May 1 was Save the Rhino Day and conservation efforts are persevering through COVID-19.
In Southern Africa, conservation is often funded by tourism income in reserves but, due to the lockdowns, this income has drawn to a halt. However, several organisations are persisting in their efforts.
The International Rhino Foundation has established a Reserve Relief Fund, to which all the profits of its annual ‘Cinco de Rhino’ virtual party will be donated.
The fund will provide monthly grants to organisations to help pay staff, cover the costs of health and safety equipment, and keep rhino protection units in the field where they are needed.
Saving the Survivors is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping wild animals that have been involved in traumatic incidents or poaching. The organisation teamed up with the Ford Wildlife Foundation (FWF) to save a young rhino named Kelly after it was shot.
FWF provides Saving the Survivors with 4x4 vehicles that have since been nicknamed ‘animal ambulances’.
“For 30 years, Ford has supported environmental education, research, and conservation projects around sub-Saharan Africa and in 2014 we established the FWF,” said FWF Project Manager, Lynda du Plessis.
