Support Mounted Rangers Fighting Rhino Poaching

Dear friends and supporters

A short update on what has been happening with the brave horse unit teams.

The fencing at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (HiP) is in its final stages and the new paddock now provides welcome space for exercise and relaxation of the horses – away from the threat of big game and predators.

HiP is KZN’s flagship reserve and has been targeted in recent years by organised crime and wildlife trafficking syndicates; this has placed enormous pressure on Park custodians, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, and their field rangers on the ground. The horse unit is one of many anti-poaching and resource management strategies that the Park has adopted to protect their rhino.

GlobalGiving donations were also used to assist Spioenkop Game Reserve (in the KZN Midlands) with 40 bales of hay as additional food for their horses during the final winter months, when food resources in the veld were scarce. We are most grateful to Epol and RCL Foods who has assisted by sponsoring Epol cubes for the HiP Horse unit in the upcoming months.

Project Rhino coordinator, Chris Galliers, met with a number of horse units at reserves in Zululand and in the Midlands over the last quarter. The most critical needs identified were:

• Training for rangers – some have little experience in riding horses, whilst those experienced riders require training in how to deal with poaching incursions, tracking, evidence collection and reaction (often in life threatening situations).
• Training for grooms, to ensure that the horses remain fit and healthy.
• New / updated riding kit – much of the existing kit is second hand, or on its last legs. Whilst community reserves lack even basic kit like helmets and saddle blankets.
• Basic veterinary care, including fly spray and tick prevention.

A surprise when visiting the Spioenkop horse unit was that a number of mares were heavily pregnant after an energetic stallion found his way into the stables. Our veterinary care bill now includes his sterilization. You win some, you lose some!

Once again, our heartfelt thanks to all our supporters who have been so generous toward our cause by donating, and sharing our message. Please remember to follow our social media pages for updates on the horse unit and other Project Rhino projects.

Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who donated so generously to the Support Mounted Rangers Fighting Rhino Poaching Project. After an intensive three weeks of fundraising, we were delighted to reach our $5,000 target – and be accepted as a GlobalGiving partner on their fundraising platform!

We are most grateful for all the support we have received: volunteers who helped to raise awareness, donations from the sale of designer bikinis, custom shoe-polish kits, Horse Unit caps, bespoke jewellery – and of course personal donations from you, our donors. The final donation amount of $5,054.97 was received at the end of July 2018 and this has been transferred to our dedicated ACT Rhino Fund account.

At the moment, there are mounted patrols operating in four game reserves in the Midlands, as well as KwaZulu-Natal’s flagship Reserve, Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, in the Zululand region. Another two game reserves are interested in establishing Horse Units in the near future. Project Rhino has been in contact with its members and supporting game reserves to identify the most critical and immediate needs; these include feed and health care for horses, equipment for rangers, basic riding tack and the fencing of paddocks.

Thus far, we have purchased one month’s feed and will be making additional purchases later this month. We are also in the process of measuring and securing quotes for the erection of solar fencing at Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park. As a Big 5 Reserve, the seven horses remain vulnerable to attacks from predators, particularly lions. Once the final figures have been determined, we can then allocate funding to the purchase of riding equipment; to this end we have started measuring horses in the community-run reserves for the purchase of saddles and saddle blankets.

Section ranger and head of the Hluhluwe horse unit, Sibonelo Zulu, has reported that since the resurrection of the unit last year, the team has proven highly effective in deterring poachers. “We have big areas that we need to cover, and without horses we can’t do it. It’s much easier to do patrols on horses… Although it is very dangerous for us, it is proving to be very effective.”