Caption from left to right: Eckert Giliomee, Autozone; Kenny Arnold, CI-Automotive; Roland Bosse, Autozone; Sean Rogers, Ci-Automotive; Frans Lombard, CI-Automotive; Kevin Rogers, CI-Automotive; Kyle Young, Autozone and Richard Berner, CI-Automotive (front).
Gabriel, the locally designed and manufactured shock absorber brand of the JSE-listed Control Instruments Group, in partnership with the national auto spares retailer AutoZone, hosted a golf day to raise funds for The Rhino Orphanage.
The event took place at the Legend Golf & Safari Resort in Limpopo with over 100 participants. “The success of the event has prompted us to commit to running the event annually for another three years in aid of this worthy cause,” said Sean Staley, divisional head – Gabriel. “With the high rate of rhino poaching, care needs to be taken of the rhino calves left behind.”
“Sadly, in many instances there are calves that are orphaned. We saw the need to provide specialist care,” said Karen Trendler, a conservationist at the orphanage who has raised around 200 baby rhinos over two decades.
The Rhino Orphanage is the world’s first dedicated, non-commercial centre to care for baby rhinos. Orphaned rhinos are brought to the Entabeni Safari Conservancy in the Waterberg area of Limpopo. A third of the slain rhinos are either pregnant cows or mothers with a calf. The exact location is secret due to security reasons and will therefore not be open to the public.
The orphanage has facilities to house up to 35 baby rhinos. They are rehabilitated back into the wild by a team of conservationists. This forms a vital part of the Rhino Response Strategy National Rescue and Response network.
The facility includes four high-care rooms and one intensive care chamber where sick calves receive 24-hour attention and can be treated in an incubator.
“As they become older, we release them into larger areas, until they are about two-and-a-half to three years old, and then they are released into nature,” said conservation manager Arrie van Deventer. If contact with humans is limited, rhinos can successfully readapt to the wild.
Entabeni is owned and operated by Legend Lodges and covers an area of 220 square kilometers. It is home to lion, elephant, giraffe, leopard, warthog, hippo and other safari animals living in a variety of habitats.
Contact: Rhino Orphanage Arrie van Deventer 083-645-4398
About Gabriel:
Gabriel is a division of Control Instruments Automotive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the JSE listed Control Instruments Group. Control Instruments Automotive holds the manufacturing and distribution rights to the Gabriel range of shocks, struts and cartridge products for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Gabriel is now in its 77th year in South Africa. The company manufactures shock absorbers for most vehicles.
Gabriel was originally imported into SA in 1935. During that time, the company has introduced a number of world-first designs that were subsequently manufactured in plants worldwide. It was also the first shock absorber company to advertise on TV.
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