Support Mounted Rangers Fighting Rhino Poaching

Dear Friends and Supporters

Thank you for your incredible support over the past quarter, which has helped to keep our anti-poaching units operational and effective. Your contributions continue to make a tremendous difference in the battle against wildlife crime. Here's a quick project update.

Rhino Poaching News

With 325 rhinos killed last year, our province, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), was the most severely affected by rhino poaching. Out of the total, our premier park, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, saw the tragic loss of 307 rhinos, and since the start of this year, another 109 rhinos have been lost. State custodian, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, has responded by taking the difficult choice to dehorn all rhinos in the reserve, to give them best possible chance of survival.

Project Rhino is supporting our major reserves in KZN with their dehorning programmes, which are a significant investment for reserves as they require the skills of a highly specialised team of people, including helicopter pilots, veterinarians, and game capture teams. The procedure does not hurt the rhino as their horn contains no nerves and is composed of keratin, which is also found in human hair and fingernails. The horn will grow again over time, usually in a few years.

From general patrols conducted by the Project Rhino anti-poaching units, it has been noted that vulture poisoning seems to be on the rise, as well as a significant increase in dog poachers and snaring. This further emphasizes the need to maintain a constant presence over our member reserves.

Supporting our Wildlife Rangers

In addition to protecting wildlife from poachers, our wildlife rangers fulfil several vital conservation roles: They patrol protected areas and fence lines, monitor wildlife, engage with local communities in conservation efforts, help communities resolve human-wildlife conflicts, and assist with tourism, to name a few. Globally, rangers protect 15% of all land services and 7% of all seas; over 45 million km² combined.

Thank you to all our GlobalGiving donors for helping to support their incredibly important work, as well as RCL Foods, for supporting the horses with nutritional feed.

It is a core priority of Project Rhino to assist our wildlife rangers wherever possible, including equipment, training, and ensuring their horses (or canines) are in the best possible condition. We have two major fundraisers planned later this year to support this work – the Run for Rangers taking place in Babanango Game Reserve in July, and the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, taking place throughout rhino month in September.

Other Events and Programmes

• Project Rhino has co-implemented an exciting Siyafunda Ngemvelo "We Learn In Nature" programme. Less than 2% of children in South Africa have ever visited a game reserve or National Park, despite many communities living in close proximity to these incredible places. Thanks to Dogs 4 Wildlife and Connected Planet, in collaboration with the IFPCP and K9-Unit, pupils will have the opportunity to visit a game reserve and experience wildlife for the first time.
• Working with Wildlife Act, our ZAP-Wing aerial patrol has started adding scheduled patrols directly focused on Areas of known Vulture Poisoning Activity. ZAP-Wing also supported a Pilot Project introducing the use of Collars incorporated with Artificial Intelligence Technology which is showing promising results.
• In February, we hosted a highly successful Masked Ball for Conservation, and in May, we organized a music festival to support fundraising efforts. For adrenaline seekers, we are also running a Skydive for Rhinos campaign until the end of the year. Additionally, we will be co-hosting the Oceans 8 Charity Swim next month, where participants swim 8 miles for conservation.

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

Links:

• Read the Daily Maverick article on dehorning efforts