Eckō’s grant, one year on

The Horn, Spring 2006

In May 2005, Eckō Unlimited generously gave Save the Rhino a grant of $75,000. To keep the behind-the-scenes work going, and to aid front-line rhino work, we decided to split the grant between our Annual Fund and four black rhino projects in Africa.

In the office, the Eckō grant helped us to pay the salary of Renaud Fulconis, EAZA Campaign Manager, who in turn is aiming to raise awareness and work with zoos, companies, trusts and foundations, schools and individuals to raise a staggering 350,000 euros for 13 chosen field projects. Talk about spending money to make money! Renaud is more than grateful for the sponsorship and wears his Eckō T-shirt with great pride…

In the field, Eckō’s grant has been used to supporting four very different projects, all important. These donations have already made significant contributions towards increasing rhino numbers. The following short summary briefly describes how:

·        In Zimbabwe, Eckō’s funds enabled us to support two projects. We have continued to pay for intensive monitoring of the rhino population in Matusadona National Park, in the north west of the country, home to approximately 40 rhinos. This ongoing work (described in more detail elsewhere in this issue of The Horn) will provide valuable information in advance of a census / ear-notching / horn-implant operation planned for July / August 2006

·        The second Eckō grant for Zimbabwe was allocated to veterinarian Chris Foggin, who not only carries out planned work like translocations, ear-notching and horn implants, but also does emergency operations on rhinos who may have been injured in fights with dominant bulls, or got caught in snares

·        In Kenya, their grant was allocated to the Laikipia Wildlife Forum’s Community Conservation programme, through which Josephat Musyima, the Community Conservation Officer, and the five Community Liaison Officers work with local communities to ensure that they benefit from their proximity to wildlife and from the sustainable use of natural resources

·        Finally, in Namibia, Eckō’s grant paid for rhino translocations from over-crowded Etosha National Park to communal area conservancies (described in an earlier issue of The Horn)

It’s safe to say that Eckō Unlimited has saved some rhinos! Our heartfelt thanks go to the Eckō team in the USA.

Petra Fleischer

Corporate Fundraising Manager