K9 Unit gets support from KZN
The centre has a new office for the K9 manager, and the rest of the buildings are nearing completion.
With the help of the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) region of the SANParks honorary rangers, the canine (K9) centre in the Kruger National Park has been undergoing major refurbishment during the past three months.
The centre has a new office for the K9 manager, and the rest of the buildings are nearing completion.
The KZN region is an avid supporter of the K9 units in in national parks, and through its “Project Watchdog” assists the anti-poaching efforts. They are making a great difference to the circumstances under which rangers work, said vice-chairman Lene Hansen.
Once accommodation for volunteer honorary rangers on duty at the KNP centre is rebuilt, the gardens and grass areas around the kennels and the centre will be re-established and hopefully (funding pending) a lecture hall constructed, Hansen said.
While construction has been ongoing, the K9 manager has been in training, and will be certified to train K9 handlers to SASSETA standards from October onwards. This will greatly reduce the costs to SANParks of getting rangers trained as K9 handlers, and is part of the plan to make the centre a certified K9 training hub for all SANParks.
Meanwhile, Project Watchdog is considering expansion to cover all K9s deployed by SANParks around the country. This will require additional fund-raising efforts and volunteer work to help support more units – including the specialised K9s working to protect marine wildlife in the Table Mountain National Park in the Cape.
Here in KZN, SAPS and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife have worked to establish an Intensive Protection Zone for rhino, which is already helping to curb the rampant rhino poaching. The SANParks K9 Unit will be assisting with training of personnel.
The running of the SANParks K9 anti-poaching unit is an expensive but rewarding undertaking. Anyone who would like to assist the honorary rangers in continuing to raise funds for the K9s, can contribute to its Nedbank account no. 1585 392 448, branch code 158550. A donor’s name followed by “KZN.K9” should be used to allow the accurate allocation of donations.
