s mission. Perhaps the hardest property to sell was Tennessee, the farm where Marieta had grown up, but even that was sold in 1998. Times were difficult for white Namibians who sold land after independence came in 1990 marking the end of apartheid in both Namibia and South Africa. The 1995 Agricultural Land Reform Act stated that before a farm could be sold, the government had to be informed and be given the first option to buy the property. If the government bought the farm, it was usually given to a black citizen with the understanding that he would have 15 years before he would have to start paying for it.

In theory this is a good way to offer the underprivileged the opportunity to improve their lives. Sometimes it worked, but sometimes the new owner took advantage of the system by letting the farm go to ruin, thereby lessening its value and decreasing the price he would have to pay to the government later. The government lost a lot of money this way—but so did the original owners, like the van der Merwes, because the government would pay only rock-bottom prices. The farms that Marieta’s and Nick’s parents had worked so hard to build were sold for far less than they were worth, but they had to be sold, nonetheless, to sustain the never-ending stream of animals making their way to Harnas.

A lion, for instance, eats the equivalent of seven horses or mules per year. With 16 adult lions on the farm, that means 112 animals have to be bought or raised as food for the lions alone, and that runs around $8,000 a year. The African wild dogs require about $20,000 a year for food, and the baboons (85 in total—and growing in numbers) eat around $91,000 worth of fruit and other foods. The list goes on and on: 7 caracals, 30 cheetahs, a brown hyena, 8 leopards, 2 crocodiles, 18 dogs, 45 cats, many birds, a milk cow, 16 jackals, a giraffe, and numerous sheep, goats, and chickens, and on it goes, with each animal requiring daily sustenance.

The wealth of one of the ten richest families in Namibia was nearly depleted, and Nick and Marieta knew they had to find new resources for the animals and the future of their family. In 1997, they created the Harnas Trust Fund, which protected their personal money, and they created the Harnas Wildlife Foundation, a nonprofit organization that allows Harnas to receive money through sponsors and donations. Donors

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