Project Rhino K9 Unit: Defending African Wildlife

As usual, it has been a busy few months for the Project Rhino K9-Unit, who have been hard at work fighting wildlife crime, working alongside local police and response teams in the Zululand landscape. The team is on standby 24-hours a day and, although it was the festive season, responded to a number of crime-related call-outs over the period.

Incidents included responding to the threat of confirmed and suspected poachers entering nearby reserves, the tracking of stolen reserve equipment and the location of missing wildlife. They were called to the scene of three poached Nyala, conducted vehicle checks, and removed between 20 - 30 snares, on average per month, during training and routine patrols.

In October, the team provided an escort to two rehabilitated rhino from the Rhino Orphanage to their new home in Somkhanda Game Reserve. The rhino orphans are four-year-old Makhosi, who arrived severely malnourished in 2016, and three-year-old Mpilo, whose mother was killed by poachers when she was just nine months old. If you would like to read more about their rehabilitation, a link to this story is available on our Facebook page.

The K9-Unit was also instrumental in the apprehension of four suspects involved in the armed robbery of a nearby post office. On arrival at the scene, the K9 team and Tactical Response Team (TRT) took up the task of tracking the perpetrators’ scent. Within a few kilometres, the tracking team managed to locate two of the perpetrators who were apprehended, and an undisclosed amount of money recovered. The following day, the Unit received a call-out to assist in finding the two outstanding suspects. In an intelligence-driven operation with TRT and Alpha Security, a taxi transporting the suspects was surprised, stopped and searched. The Project Rhino detection dog was utilized to search the vehicle and bags and located a firearm. The two perpetrators were positively identified and taken into custody by South African Police Services (SAPS) and an undisclosed amount of money was also recovered by the detection dog.

Huge congratulations to the K9-Unit for placing an incredible fourth overall in the Wildlife Ranger Challenge and first in South Africa. The grand finale of the Challenge was a 21 km marathon in full field uniform and boots, each ranger running with a 22 kg backpack that excluded the weight of their water and their weapons and also carrying their normal patrol equipment. The team really put their hearts and souls into this challenge and their great result is testament to just how fit and dedicated the K9-Unit is!

We would like to wish all of our donors, partners and team members a very Happy and Healthy New Year. A huge thank you for your continued and generous support, especially through such a difficult year. We look forward to achieving many more great things together in 2021!