THE Centre for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) has launched its Born Free 2015 calendar, which is currently on sale to ensure CROW can continue its work in nurturing thousands of injured and orphaned wildlife to give them a second chance of a free life in their natural habitat.
The organisation has been driven principally by the fund-raising initiatives and donations from the public for the past 35 years.
Crow director, Claire Hodgkinson, said key into that initiative is the annual Born Free calendar produced by local voluntary association ‘Under an African Sky’. Featuring breath-taking photographs of Africa’s wildlife and their progeny, the 2015 calendar dovetails with the work that has been the organisation’s mission since inception in 1980.
“From building new enclosures, upgrading our clinic or purchasing a new 4×4 wildlife rescue and release vehicle, the annual calendar campaigns have become indispensable to our work,” Hodgkinson said.
Among the recipients of the organisation’s work is the six-week-old blue duiker nicknamed Danny who CROW marketing and communications manager, Paul Hoyte, said was found near the Bluff army base very much worse off from its fight with a feral cat.
Blue duiker are currently listed as a threatened or protected species given their dwindling numbers in the wild and Hoyte says the centre aims to release Danny to his natural habitat around March 2015.
CROW is among only a handful of wildlife rehabilitation centres in KwaZulu-Natal registered to work with these types of cases and the only Durban-based centre allowed to work with all of the province’s indigenous wildlife. Hoyte emphasises human interaction with the animals was kept to a minimum to enable their return to the wild with CROW annually rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing more than 3000 orphaned, injured and displaced wild animals annually.
The calendars are currently on sale for R170 from Westville Spar, Knowles Spar, Eastman’s Spar, and Glenwood Spar, or orders can be placed by visiting www.underanafricansky.co.za or emailing orders@underanafricansky.co.za. Desk calendars are also available at R50. All funds raised go to CROW.
