In the past six months, Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary, a RRF grantee, has rescued seven orphaned rhinos. These are just the latest additions to Care for Wild’s program to rehabilitate these calves and eventually release them back into the wild once they are grown. These orphans lost their mothers to poachers in South Africa.
Several of these orphans, including Baloo, Robyn, Tank, and Satara (the very first orphan to come to Care for Wild from Kruger National Park) have recently been released into the Barberton Nature Reserve. This will give them a chance at returning to the life in the wild that they were nearly robbed of by wildlife criminals.
3,700 acres of secure habitat have been added to the Intensive Protection Zone in South Africa, giving these rhinos more safe land to call home. This habitat will be used to release rehabilitated rhinos who have entered into the second phase of their rewilding and release program.
As Petronel Nieuwoudt, Founder and CEO of Care for Wild Sanctuary, puts it, “These rhinos will one day become part of the viable breeding population that will support the survival of this iconic species.”
Care for Wild hasn’t lost a single rhino in their care to poachers in over 6 years, and thanks to support from the RRF, Care for Wild’s six-member Anti-Poaching Unit will continue to patrol these lands and keep these young rhinos safe.
To learn more about Care for Wild’s family of orphaned rhinos, click here.