THE KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Service’s annual game auction, held in Mtubatuba at the weekend, raised more than R11-million for conservation and community development in the province. The takings were R1-million less than last year’s auction, but a record price was set for the sale of a white rhino mother and calf, which sold for R272000. More than 3000 wild animals from the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi National Park were for sale, including the “big five”: buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino.