Rhino files: Support MBD's #PurpleRhinoParty
Rhino count:
595 Unofficial end June
10 Hour #PurpleRhinoParty on MBD
Jacaranda FM’s Martin Bester Drive wants to take the fight against rhino poaching to next level with a 10 Hour Long #PurpleRhinoParty this Friday at Ridgebacks Centurion. David, manager at Ridgebacks, has pledged R20 000 to the fund and he has challenged other business owners to come on board and donate R20 000 towards our Purple Rhino Fund.
If you would like to get involved, call our Purple Line on 083 910 9421 this Friday between 16:00 - 19:00
Rhino conservation winners
Congratulations to the winners of the Rhino Conservation Awards 2015. The awards took place last night at Montecasino, hosted by the Game Rangers Association of Africa, Hasseblad and Zeiss, and were attended by Prince Albert II of Monaco who is also the patron of the awards.
The winners are:
Best Awareness, Education and Funding – Elise Daffue (StopRhinoPoaching.com)
Best Science, Research and Technology – Dr Jacques Flamand (Black Rhino Expansion Project, KZN)
Best Field Ranger – Patrick Mwita (Serengeti)
Best Political and Judicial Support – His Majesty King Mswati III, Ngwenyama of Swaziland
Best Conservation Practitioner – Black Mamba APU (Balule)
Donnie the orphan rhino on the road to recovery
A baby rhino which lost his mother to poaching in the Kruger National Park at the weekend ended up flanking a tourist's car with almost the same colouring as himself.
Orphaned Donnie gravitated towards the car parked on a dust road near Phabeni Gate on Friday morning, perhaps hoping someone would look after him.
The story has a somewhat happy ending though, because he is now being looked after by Care for Wild Africa, an organisation that rehabilitates wild animals on a reserve in Mpumalanga.
“He’s doing very well. He drank all his milk and he’s walking around,” the organisation’s Marnelle van der Merwe said on Monday.
The calf is believed to be between a month and two months old. The babies are slowly weaned off milk and get released back into the wild once they are strong enough.
Article credit: News 24.
Women face sentencing for role in rhino poaching
The first two women to be convicted in KwaZulu-Natal of conspiring to poach rhinos for their horns, are due to be sentenced in Ladysmith next month.
The two women, Confidence Angel Mlambo (32) and Nokwanda Trendy Khumalo (22), were convicted in the regional court on charges of jointly conspiring to illegally hunt rhino in Umsuluzi Game Reserve between Weenen and Colenso in April 2013
They were also found guilty of unlawful possession of a .303 rifle with telescopic sights.
The firearm was seized by police when they arrested the women.
The court found that Mlambo and Khumalo had acted with a common purpose to commit the crimes.
During the trial the court heard evidence that a police agent from Johannesburg set a trap for the women. He was asked by them to shoot a rhino in Umsuluzi Game Reserve for its horns, which were to be sold in Gauteng.
The women had provided the agent with a rifle with telescopic sights intended to be used to shoot the rhino. They had placed the rifle into the boot of his car and drove to Ladysmith with him, where they were arrested.
Full article on News 24.