A Truly Happy Ending to a Tragic Tale!
… Or, Is It a Truly Happy Beginning?
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When we were approached by Johan Marais of Saving the Survivors to help get wounded rhino Seha back to the wild, we immediately jumped in. This rhino had most of his head bludgeoned away and both his horns removed. | |  |
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Thirty operations later, this wounded warrior was still standing.
But he was living a sub-optimal life in a small paddock and there wasn’t the money to get him back to the wild.
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We didn’t hesitate! Vice President Carla Melucci along with BRR working team member Chris Weatherman, launched Seha’s Campaign. The objective? Buy him two females to go back to the wild with! This is a prize bull that needed to mate and spread his genes.
In January this happened: In a momentous downpour, the team sedated the ladies, Dakalo and Chill, and they were moved to their new home to await the arrival of Seha.
A week later the ladies were dehorned. Why? Because Seha can be mortally injured by a rhino horn going into his exposed sinuses. The two dehorned, yet still exquisite ladies, were ready.
And then the occasion everyone was waiting for — Seha went home!
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Baby Rhino Rescue, Saving the Survivors, and Marataba Conservation. In what was truly an illustration of “working together,” Seha was darted, and guided between a team of 10 men who were walking the staggering, two-ton bull to the waiting trailer.
Seeing him shivering and shaking was difficult to watch.
But then when he went up the ramp and into the trailer, when he was secured for travel, when the trailer pulled out, heading up north to the bush, everyone was crying! Seha was going home!
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The long drive took three hours, with a drone video capturing him standing like a hero the entire journey.
Many people were assembled at Marataba awaiting his arrival. When the trailer arrived, again everyone cried!
Vet Johan Marais administered the reversal drug to bring Seha out of sedation and within seconds he was clattering back out of the trailer.
He stood and just stared!
He was home!
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The next two days we went out searching for him. Seha had walked far! Bull rhino mode kicking in, he was exploring his territory! We found him deep inside the bush, standing like the powerhouse he is! | | |
Baby Rhino Rescue founder Helena Kriel and new BRR director Karina Suter returned two weeks later to check on him. | |
They were taken into the bush by his rhino shepard, Joseph, a true man of the bush who has already befriended Seha! | | |
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This is important, we need to keep a close watch on him.
After 30 minutes tracking him, he was found sound asleep in the bush!
Moving in a big arc, the team tried to get a closer look, but he moved.
On returning to the Landrover, there he was, literally waiting!
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And then he turned and walked away, solidly and steadily, this beautiful rhino bull, restored to all his glory.
What a sight that was — watching Seha walk down a road towards a pan, to wallow —a wild creature in his element.
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We know he has made contact with his ladies and we are hoping Joseph may capture this for us!
Stay tuned! But that’s just a start!
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2022 — The Year of the Camera! | | |
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Launched by director Helen Lunn, our security camera campaign is full steam ahead!
Working with Wildlife Protection Services in Denver, we are now funding 20 cameras for the Largest Big 5 game reserve in South Africa (the name has to remain a secret for security!)
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Ten Cameras for Marataba … Save The Waterberg Rhinos | |
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We are also funding 10 cameras for The Marataba Conservation Game Reserve in The Waterberg. These cameras relay information to a team in Denver that monitors activity 24/7. Anything unusual is communicated to the anti-poaching team on the ground, along with coordinates that enable the team to race to the right spot within minutes!
It is our intention to place the WPS cameras at strategic game reserves in the Waterberg this year, making rhinos safer. We will update!
Helena Kriel and Karina Suter also attended the Save the Waterberg Rhinos conference. The Waterberg has 2,000 rhinos and is already well protected.
However, there is one “red cluster” that is unprotected and making the entire Waterberg vulnerable. BRR has its sights on this unsecured region.
We intend place License Recognition Cameras around the perimeter. These cameras immediately relay all suspect vehicles to law enforcement, and poaching becomes impossible! It is believed that the Waterberg will be the rhino’s real stronghold and BRR is intent on creating the security still missing. Watch this space for updates!
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Spreading the Word
BRR’s Helena Kriel additionally collaborated with leading South African investigative journalist Don Pinnock to write a bombshell article on the Kruger National Park.
Interviewing the CEO of the Kruger, Gareth Coleman, and director of Animal Services at SanParks, Luthando Dbiza, the article exposed the difficulty the park faces.
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It came as a shock to many and the article has been the top read article of 2022 thus far at The Daily Maverick, a major South African newspaper.
(link to article)
The article was followed by a webinar hosted by Helena and Don.
Thousands joined the webinar to hear directly from the leadership of Kruger park and Sanparks.
(link to webinar)
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Our Team Grows!
We are thrilled that our board has grown with photographer Karina Suter joining (pictured below). She will be our director on the ground in South Africa and will oversee the Waterberg camera project. Passionate and committed, Karina introduced us to Marataba Conservation and so much has happened as a result!
We are so excited that Chané Smit has joined our working group! Chané is part of the South African team and is responsible for one of our most popular tee shirts — “It’s for Rhinos”
(CLICK HERE to see all BRR tee shirts.) She is also responsible for our ace graphics!
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Moving Action Images
Videographer Nick Kleer, intrepid explorer and photographer who is followed by 31,000 on Instagram, also has joined our working group! The moving action images of our ladies and Seha were all captured by Nick. How lucky we are to have a talent like this working with us!
Click the photo below for a video of Seha being transported.
BRR’s American videographer and editor, Ryan Jones, is working with Nick Kleer’s videos to create material for us. Super talented, we are excited that Ryan Jones is part of BRR! Our audio/visual team is an ace, even if we say so ourselves!
2022 promises to be our best year yet! In two short months so much has already happened. Our organization expands, our ability to do more grows every month! We are truly excited.
This is all thanks to YOU our fantastic family of donors from around the world. Truly, we are working together to save the rhino from extinction!
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