CHEEKY CAMPAIGN: A screen grab of Steve Newmans YouTube video of him running naked down Kloof Nek Road as part of his campaign to raise awareness about rhino poaching.
Zara Nicholson
Metro Writer
STARK naked except for a red rhino horn covering his proboscis, a Cape Town anti-poaching activist has mimicked the speeding Kloof Nek skater’s video to raise awareness about the slaughter of rhinos.
Steve Newman, a gym manager, joined the “Spoofing the Kloof Nek Cam” bandwagon by doing a copycat video of Decio Lourenco’s skating video which went viral earlier this month.
Newman started raising awareness about rhino poaching last year when he skydived naked and raised R10 000 for the African Conservation Trust and Project Rhino KZN.
Since uploading the YouTube video last Thursday, Newman’s Spoofing the Traffic Camera – Running without Limits video has more than 10 000 views.
In Newman’s video he uses the same soundtrack, wears the same clothing, helmet and skateboard as Lourenco then strips naked and runs down Kloof Nek, with “Save the Rhinos” painted on his back.
Newman said his aim was to raise awareness about rhino poaching and to raise funds for organisations who are trying to combat the crime.
The latest statistics from the Department of Environment Affairs show that so far this year 96 rhinos have been poached. Last year 668 were poached, and 448 in 2011.
So far this year 34 people have been arrested, while last year 267 people were arrested.
“We all live in this country and even if something doesn’t affect your life directly, if we all change the way we think about things, we could make a big difference,” Newman said.
He took the idea from Lourenco’s video because of the instant popularity.
He said doing “something amusing” would get people talking and hopefully involved in helping the cause.
Newman aims to build a long lasting campaign to raise funds for anti-poaching projects. He is planning to don only his rhino horn for the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon and the Cape Argus Pick ‘n Pay Cycle Tour – both mass participation sports events.
zara.nicholson@inl.co.za
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