Saving rhinos, one click at a time
Absa the rhino. Photo courtesy Mandi Jarman of the Aquila Private Game Reserve
The story of how three endangered rhinos were brutally attacked at the Aquila Private Game Reserve in Ceres, just outside the Mother City, on August 20 is by now all too familiar, yet no less horrifying.
Absa, the first male rhino to reproduce in the Western Cape in 250 years, and his two young calves were stalked, drugged and butchered by heartless poachers. As tragic as this event is, the reserve management rallied to create awareness for a worthy conservation cause and hopefully assist in the arrest of the criminals responsible for this horrendous attack.
Proving that help is just one click away, the reserve launched an anti-poaching campaign, “Saving Private Rhino”, across all its social media forums.
The campaign went viral within two days, receiving hundreds of comments and tweets on Facebook and Twitter, and even spawning a Groupon donation drive for the Saving Private Rhino campaign.
Subsequently, Black Spring Day was held on September 1, a day traditionally hosted to mark the advent of the new season. South Africans were encouraged to wear black or to tie a black ribbon to the right-hand wing mirror of their vehicles or motorbikes in support of Rhino Month.
We chatted to Mandi Jarman, media spokesperson for the Aquila Reserve, about the innovative Saving Private Rhino campaign:
What was the objective of your anti-poaching social media campaign?
The objective of the campaign was to keep everyone informed about the incident at the reserve. We were able to use social media to update those concerned about the rhino still fighting for his life. We were able to give up-to-date posts. The press also followed the posts and cut down my time on the phone considerably.
What is your Facebook and Twitter following like, and which was the most successful?
Before the incident we had a healthy 1 500 fans on Facebook. This has grown to almost 6 000. Twitter was only getting started and was on about 250; this has grown to over 1 000. I personally feel that Facebook was more successful as it allowed people to interact with each other easily. Twitter was useful for updates and getting info out quickly.
The Groupon initiative is a unique way of raising funds for your worthy cause. What was the process to get them involved and how successful has this deal been?
We recently ran a very successful Groupon deal for the reserve and have many of their customers visiting the reserve at this time.
I approached them to get involved and used their database to get the info on the incident out. They came back with the donation initiative, which was fantastic and raised over R50 000 for the Saving Private Rhino campaign. We are extremely grateful to them for their quick response.
Which post on your social media forums made the biggest impression/impact on you?
There were so many awesome posts that we are considering putting them in a book … the ones from children, the pictures drawn for us and the ones that were so heartfelt that they made you cry … People are truly amazing and their genuine concern and anger at the incident shone through.
With Absa having been the only male to father rhino babies in the Western Cape in 250 years, how has his death impacted on rhino conservation and how will the reserve be able to compensate for this loss, if at all?
His death and the loss of the second rhino in the same incident has put a stop to any more births on the reserve. We are currently sourcing a male rhino to be introduced to our herd so that we can continue our work.
Besides the heartening support for the rhinos, have there been other positive consequences for the reserve via this campaign?
Through this incident and with the help of social media, radio and newsprint we have been able to give rhino poaching a name. The support for Absa the rhino and the anger that was experienced has been channelled into an awareness campaign, and with “Saving Private Rhino”, the initiative set up by Aquila, we are now embarking on:
- Training programmes for anti-poaching teams on private reserves;
- Equipping these teams with the correct equipment needed to properly and effectively protect their rhino populations;
- Setting up vets around the country who can be contacted should an incident occur – the quicker we get to the injured rhino with the correct equipment the better our chances are to help them survive; and
- Rewards: the reward stands at R100 000.00. We hope to grow this in order to get the intel needed to shut these syndicates down.
For more information about the Aquila Reserve and the anti-poaching campaign, please visit www.aquilasafari.com; their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter.
