My save the rhino vow to Mandela
ABritish philanthropist is behind a unique bid to halt rhino poaching – fulfilling a pledge he made to the late Nelson Mandela. Mike Kendrick, a pal and business associate of Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson, is behind a team which infuses rhino horns with a toxic pink dye which renders it valueless once severed.
Six rhinos have been treated so far and the aim is to infuse 3,000 of the magnificent beasts in South Africa.
Mike, 72, promised to investigate poaching when he and Branson met ex-president Mr Mandela as part of their work with the Mineseeker Foundation, which used aircraft to detect mines from the air.
Mike, of Bridgnorth, Shrops, said: “Nelson Mandela personally asked me to do something about rhino poaching. I began researching how DNA, which was being used to effectively fight crime and deter theft, might help.
“Around the same time, Dr Lorinda Hern, of Rhino Rescue Project, was experimenting with ways to devalue rhino horn in South Africa.
“Lorinda and I formed a partnership to devise a solution that is all-encompassing. This makes
poaching, trading, possessing and consuming rhino horn high risk with no reward and provides irrefutable evidence of a crime. Essentially, it makes the rhino horn valueless and far too hot to handle.”
Mike set up the non- profit group Rhino’s Last Stand, alongside experts in poaching, smuggling and DNA. The first rhinos were treated in April with a solution containing an anti-parisitic toxin. It is dyed pink to signify it as unfit for human consumption. A DNA “tag” unique to each rhino is added, plus a detectable UV marker.
Untreated rhino horn is worth more than gold in some parts of the Far East. It is ground up and consumed for supposed health benefits – and as an aphrodisiac.
The anti- po a c h i n g campaign is costly and Mike added: “We need to infuse each and every surviving rhino before they become extinct. The first step is to raise £250,000 to treat 40 rhinos by the end of summer 2019. We’ll then kick- start the second phase to treat another 2,460 rhinos in order to ensure a sufficient gene pool to save the species. But the ultimate objective is to treat all of the remaining rhinos.”