In the 1960s wildlife ranching was a very small part of the agricultural sector, with a handful of landowners using wildlife commercially. The realisation in the 1970s and 1980s that the sustainable use of wildlife could be financially viable, followed by the Game Theft Act of 1991, which provided certain ownership rights to landowners over wild animals held in adequately enclosed areas, provided the incentive for a major shift in farming activities across South Africa and has led to huge growth of wildlife ranching as a land use. Reports and peer reviewed literature written since the year 2000 had suggested that there may be in excess of 9 000 wildlife ranches in South Africa, covering an area >200 000 km2 and harbouring between 16 and 20 million wild animals. Localised research studies and research focussing on specific aspects of wildlife ranching have provided important clues as to the scale of the sector, but a lack of assimilation of information at the national level (with a few exceptions aimed at specific segments of the industry) has meant that we have quite limited knowledge as to the true scale and scope of wildlife ranching across South Africa.