One of Rogz pet gear’s passions is supporting K9 anti-poaching units in their quest to protect rhinos in South Africa.
Rhino poaching continues to be a pertinent issue as poachers manage to avoid capture, killing and maiming these near-extinct beauties on a daily basis. Many anti-poaching units are focusing on upskilling and training canine units in an attempt to curb the poaching crisis. Rogz pet gear supports their efforts by donating our proudly South African pet gear to their teams.
Historical links between Rogz and anti-poaching
The Southern African Wildlife College for anti-poaching K9 unit is based ten kilometres west of the Kruger National Park in South Africa. Established in 2015 in response to the rising levels of wildlife crime, using dogs – both on-leash with handlers and off-leash as free running packs – proved to be a game changer as part of their anti-poaching toolkit. Statistics show that poacher apprehension grows from under 10% to over 60% when a dog and ranger team is at play together. Rogz pet gear became one of its key pet gear donors.
Given the increasing threat to the black and white rhino populations, and in line with a 100 year promise, Singita Lowveld Trust bolstered the anti-poaching efforts at Singita Sabi Sand in 2012. They added a specialised K9 unit made up of tracking dogs and dedicated handlers who patrol the area within the reserve 24 hours a day, throughout the year. Aside from their exceptional capability for tracking and scenting, the dogs’ presence has proved a powerful deterring force. Once tracking dogs are deployed in an area, the word quickly spreads amongst criminal syndicates, resulting in a reduction of poaching activity.
The Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre was founded by Lente Rhoode in 1990. Lente has become an icon in the world of conservation and is known for her passion for the conservation of rare, vulnerable and threatened species. She believes in creating conservation awareness amongst the youth so that custodians can be developed for the future that will contribute to creating conservation solutions. The collaboration with the Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit since 2018 has resulted in three members of this all-female unit working shifts at HESC every day, patrolling on foot and working hand-in-hand with HESC’s well trained K9 unit. Rogz has donated dog beds, dog toys, dog collars, dog harnesses and dog bowls for these K9 heroes since 2016.
Rogz helping to create awareness
Over the years, Rogz pet gear has helped to create awareness by running Rhino Campaigns that include written articles and social media posts. In March 2019, Rogz bought Relate “Save our Rhinos” bracelets as gifts for our hardworking staff and amazing distributors around the world. Many of our Rogz staff and distributors have joined and donated to various anti-poaching organisations under the direction of Rogz Head of Finance, Katie Law, who spearheads this passion project.
Support by Rogz in 2022
This year, to celebrate World Rhino Day, Rogz is proud to be able to assist rhino anti-poaching efforts once again. Award-winning Rogz dog toys and safe and trusted dog leads and harnesses were couriered to the hardworking dogs in the K9 units of Singita Sabi Sand, Southern African Wildlife College and Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC). Rogz salutes all rangers and dog heroes in their tiresome efforts in managing this environmental crisis. Beaded rhinos and World Rhino Day posters were designed and placed around Rogz HQ to raise awareness amongst staff, and social media posts are also shared to raise general awareness. We salute all rangers and dog heroes in their tiresome efforts in managing this environmental crisis.
Ranger Anton Mzimba, head of security for Timbavati Private Nature Reserve, was recently shot dead outside his home, leaving behind a wife and seven children. He was a true Wildlife Warrior! Click here to support the Timbavati Wildlife Security Support GivenGain in honour of him and other wildlife warriors. You can also watch this video on YouTube to learn more about the anti-poaching efforts of his team.
Click here to find out more about World Rhino Day.
At Rogz, we believe there is more to business than just doing business.
