For a while, we sighed with relief that every new day our fields bore no sign of a poached rhino. Alas in the last 2 months we have lost 3 rhino and homed 1 orphan due to poaching in the Black Rhino Reserve. Since dehorning we have had 3 years of peace. Protection measures remained in place and actually also increased. What has changed, we can’t say. Chance killings due to the location of the rhino? More demand? We cannot say.
However, we promise to continue improving our protection measures of rhino in Pilanesberg. Additional anti-poaching measures in the form of 2 new high-end drones and a plethora of cameras have been added to what is already there. New early detection technology (more information cannot be divulged here) is also available to us. Little Houdini, orphan of the last incident, was found almost a week after his mom was killed in BRR and he is safely in the hands of the orphanage now. It took many, many, hours of chopper flights and drone flights to locate and capture him. A real escape artist – hence his name. He is doing really well even though he was traumatized, he is still calling his mom though but eating well. Thank you to all who assisted and supported these efforts over this time. If you are keen to support our efforts in protecting rhinos, please do so by visiting our Rhino Protection Project page (link below) and donating. The Pilanesberg Wildlife Trust is a PBO and relies mainly on donations to sustain its projects.
Thank you for your support.
