Your monthly news & updates |
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A message from our founder:
Dear Donors & Friends,
As we near the end of 2021, I wanted to update you on truWILD’s slow but steady progress in raising awareness and funding towards Project Loziba Wilderness. Slow and steady, because the impact of COVID has reached way farther than just our immediate health and wellness. It affected the economy, jobs and tourism, and nowhere has it had a greater effect than in South Africa.
With the dip of the economy, available donors and thus donations have slowed. And with the dwindling tourism industry, the local villagers who used to relocate to large cities, such as Durban or Johannesburg for work, no longer have jobs and have been left with little choice but to resort to the poaching of local wildlife.
If we don’t act now, the estimated twenty-five thousand elephants, and 500 rhinos will continue to be killed every single year, making the extinction of these amazing creatures inevitable. Rhino horn is the most sought after commodity on the black market, as the Chinese believe it has magical properties. Rhino horn is achieving USD$60,000 per pound,and the average horn weighs 4lbs. That’s USD$240,000 per rhino!! Shocking.
It takes an army of people to preserve these wonderful creatures; from you, our gracious donors, to the park rangers, the local communities, and our “boots on the ground” local heroes, who work tirelessly 24/7 to ensure the protection of these endangered species, with no regard for their own safety.
We are looking for one final push of fundraising in 2021, towards securing our first parcel of land in Loziba. Read on and help us make this a reality. This is a very personal cause for me, and I hope you can find a way to make it a personal one for you too; for your children, and generations to come.
Sincerely,
Nevvar Hickmet
Founder
truWILD
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Loziba Wilderness Reserve Update |
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The Loziba Wilderness project is an establishment of a 25,000 hectare/60,000 acres of Big 5 wilderness reserve. Other Big 5 reserves include Kruger National Park, Lion Sands Game Reserve, Pilanesberg National Park, Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, and Shamwari Game Reserve.
The cost of establishing the Loziba Wilderness will be approximately USD$8.5M, a significant investment into wilderness conservation and tourism for the region. The project will have minimal environmental impact and has been designed to create significant net positive impact for the local host community.
The Loziba Wildernes (Phase A) is made up of over thirty parcels of land, comprising villages, farms, and private landowners. Our goal is to secure the first parcel called Farm ZoekMij at a cost of USD$235,000. To date we have raised USD$135,000, leaving a balance of USD$100,000.
Over USD$270,000 in additional donations have been raised and allocated towards other critical areas, as some Land Owners within Loziba, have already allowed for the translocation of wildlife to their property. These include;
Animal Translocation;
- The effort required to move herds of elephants and rhinos across hundreds of miles from high risk areas to Loziba Wilderness. This huge logistical effort requires donations to fund the support of park rangers, vets, and transportation (trucks, helicopters, and planes)
Infrastructure;
- The costs of Road Engineering and the heavy machinery required for building
- Tools, chainsaws and the manpower required for building boundary fences
Educating Local Communities;
- Education of the local communities in animal conservation and redirecting their focus from poaching to conservation, via sustainable farming and agriculture
Poaching Prevention and Security;
- Investment in security due diligence for the Loziba Wilderness through non profit organizations such as Veterans for Wildlife
- Setting up camera traps to track poachers
- Training horses for park rangers
- Utilizing planes and helicopters to quickly run down poachers
Elephant Collars;
- It is not as simple as just purchasing the elephant collars to enable tracking of the animals. It takes even more resources – people, transportation (planes and helicopters), time and money, to support the significant logistical effort required to locate the elephants
Marketing and Promotion;
- Social media and content development through videography and photography, etc.
- Investment in raising awareness through charitable events
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Some very positive news this summer is the story of “The Herd of 40”, when our most generous donors helped truWILD and our partners raise nearly $40,000 to stop the culling of 40 elephants in South Africa.
The publicity gained so much attention that even the South African government intervened and ordered all social media content and references be removed immediately.
We are very proud of that moment.
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Your gift today, can help us save Elephants & Rhinos; key species to biodiversity of our ecosystem.
Give today to help us meet our monthly funding goal so we can address one of our planet's greatest challenges, including animal species extinction, and biodiversity. Make a difference for the future of our ecosystem!
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Donations are 100% tax-deductible as allowed by law. |
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Thank You to Our Volunteers! |
A special thank you to our incredible volunteers! We would not be able to do what we do without you. From video editors, to content creators, filmmakers, social media influencers, our colleagues, friends and family - we thank you!
We are a small but compassionate team, and together we will continue to advocate for wildlife conservation. The animals need us, and we need you. If you'd like to get more involved, please contact us!
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