The purchase in 2016 of Jock Safari Lodge was in line with the CALEO Foundation’s conservation ethics to protect, restore and sustain wildlife and flora resources and the unique habitats in which they flourish so that future generations will be able to enjoy them. A priority, the fight against the scourge of rhino poaching.
In South Africa, rhinos are in crisis. Around 1 000 are slaughtered by poachers every year in South Africa and if current poaching levels continue, rhinos face extinction in the near future. Rhino horn fetches excessively high prices, more than gold or cocaine, a fact that has attracted highly organised criminal syndicates with the means to track down and kill the animals.
With this in mind, the CALEO Foundation founded JEMU shortly after its purchase of the concession. It made funds available immediately to start a small non-combative monitoring unit that provides the section rangers with accurate, current information on suspicious activity in the region and on environmental incidents such as animals injured or killed and even veld fires.
The unit has become a vital resource in the struggle against the ongoing onslaught on rhino in the Kruger. The JEMU team works hand-in-hand with committed teams of conservationists to manage the poaching crisis. The CALEO Foundation and Jock provide additional support by supplying essential tactical equipment to both the rangers and their dogs.
Read about this orphaned rhino’s long walk to freedom through the support of CALEO Foundation and quick reaction of The Jock Environmental Monitoring Unit here: https://www.jocksafarilodge.com/animal-monitoring
