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| Colchester Zoo’s Action for the Wild raises £25,000 to save endangered Rhinos - 02-Oct-06 |
Colchester Zoo’s charity Action for the Wild has officially closed its “Save the Rhinos” campaign having reached its huge target of £25,000. The campaign, which a number of European zoos were involved in, took place in conjunction with EAZA, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.
The money raised will support two important rhino conservation projects in the wild, one being at Hluhluwe, South Africa close to Colchester Zoo’s UmPhafa Private Nature Reserve. The money donated by Action for the Wild will be used to buy equipment for anti-poaching teams, such as rifle safes and camping equipment. This will enable field ranger patrols to camp out at high-risk times of the day, to increase the security of the black and white rhinos that inhabit the game reserve and thus reduce poaching within the area.
The second project will be to develop forensic techniques which can be used to identify the species and source location of rhino horn recovered in busts. The project initiated by the IUCN SSC African Rhino Specialist Group is known as the rhino horn-fingerprinting project and will be essential in fighting the illegal trade in rhino horn.
Staff and visitors from Colchester Zoo have been busy raising money for the campaign over the past year. The zoo held a variety of special events as well as taking activities out into the community including attending football matches at Layer Road and fundraising in the town centre, with Reggie the Rhino, the zoo’s campaign mascot. Additionally several families made huge fundraising efforts for the campaign through activities such as sponsored bicycle rides and bedroom tidying to cake sales.
Rebecca Perry, Conservation Officer at Colchester Zoo said “We are absolutely thrilled to have once again achieved our fundraising target for our conservation campaign. Save the Rhinos was a huge success and we would like to thank all of our visitors for their kindness.” Colchester Zoo, Action for the Wild’s conservation campaigns have now raised nearly £90,000 in the last four years.
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