Durban - The Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) in Durban has launched an emergency appeal for financial help as it faces dire challenges that poses a risk to the work it does in rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing indigenous wildlife.
CROW works with all indigenous mammals, reptiles, and birds that have been injured, displaced, or abandoned. These animals are nursed back to health, rehabilitated and released back into their natural habitats. The centre gets no government funding and relies solely on public support.
Clint Halkett-Siddall, who is the operations director of CROW, said the centre was adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in the loss of two years of international volunteer income.
According to the operations director, these funds contributed to a sizeable portion of their running costs.
He said this together with the repercussions of the floods and riots, and increased overheads, especially for animal feed and fuel, meant that the centre had almost depleted its financial reserves.
He said the challenge was now to galvanise some financial support to enable the centre to continue to operate.
“We are appealing for a renewed burst of financial support from individuals and companies, to enable us to keep our doors open and help the 3 000-4 000 indigenous wild animals that we care for each year. Without this support these animals will be left without assistance, with no chance of being nursed back to health and released back into the wild,” said Halkett-Siddall.
CROW, which has in its 43-year existence rescued more than 164 000 animals, is Durban’s only registered and fully permitted wildlife rehabilitation centre and currently has 355 animals in its sanctuary.
Halkett-Siddall said that due to financial constraints the centre had stopped its after-hours services.
“If funding does not improve we will have to put on hold rescues and collections. We now also have to limit the intake of Egyptian geese and vervet monkeys, which are robust urban dwellers but very expensive to feed,” he said.
CROW is appealing to the public to assist by donating to Hope for Our Wildlife – CROW’s Emergency Appeal, which was launched on October 3.
The appeal has reached R113 000 of the R350 000 target to secure operations for a month.
“One month may seem like a fleeting moment, but for our wildlife, it means the world. It means more rescues, more rehabilitations, and more releases – and more time to secure long-term funding,” said the centre.
“By donating to our campaign, you become a guardian of nature, a protector of the wild, and a beacon of hope. Every rand you contribute will directly support the feeding, medical care, and shelter of the animals in our care.”
Donations can also be made from the CROW website: https://crowkzn.co.za/donate/
