Baby Rhino Rescue supports this sanctuary, providing milk and supplemental feed, through our partner Rhino Connect. This includes baby Elia, whose mother was killed by poachers. The killers did not stop there — they turned their weapons on her helpless calf, who is only 4 months old. The bullet tore through Elia’s thoracic cavity and exited the other side. He suffered lung contusions that left his breathing shallow and laboured. Yet by an extraordinary stroke of luck, the bullet missed every vital organ and shattered no bones. He is drinking well and is slowly settling in under dedicated veterinary care. With time, TLC and unwavering support, his lungs can heal.
Our support also helps baby rhino Jakob. It is winter on the South African highveld. The landscape is dry, the natural grass has lost much of its vitamin and mineral content, and rhinos — especially mothers with calves — need careful supplementation inside the sanctuary.
Baby Rhino Rescue has been supporting this sanctuary for years, providing milk and supplemental feed when needed. This month, thanks to our long time donor Wags and Menace Make a Difference Foundation, we provided funding for a full month of milk. Benjamin, Joan and Jonathan, pictured here, are happily and eagerly having their morning milk.
Baby Rhino Rescue is committed to keeping the rhinos in this sanctuary fed. We provide funding for milk, hay, and other nourishment for the thirty-plus rhinos that call this place home. If any new rhinos are brought in, we know that they will be fed, be safe, and be loved.
Baby Rhino Rescue makes regular donations towards this sanctuary to feed all the rhinos here. We provide funding for milk for the babies, and teff (hay) and “rhino pellets” for the older animals. Not only do we feed these rhinos, we also support our partner at this sanctuary with a layer of security that will keep them all safe.
Baby Rhino Rescue is helping this special sanctuary upgrade its perimeter security system in response to possible poaching threats and to enhance the safety of both personnel and animals. As a high-security area with a concentrated population of rhinos, the sanctuary must be kept fully secure at all times. The project focuses on two critical upgrades. 1) The installation of a secure fibre-0ptic network will connect all motion-detection cameras along the outer boundary to the central control room. This will enable continuous, high-speed data transmission for real-time monitoring. 2) The upgrade of solar and battery power systems will ensure uninterrupted operation during power outages and adverse weather conditions.
Baby Rhino Rescue is committed to this special sanctuary where David and Jonathan live. There are many other rhinos here who also need supplemental food from time to time. We love seeing the two young rhinos grow and the larger crashes enjoying their lives, just being rhinos. Safe and happy.
Baby Rhino Rescue makes regular donations towards this sanctuary to feed all the rhinos here. When the grass quality for the older rhinos isn’t up to standard, our donations ensure that they are properly nourished. We have also been sponsoring milk and feed for the two young rhinos, David and Jonathan, so they can grow into two big handsome bulls one day.
Wags and Menace Make a Difference Foundation once again saves the day by making a generous donation to purchase milk for two special orphans. These two baby rhinos arrived at one the sanctuaries we support in urgent need of care. David, the larger of the two, was orphaned because his mother was killed by poachers. Jonathan was malnourished because his mother had no milk. Both came from private rhino owners who didn’t have the means to take care of them. When Jonathan arrived, he didn’t even know how to suckle – the care team had to teach him how. It was an anxious time because he was so malnourished and stressed and they could easily have lost him. Thanks to 24/7 care and love, he is slowly improving. Thank you once again Cindy Lee, founder of Wags and Menace Make a Difference Foundation!
Baby Rhino Rescue, through its partner Rhino Connect, is supporting over 30 displaced rhinos with vital nutrient rich feed through the winter months. A dry summer in South Africa meant the availability of feed was limited. We bought this supplemental feed during the summer, to ensure the supply would last for the entire winter.
Through our partner Rhino Connect, we funded the administration of vaccinations against the Clostridium bacteria to all the rhinos at a sanctuary we support. The recent death of the pregnant surrogate southern white rhino from clostridium highlights the great importance of vaccinating rhinos from this bacteria. We can’t afford to lose any more rhinos, which is why preventative measures supported by your donations are so vital.
Because a private rhino owner ran out of money, he needed his twelve rhinos to be taken off his hands. This story is sadly not unusual. Baby Rhino Rescue stepped in and provided the funding to have the rhinos transported to a sanctuary for safe keeping. When the rhinos were off-loaded, the owner wept. But they are safe, and we thank donors for that.
Billy had spent 28 months recovering from a bullet wound. He was finally ready to go back into the wild, but because of his size, moving him required a crane. This made moving costs astronomical for his owner. Baby Rhino Rescue, through Rhino Connect, stepped up to make it possible. Billy is now home and ranging free.
We donate to our partner Rhino Connect every month, so funds can be distributed quickly and efficiently. Over the past three months we funded horn trimming, fuel for a bathawk and an anti-poaching unit, veterinary expenses, and food at multiple private rhino owner reserves.
Through our partner Rhino Connect, we provided veterinary care to two private rhino owners. One 4-year-old female rhino was injured during a relocation but after treatment, is now grazing happily with her new family. In another reserve, a calf broke through a fence and sustained an injury. Our funding provided the necessary care she needed.
Through our partner Rhino Connect, Baby Rhino Rescue has provided funding for helicopter time for a variety of situations.
* We funded helicopter flying time for anti-poaching patrols in the Northwest part of South Africa. An injured young elephant was spotted on this patrol and rescued, so unexpectedly we were also able to help another species!
* We were able to provide anti-poaching helicopter support in the Gravelot region of the country.
* We provided funding for fuel to a private farm in the Northwest part of the country so they could attend to patrols via road and aerial bat-hawks!
* When an early morning call was received that a gunshot was heard in the Limpopo region, we enabled aerial surveillance. Thankfully after foot, anti-poaching dog, and air monitoring, all rhinos were accounted for. However, gunshots and cut fences were reported on a property close by. We enabled an all-security mobilization of the area and two teams of dog (K9) units. After a 36-hour hunt, everybody stood down, and the count of rhinos started. Thankfully there were no poached rhinos there!
Baby Rhino Rescue is one of the few organizations that help private rhino owners (PROs) with their expenses. And since 75% of South Africa’s rhinos are in their hands, they are a very important piece of the puzzle. With our partner Rhino Connect, we aid these heroes every month.
* BRR provided funding for wildlife veterinarian Dr. Boshoff to assist with the relocation of two young white rhino bulls. This relocation was not related to poachers – a more mature bull rhino was bullying them and had already killed a younger rhino! They were darted and moved for their safety.
* We were able to come to the aid of an injured black rhino in the Limpopo area by offering veterinary funding.
* We funded the treatment of Junior, an injured rhino in the Bela-Bela area. He had two untreated festering gunshot wounds. Junior was unable to walk properly, but after having the bullets removed, he is on his way to recovery.
* BRR funded the work of veterinarian Dr. Beverley in treating another injured rhino in the Bela-Bela area. He was struggling with a previously treated wound.
This year is all about security. This spring, Baby Rhino Rescue donated three license plate recognition cameras to 4 private rhino properties in the northern part of South Africa. These cameras are connected to the South Africa Police Service and monitor all vehicles entering the area. They will not only benefit the anti-poaching team but also 54 households and the greater communities surrounding the reserve.
On the 10th of March, Rhino Connect got a call that a lonely rhino bull, with a full horn, was spotted in a provincial reserve. There was immediate fear for his safety and a team was pulled together to arrange for a horn-trimming. With help from Baby Rhino Rescue, Rhino Connect sponsored the flying time of Hope for Wildlife Helicopters. They brought the veterinarian in and also attended in-air searching and darting of the bull. His horn was successfully and safely trimmed, and he is now again roaming the area.
