Fabulous reads: African wildlife conservation meets adventure, courage, romance

Called By The Wild: The Dogs Trained to Protect Wildlife, Conraad de Rosner with Graham Spence and Elaine Bell, Jonathan Ball Publishers, ISBN: 9781776193349

THE thrilling story of the conservationist who pioneered the use of dogs in combating poachers to protect wildlife in South Africa’s game reserves.

Barely out of his teens, one of Conraad de Rosner’s first brushes with the reality of life at the frontline of conservation was when he shot the leader of a poaching gang during an ambush in Windy Ridge game reserve.

Much of his work involving dogs is a continuous struggle against industrial-scale bushmeat poachers, who strangle game in snares, an even greater threat to wildlife than rhino horn poachers as the overburdened courts seem interested only in endangered species. He also works to catch poachers of critically endangered pangolins, the most trafficked animal in the world.

De Rosner decided to use his almost telepathic rapport with dogs to tackle the poaching crisis sweeping South Africa. His first anti-poaching dog, a Weimaraner named Zingela, became an inseparable companion. Zingela saved De Rosner’s life on numerous occasions – once when he was about to be assassinated by two fellow rangers hired by poachers.

De Rosner’s story is an epic of modern-day African wildlife conservation, spiced with adventure, courage and romance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Conraad de Rosner was born and schooled in Gqeberha, then Port Elizabeth. He studied nature conservation before starting work, in 1993, at Windy Ridge Game Park in KwaZulu-Natal.

In 2009, he was appointed assistant anti-poaching manager at Sabi-Sands game reserve. In 2011, he formed his company, K9 Conservation, at Thanda Game Reserve.

In 2015, he moved to his base training farm in Hoedspruit, where for the past six years and more, he has developed and expanded his training of rangers and dogs.