Dear Scott

 I hope you are well!

Can you believe we are entering the last 2 months of this year!!

What a crazy busy year it has been – I am sure on your side as well!

Thank you for your continuous support – You might not realize it, but consistent income is scarce in the world of nonprofits and we really appreciate knowing that you guys have our back!

 Our year has been great – the impact we have made so far has been tremendous and our planning for 2024 is full on!!

Just to keep you in the loop with the work our K9 team has been doing in the last 9 months (This is the unit all your funding contributes towards) here is a little summary!

 From January to 30 September 2023, our K9 team has removed 1412 snares on patrol, responded to 57 emergency call outs, made 5 apprehensions of criminals and supported in arresting 10 illegal immigrants, retrieved 1 illegal firearm (.375), fourteen .375 rounds of ammunition, 4 knives and one carpenter saw and recovered stolen goods from 2 incidences.  Our team also retrieved poached rhino horn from 2 vehicles.  Since July we started recording the amount of animal carcasses we retrieve during patrols and incidences and in the last 3 months (July, August and September) 7 carcasses have been found.

During this same time period the Zululand Anti-Poaching Airwing has flown a total of 475 hours of which 21 call outs were for reactions and 141 flights for routine patrol. 1 Poached rhino was found and 3 vulture poisoning sites were found. The Zapwing has also responded to a call out where dog poachers were found illegally in a member reserve. The Zapwing has also been instrumental in finding rhinos during dehorning and collaring projects to reduce the helicopter time required, ultimately reducing the cost of these operations.

 Thank you once again for your continuous support – It makes a real difference to our teams on the ground!