RAPID RESPONSE FOR RHINOS

EVERY RHINO COUNTS

The future for rhinos remains perilous. Poaching is pushing them to very brink. It is imperative we hold on to current rhino strongholds, maintain a visible proactive deterrent and engage local people in the destiny of their wildlife heritage.

International travel restrictions, created by COVID-19, have resulted in a collapse in tourism, the lifeblood of so many conservancies across Africa. With the world in lockdown it would be easy to imagine that the rhino and other endangered species are currently safe from poachers and illegal wildlife traffickers, but nothing could be further from the truth. Wildlife conservancies are facing extreme challenges. Cutbacks and redundancies in park protection and anti-poaching operations has put the livelihoods of local communities in jeopardy and wildlife is threatened as never before. Opportunists are risking it all and conservation is losing its positive advantage.

The challenge is, how we can protect vulnerable and critically endangered wildlife species, like the rhino and, make conservation of wildlife and wild places valuable to the everyday lives of poor people who see wildlife only to be eaten or poached for profit. There is a solution.

Helping Rhinos Rapid Response for Rhinos has three main aims:

Resist – employ, train and support local men and women who, at a moment’s notice, can take to the front line, resist the poachers and keep wildlife in the wild
React - react swiftly to emergency operations where additional rangers and/or veterinary support may help to rescue, protect and even save a rhino’s life
Retain – retain the support and commitment of local communities by helping them to benefit from, and share in, the conservation economy through employment and education.

“In the process of saving an animal like the rhino, you conserve everything around it. They are an integral part of the natural world, the fabric of life and yet, every stitch we unpick, we threaten the entire suit.”

Simon King
Conservationist and Wildlife TV Presenter

How Rapid Response for Rhinos will Help

Support for the Rapid Response for Rhinos, will allow Helping Rhinos to fund key partners in the field to:

Respond to wildlife incidents be it a poaching incident or a sick or injured animal
Deploy veterinary support vehicles and personnel to carry out emergency procedures including ear notching, fitting of tracking collars and dehorning as necessary
Drastically reduce the number of poaching incidents through increased anti-poaching operations, K-9 dog patrols, overhead aircraft reconnaissance, all supported by a radio-controlled communications nerve centre
Build community involvement in all of the above and, develop effective liaison and education programmes that win the hearts and minds of local people.

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WATCH AGAIN

With the wizardry of technology, UK charity Helping Rhinos transported a global audience to the plains of Africa for a unique experience following TV wildlife vet Dr William Fowlds (Channel 4’s ‘Work On The Wild Side’) and his team as they carried out essential health checks on three year old Colin, second calf born to Thandi, the world famous poaching survivor at Kariega Game Reserve in South Africa’s Eastern Cape.

Dr Fowlds and Kariega Foundation Director, Lindy Sutherland welcomed viewers to the Kariega Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa for this exclusive online rhino encounter. The event included a controlled de-horning of Colin, a sad but necessary poaching deterrent that Dr Fowlds and Lindy will explain in detail during the procedure.