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RHINO CONNECT

At the height of the poaching crisis in 2016 the founder of Rhino Connect, Tersia Jooste, had a heartbreaking encounter with a newly orphaned baby rhino. She decided it was time to get involved! Baby Rhino Rescue grew out of a similar encounter between BRR founder Helena Kriel and a rhino orphan. This compassionate response lies at the root of the successful relationship between BRR and Rhino Connect. What binds us is our commitment to rhino conservation. What differentiates us is that BRR is global and Rhino Connect works on the ground in South Africa.

Rhino Connect focuses on assisting private rhino owners who receive absolutely no support from the South African state, donors, or the non-profit world. Private rhino owners are now the custodians of around 75% of the world’s remaining rhinos. The costs are enormous and many private owners have gone bankrupt trying to save their rhinos! Rhino Connect is our conduit into this part of the rhino world and through this partnership we will know what is needed in real time and will react. Rhino Connect offers assistance for a wide range of projects including helicopter flying time, veterinary services, horn trimming, feed, moving rhinos, providing temporary security, and finding sanctuary for orphaned rhinos. Our support of Rhino Connect enables us to support the private rhino owners who are in large measure keeping the rhino safe.

To date, Baby Rhino Rescue has provided key support in a number of areas:

  • Security
    • Ten Motion-sensor cameras were installed at Marataba Conservation
    • Three License Plate Recognition cameras were installed in strategic places in Soutansberg, providing added security to 4 private rhino properties and the communities surrounding them
    • Security points for the middle of South Africa will protect four private rhino properties and a provincial game reserve
    • Eleven LoRa collars, which relay the exact location of individual rhinos, were placed onto the ankles of rhino females at Marataba Conservation
    • Security systems, including cameras, have been installed in a vulnerable area in the Waterberg region. This will be an ongoing project to make the entire region safe.
  • Veterinary Assistance
    • Horn trimming for a lone rhino bull with a full horn
    • The relocation of two young white rhino bulls who were being bullied by an older, larger bull rhino
    •  Medical care for five injured rhinos at various private rhino reserves
  • Anti-Poaching
    • Helicopter time for anti-poaching patrols in the northwest part of South Africa
    • Anti-poaching helicopter support in the Gravelot region of the country
    • Provided funding for fuel to a private farm for road and aerial bat-hawk anti-poaching patrols
    • When gunshots were heard on properties in the Limpopo region, we provided funding for aerial surveillance, two teams of anti-poaching dog units, and foot patrols. Luckily all rhinos were accounted for.