Rhino expert talks about saving the survivors
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to get inside information on Dr Johan Marais' project and a personal and professional opinion of the poaching crisis hanging over threatened wildlife in Africa.
WORLD-renowned wildlife and veterinary surgeon, Dr Johan Marais, will present a talk titled ‘Saving the Survivors’ at the next Friends of Kloof Library Forum meeting at the Kloof Junior Primary School hall on Wednesday, 22 April at 6pm.
Rhino poaching in South Africa has reached crisis proportions. Approximately 1 215 rhinos were killed in 2014, equating to one rhino killed every eight hours. It is a race against extinction for these magnificent animals.
Dr Johan Marais qualified as an equine and wildlife surgeon at Onderstepoort in 1991. He has consulted and operated on large mammals – elephant, rhino, buffalo, roan and sable – over many years throughout Africa. His passion for threatened wildlife has resulted in him forming a team of pioneers in the rhino poaching crisis, saving rhinos that would have otherwise been added to the ever-growing list of casualties.
He started Project Save The Survivors in 2012 to medically help and look after rhinos that have fallen victim to poaching or traumatic incidents. This includes rhinos that have been wounded, rhinos whose horns have been hacked off and victims of snaring and traumatic incidents. It also involves raising calves orphaned by poachers. Rhino survivors are estimated at between 80 and 120 animals per year. Saving these survivors is critically important, and this project has had a tremendous benefit on victimised animals. Unfortunately, the number of survivors will increase as the amount of poached rhinos increases, and we are deeply indebted to men of the calibre of Dr Johan Marais for their exceptional work.
Dr Marais is flying down from Pretoria to give this talk. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to get inside information on his project and a personal and professional opinion of the poaching crisis hanging over threatened wildlife in Africa.
Kloof Junior Primary School is situated on Abelia Road in Kloof. Tickets, which cost R60 for visitors and R40 for members of the Friends of Kloof Library, are available from Kloof Library on 031 764 7543.
