SOUTH AFRICA

The South African government is minting money - by selling ostriches. It is now reported to be the biggest ostrich goods producer in the world; and business is booming.

The country exports almost every part of this huge non-flying bixd - feathers, meat, skin and eggs. Sales of ostrich meat, for example, have more than doubled in the last 5 years, climbing to us $66.5 million from us $26 million. It is not surprising, therefore, that almost a quarter of a million of them are kept for poultry and breeding; and in the fertile West Cape region flocks of ostriches are seen roaming the range.

Most of the ostrich-foods are shipped off to lapan, which has a huge market for it, but now even the and European countries are developing a taste for the third.