March 2023 Newsletter

What Will Keep the

Rhino Safe?

The beauty of Mom and Baby, What we are determined to Protect!

Enhancing Security

Dear donors:

The rhino world is ever more dangerous. Keeping rhinos safe is ever more complicated.

For security reasons, we can no longer give details about how rhinos are being kept safe by us or even where this is taking place in South Africa.

Nevertheless, we will keep you abreast of developments. Let's start with some exciting announcements!

Two Successful Poaching Teams Have Been Caught As A Result Of Our Security Interventions!

A top ranger in one of our key areas recruited a team to poach in the game reserve he knew so well. With access to inside information, he assumed that poaching would be easy and that suspicion would never fall on him.

The team poached together several times, but when it became complicated, the ranger executed one of his own team members.

A manhunt ensued and thanks to the deployment of our interventions in that area the poachers were caught in a car with horns and weapons.

They were taken into custody. Murder. Stealing. Rhino horn poaching. We are hoping for NO bail and hefty sentencing.

In an altogether different region of the country, our security interventions resulted in the apprehension of a poaching operative that had been responsible for four rhinos poached just this year and many also in 2022.

Known for his ability to track through the bush, the lead poacher was difficult to catch. He was able to resist being caught until our solution delivered key information.

He and his group were caught in their getaway car red handed with weapons and horns. We hope this means jail time.

Upgrading Key Security Points

With partner Conserv Earth, Baby Rhino Rescue funded security for a vulnerable section in the Waterberg. Impressed with the work being done in the area, we decided to continue our commitment.

We are very excited to announce that we are funding the upgrading of all the strategic points in the area, enhancing the security where it is needed most. This means that thanks to donors like YOU, we can further fortify the Waterberg’s ability to repulse rhino poaching.

We are encouraged that our interventions are delivering. But as the poachers change tactics, we need to be ahead of the game.

As poaching in the Kruger National Park drives the rhino numbers dangerously lower, and as poaching in the Kwa Zulu Natal region intensifies, the question becomes: What will keep the rhino safe? How will rhinos be kept from the brink of extinction?

This is a chilling question, and sadly, one that needs to be asked.

BRR founder Helena Kriel, right, and South African directors Karina Suter, second from right, and Sarah Clayton, and security expert Ross Court are traveling to different strategic areas in South Africa. They are meeting Managing Directors of important game reserves, private rhino owners and heads of security for pivotal regions to assess how Baby Rhino Rescue can intensify the operating systems there.

Our travel began this last weekend in the Waterberg. This region of the country is considered key for rhino conservation. Its 4.5 million hectares makes the greater Waterberg area twice as large as the Kruger National Park. A very important rhino population live in the Waterberg sheltered under a very well-functioning team of security experts.

Meeting with the leaders of three different game reserves, as well as the Waterberg Land Alliance, we were given access to the approach being implemented there.

Anti-poaching teams are empowered to win through a layered, multidisciplinary tactic.

Technology is a key player, especially with the advancements in analytics and artificial intelligence.

We were taken into highly secret ops rooms and shown data, some of which we can share here.

The ops rooms run like war-time command centres.

All information is charted and tabulated. For example: The route of construction vehicles in a game reserve are monitored and their routes documented.

These routes are analyzed against the rhinos in that area.

Those rhinos all have monitors who walk with them 24/7 and transmit real-time GPS locations.

The positions of the security teams are vital. If data shows that the construction workers have moved through an area with rhinos, extra security is deployed into the area to keep the rhinos safe for a few weeks until their GPS coordinates are completely different.

It became clear: the rhino world is a war zone with conservationists operating like generals in a crisis combat situation.

Before we arrived at the gate of a key conservation area, background checks were run. The Managing Director of the game reserve knew exactly who we were when we arrived.

At the gate we had to present a QR code for the guard to scan. Once approved, a GPS tracker was attached to our car to detail all our movements within the game reserve.

What emerged was the concept of keeping rhinos safe in privately funded strongholds. These areas are already functioning at a high level of security and are committed to biodiversity.

We will be traveling over the next month to reserves across South Africa. We look forward to updating you on our progress and further ideas as they take shape.

When you spend time with rhinos, you see the sweet, benign nature of the animal.

If they lie down in the noonday sun, it’s right alongside one another. If they go into a muddy wallow, they lie body to body.

When one contemplates their love for one another and the butchery they are up against it is profoundly disturbing. It is enraging and upsetting. And it reinforces our commitment to them.

WARNING — What follows are images of poaching that occurred.

These images are not for the sensitive viewer, but they are important!

It’s vital to understand just what our rhinos are up against.

Another beautiful face decomposing

The atrocity of poaching. That is a tear coming from the rhino’s eye.

Thank you for being with us on this journey towards making rhinos and all animals safe again!