CONSERVATION
Above: The helicopter circles low around the rhinos so that a specialised veterinarian who works with the unit can dart the pair safely. Below: John Thomson presents the Rhino Protection Unit with extended service plans for its Toyota Land Cruisers. Opposite: After a successful capture, the two rhinos are released. The mark from the dart can be seen on the mother’s right
Monitoring the rhinos is a huge
undertaking. The team of vets, park rangers and trackers with us that day are tasked with cataloguing each rhino’s DNA, notching its ears with a distinct pattern, inserting a microchip into the horn of the animal and, fi nally, dosing it with antibiotics and vitamins. With limited resources, this job’s
becoming more diffi cult each week and the rangers often need to make do with whatever’s available to them. They try to make light of the situation, joking about playing “musical bakkies” to get around the park. However, there’s hope. The spark
behind one of Toyota SA Motors’ (TSAM’s) latest commitments to conservation, John Thomson, Vice- President: Service, watched proudly that morning. He’s always rallied for the protection of our natural environment in his personal capacity and a visit to the park a few months earlier had revealed the dire situation the rangers were facing. “After talking to the anti-poaching
unit operating in Pilanesberg National Park, I immediately knew how we at
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didn’t have the funds to do it. This initiative, along with others, is
Toyota could make a diff erence. First we sent the six Toyota Land Cruisers in their possession to our workshop in Northam for a thorough service, repairing the damage any vehicle inevitably sustains when working in wild terrain, but we wanted to see how we could do more,” explains John. TSAM has indeed taken its commitment further, sponsoring extended service plans for the Land Cruisers that were handed over in a heartfelt ceremony at Ivory Tree Game Lodge on the outskirts of the Pilanesberg park. While maintaining and servicing any vehicle is a relatively straightforward task, explains John, the unit simply
just one of the ways in which TSAM’s contributing to conservation in SA. Its devotion to preserving the country’s natural spaces goes back decades, aiding with initiatives through partnerships with three signifi cant environmental NGOs through its Today for Tomorrow Programme: the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Conservation SA and Birdlife SA. In this instance, the practical nature
of Toyota’s sponsorship has allowed rangers to move freely around the park doing their work, reassured that their Land Cruisers are in good condition and ready to serve for years to come.
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