Wilderness Wildlife Trust Rhino Reintroduction Grant

We are delighted to announce that a USD 50,000 donation was made in honor of Tarryn & Benjammin Jackson to benefit Wilderness Wildlife Trust’s Rhino Reintroduction and Monitoring Project in Botswana. We are extremely grateful to The Jacksons for their ongoing dedication to Wilderness Wildlife Trust’s Botswana Rhino Conservation Programme!
Wilderness Wildlife Trust and Wilderness Safaris, in partnership with the Botswana, South African and Zimbabwean Governments, successfully completed the largest ever cross-border translocation of Critically-Endangered black rhino in 2015 – part of a collaborative project that spans over 15 years and has grown to become one of the most important rhino translocations ever undertaken in the history of conservation. The partnership has managed to move no less than 1% of the total global population of this highly threatened species into a safe haven in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.
The result is that the project has the enormous responsibility of constant monitoring and protection of what is now a population of continental significance. This important work continues to be undertaken by Wilderness Safaris’ Rhino Monitoring Officers, the Botswana Defence Force and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks’ specialised Anti-Poaching Unit.
Botswana continues to step up its efforts in the fight against wildlife crime, with the Botswana Defence Force upgrading its Mission Statement to declare the protection of the country’s wildlife as its “main mission”. Earlier this year, the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism secured budget from Parliament towards the recruiting, equipping and training of a new 50-man specialist “rhino squad” whose sole duty will be to patrol and protect Botswana rhino, indicating the incredible commitment from the political leadership in Botswana and the security agencies charged with their protection.
We congratulate Wilderness Wildlife Trust on the success of this incredible program to save Africa’s rhinos!