Expand the Black Mambas Rhino Anti-Poaching Unit

Greetings all!

Thanks to your awesome support, we have been able to make great progress preparing to assess the impact of the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit early next year! This is a complicated and challenging task, but one that we are honored to be able to provide.

Our goals are many and include determining the following:

• The degree to which the presence and actions of the Black Mambas have decreased the receptivity to poaching and poachers among local people in the surrounding communities where the Mambas live
• Whether local people see the amazing wildlife as their natural heritage, rather than the legacy of past colonialism
• Whether there are changes among the Mambas themselves in self-esteem, self-efficacy, and pride
• How effecitve the Bush Babies education program are at increasing conservaiton knowledge and likelihood to act among the thousands of school children that they teach annually

A team of three social science researchers will be onsite working with five local trained surveyors who can speak the local languages from 9 January to 9 February 2018, and they cannot wait to begin. The surveys will have been reviewed by the California State University San Marcos IRB to ensure participant safety and compliance with the best standards in social science research. 

In addition, Helping Rhinos will be partnering with Western Kentucky University to integrate our work with their analysis of the institutional and organizational psychology of the Black Mambas program as a whole to create a case study. This in-depth case study will allow other locations to learn how to begin an anti-poaching unit like the Black Mambas in their nature reserves. 

We are honored and grateful for all the help and support that you all have provided (and many you of continue to provide). We will keep you posted as our field work proceeds early next year!

Thank you for your kindness!