Owners and their pooches walk the walk for rhinos
Training a dog to track down wildlife poachers is expensive and a lot of work. The International Coalition of Rhino Protection is making good headway though in raising funds for their new K9 unit.
Nearly 180 supporters attended a fundraising event with about 80 dogs on an exceptionally hot day, to support the Train a dog, Save a Rhino fundraiser.
Enel Burger always felt the need to help with the current efforts of concerned activists the world over to save our rhinos and other wildlife from poachers. When Enel welcomed a new litter of pups into her home, she knew what she needed to do. So started the journey over the past six months which saw her becoming involved with the International Coalition Of Rhino Protection (Icorp), a non-profit organisation.
Canine support is invaluable for the men and women working on the ground every day to protect wildlife against illegal hunters. But, obtaining and training the right set of dogs can be an extremely costly endeavour, and the organisation depends solely on funding from the public.
For this reason, Enel decided to give the organisation her Belgian Malinois pup, Karma, and to cover all the costs for training her over a period of one year.
The organisation, in association with many other benefactors, is hosting multiple fundraising events in South Africa. One such event was held in January at the Avianto event centre in Muldersdrift. During the Train a Dog, Save a Rhino event, supporters could walk alongside their dogs on the four kilometre Avianto garden trail. The fundraiser was a massive success, and garnered a total of R16 385 which will go toward the training of the next two anti-poaching dogs.
Enel and Icorp would not have had the success they had without their public sponsors, as well as some companies who helped out.
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