A heartbroken mother from Carmarthenshire, Caroline Bridle, who lost her son Daniel to bone cancer at only 18 years old has honoured his memory by raising funds by holding weekly bingo sessions to fully fund an anti-poaching dog from Dogs 4 Wildlife and fly him out to Africa to save endangered rhinos.
Anti-poaching dog Dan, who was named after the late Daniel Bridle has been flown out to KwaZulu Natal, South Africa from Carmarthenshire in Wales to protect the world’s most endangered wildlife and become an anti- poaching dog with brand new project, ‘The Bonamanzi Ranger and K9 Unit,’ in partnership with The IFPCP, Project Rhino, Cumbria Zoo and Bonamanzi Game Reserve.
The deployment is of the greatest importance, as KwaZulu Natal, South Africa faces a poaching epidemic. Poaching more than doubled last year in the area, which is the birthplace of white rhino conservation.
The anti-poaching dogs, who are bred and trained at Dogs 4 Wildlife in Carmarthenshire contribute to reducing incidents of poaching by as much as 75%, so Dan being deployed to Bonamanzi will have a huge part to play in the conservation of rhino.
Dogs 4 Wildlife was contacted by Caroline who had seen a social media post on the Not for Profit’s important work and felt compelled to reach out. In 2013, Caroline’s son Daniel Bridle, was diagnosed with terminal cancer, just a year later in 2014 Daniel lost his battle and sadly passed away at only 18 years old. A beautiful young life cut tragically short.
Being such a huge animal and dog lover, Caroline could not think of a better way to honour her son’s memory than having a specialised dog, trained to protect endangered wildlife and ran fortnightly bingo sessions for a year during Lockdown to raise the money for Dogs 4 Wildlife to get Dan deployed to Africa.
Darren Priddle, Co-Founder and Director of Dogs 4 Wildlife said: “When Caroline told us of Daniel’s inspiring story, naming one of our puppies in memory of her son was a fitting tribute to the dedication of Caroline and her family in Daniel’s memory and future legacy. We were blown away by her fundraising and support.”
Co-Founder and Director of Dogs 4 Wildlife, Jacqui Law added: “Caroline’s commitment to this project has been awe-inspiring, thanks to her fundraising endeavours and weekly bingo sessions to raise money to get Dan to Africa and the fact Caroline continues to raise money and fundraise for us is beyond incredible and we are forever grateful. Thank you, Caroline!”
Caroline Bridle explained: “Daniel was always a huge animal lover, he had a dog called Ollie and Ollie was always there for Daniel throughout it all and when he was battling cancer, he was the biggest support to him.
“Daniel always loved dogs so much and fully sponsoring Dan was the most fitting tribute to my boy. He would LOVE this, he would be so proud and so excited. He valued animals so much and I have a piece of Daniel now forever in Dan, while he is over saving rhinos and the beautiful animals of Africa.
“What Dogs 4 Wildlife do with sending dogs to Africa to help save rhinos and endangered wildlife is just amazing and I just love the cause.
“My son’s legacy forever lives on. The new Bonamanzi Project will make such a difference to wildlife crimes. I didn’t want my son to die for nothing. Something positive has to come from it.”
Caroline hopes to visit Africa in the near future to see Dan in his new home on the Bonamanzi Game Reserve.
Dan being deployed to KwaZulu Natal is hugely important in the fight against poaching. Last year, a total of 448 rhino were poached in South Africa. 327 within government reserves and 124 on private property. At the moment one rhino is killed every 35 hours. Poaching more than doubled last year in South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal, the birthplace of white rhino conservation.
Conservationists say poaching syndicates have turned their attention to parks in KwaZulu-Natal province because rhino numbers in Kruger National Park, the previous epicentre of rhino poaching, have been drastically reduced, and private reserves around Kruger are dehorning their animals. Unless more is done to tackle the wider issue of the illegal wildlife trade, the future looks bleak for the rhinos of KwaZulu Natal.
Cumbria Zoo, Dogs 4 Wildlife, Project Rhino, The IFPCP and Bonamanzi Game Reserve announced the launch of the Bonamanzi Ranger and K9 Unit recently. This brand new collaborative project brings four passionate, dedicated and committed organisations together to help fight frontline wildlife crime in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
This is a sustainable long term conservation initiative, bought together with effective collaboration, partnership and team work.
The four organisations have united for a common cause; the ongoing conservation and protection of one of South Africa’s most bio diverse natural heritage sites. This project will support a new ranger unit, consisting of 2 rangers and 2 dogs supported for an initial 2 year period. Added to the reserves already well-established Anti-Poaching unit and Project Rhinos K9 unit, this addition and level of support offers more boots and paws on the ground to help drastically reduce the areas poaching epidemic.
Dan will join the Bonamanzi Project this week but Dogs 4 Wildlife are desperately appealing for sponsorship of Bavarian Mountain Hound Puppy Nkosi who needs to urgently join the unit this year.
For more information and to help please contact info@dogs4wildlife.org or visit https://www.dogs4wildlife.org/donate/ to donate