For the past 2 years Rhino Revolution has been fund raising, both locally and globally, in an effort to build a centre in the local area that can best serve the reserve owners, veterinarians, anti-poaching personnel, National Parks Authorities etc. who continue to be blighted by this ever increasing decimation of our rhino population. On so many occasions the victims of these incidents extend well beyond the unfortunate animals killed or maimed in the horrific attacks themselves. Calves are often the secondary casualties of these attacks and so under the world class consultancy of Karen Trendler from the Rhino Orphanage, we have set out to create a "world class" facility to support the efforts of those countless individuals, who continue to fight against the growing tide of violence shown towards our iconic rhino.
The Rhino Revolution Rehabilitation Centre has been built as an intensive care and rehabilitation facility, primarily for calves but also even for severe cases of trauma caused to adult animals. The centre will be manned by full time professional staff, supported by veterinary personnel, and unlike many other facilities in the country will not rely upon any "paying volunteers" to subsidise its existence. The ethos of the centre will be the recovery, rehabilitation and release of affected rhino and our aim is to achieve this without "over exposure" to excessive human contact. In doing this we recognise that we lose access to volunteer funding that benefits other facilities of this kind but overall we believe that the end benefit afforded to the rhino themselves will allow for a more natural integration back into the wild. Using the very latest global communication technologies we will be looking to take the plight of rehabilitating rhino into the "classrooms of the world" with schools across South Africa and the globe interacting with us daily and supporting our work. To this end we have already secured the sponsorship of the first calf in the orphanage by Kings School, Al Barsha in Dubai; UAE. The school is already highly involved in creating awareness of the plight of the Rhino and Rhino Revolution's office in Dubai is already playing a pivotal role in supporting the school conservation curriculum. Chris Martin, CEO of Rhino Revolution here in Hoedspruit has already visited the UAE on a number of occasions and supported the school at its own "rhino launch event" earlier this year. We believe it's a fantastic way in which to keep people involved in our work whilst at the same time lessening the physical human interaction with the traumatised rhino.
Before "opening for business" we wanted to take an opportunity to share the facility with all our friends and supporters across Africa and the world. We could not have achieved anything like the structure we have done so without so many of you, whether you volunteered funding, materials or your volunteer labour. It's important to us that you get to see the final product. To this end, on behalf of the Trustees of Rhino Revolution, I am delighted to be able to invite you to the opening of our new centre, here on the Blue Canyon Game Conservancy, on Friday 28th August. You are welcome to attend and take a walk around the facility from 3pm onwards, after which we will be holding the official opening and "ribbon cutting" at around 5pm. Drinks and canapés will be served at Khaya Ndlovu Manor House, which adjoins the new Rhino Rehabilitation Centre. I hope to see you there and to be able to thank you for your support in person.
For more information and to RSVP, please contact Chris Martin on 083 325 6580 or Jennifer Duncan on 082 927 8618