THE Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) recently welcomed a group of international volunteers to help them care for injured and orphaned wildlife.

A total of 12 volunteers are currently at CROW from around the world, including the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Türkiye and the USA.

Niklas Hollemann from Germany, one of the volunteers, said he has been soaking up all the knowledge he can from the people at CROW.

“I studied to become an educator and I had to do a three-month internship somewhere in an English-speaking country and I was looking at going to university somewhere else. A friend of mine was in Durban and was doing a project with monkeys and I began searching up options when I came across CROW. I applied and I’m now here for the next three months. I’ve learned so much about the animals with the people here at CROW and it’s been a lovely experience,” he explained.

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Fellow international volunteer, Bas von Scheven, from the Netherlands, said he has enjoyed working with birds of prey.

“I’m doing my internship about raptors and looking after crows. I chose the raptors because I think they are the coolest animals. In Netherlands we only have two species of raptors, but we never see them unless you are on the highways sometimes. It’s been so cool to be up close and personal with the raptors and to see the different species you have in Durban,” he said.

For Norway’s Vilde Urdal Liane, volunteering at CROW was something she wanted to do during her gap year.

“I wanted to travel a bit and meet people from around the world. I’ve always been interested in animals and wanted to do something completely different, so it has been eye-opening experience seeing the work CROW does. It’s very cool to get to see the different animals and know you are making a difference,” she said.

Jalla Huisman, another volunteer from the Netherlands, is doing his internship with tortoises and reptiles.

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“I think it’s really important we protect the delicate ecosystems all over the world and work together with the animals. That’s why I chose CROW, we were given a long list of organisations across the world at school and they stood out to me because of the work they do and how much they do to protect wildlife,” he said.

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