Durban - An appeal has been made to animal lovers to donate to the join-a-dog food drive in support of the K9 Unit in the Kruger National Park.
These dogs, along with their handlers and the rangers, risk their lives every day to save South Africa’s precious rhinos. Much time and money goes into training and maintaining these dogs, and many of the successful poacher arrests have been thanks to these hard-working dogs.
One of the easiest ways to keep this four-legged force mobilised is through the donation of food. Hence the creation of a dog food drive. If you love dogs and our rhinos, donate a bag of food, and campaign organisers, Africa Geographic, will make sure it gets to the rhino dogs.
There are three ways you can get involved in the drive:
1. Drop as many bags of food as you want at a drop-off point near you from Thursday until next Friday, September 30. Africa Geographic asks that only Hill’s Performance or Hill’s Advanced Fitness be donated because this is what the dogs are used to and any change in diet can affect performance (speciality vet stores should stock these brands). These dogs need very specific and reliable food designed for very active working dogs.
2. Buy a bag of food online via Yuppiepet. This online pet shop has discounted the Hill’s Performance and Hill’s Advanced Fitness pet food by 20% for the drive. Buy your bag online and Hill’s will deliver the food directly to the K9 Unit in the Kruger National Park. You can also donate R50 to this cause on yuppiepet.co.za and this money will go directly to buying food from Hill’s for the dogs.
3. Donate money to the cause. Send an e-mail to [email protected] requesting the bank details which will be sent to you, along with a reference which should be used when making the transfer. Get your friends, family and school involved – from R10 to R10 000, all donations are welcome and all funds go to the K9 Unit in the Kruger National Park.
Major-General (ret) Johan Jooste says the canine involvement in anti-poaching is a “game changer”, with about 52 dogs operating in a Big Five area that many now refer to as a war zone. These dogs have a number of different functions, including the tracking of poachers in the park and the detection of contraband at entrance and exit points.
The cost of fighting the rhino-poaching crisis is extremely high and funding must be spread over many resources. Something as simple as providing dog food means vital money can be spent elsewhere and on other means to combat poaching.
The Durban drop-off points are:
UllmanSails (contact: Dallen Roos, 031 705 8812/8662, [email protected])
Address: Unit 9, 9 Lanner Rd, New Germany, Pinetown (Monday-Friday: 7am-4pm)
Health Wise (contact: Dallen Roos, 031 764 0472, [email protected])
Address: Shop 209, Kloof Village Mall, Kloof (Monday-Friday: 8.30am-5pm, Saturday and Sunday: 9am-2pm)
E-mail [email protected] for more information. All of the drop-off points can be found at: http://africageo.com/5027