WERU’S FIRST ANNIVERSARY!

A lion’s been eating our donkeys.  Hyenas are scavenging in the village. There’s an elephant limping around Liwonde with an infected snare wound and he’s getting pretty angry.  These are the kind of calls WERU has been responding to, giving the authorities an alternative to the bullet and the animals in question a second chance.

Coincidentally, it’s WERU’s first anniversary this month and what a year it has been.  Our vision was to create a unit that could respond to any wildlife emergencies nationwide whilst also building capacity within Malawi and we’re pretty much on track.  The team have been covering all sorts of cases from relocating hyenas and fitting collars on problem lions to de-snaring rhino and elephants.  WERU’s Malawi vet, Dr Nkhoma is off to Zimbabwe this month for game capture training and we’re working on proposals for a wildlife disease screening programme.  Now it’s a case of finding the extra funding we need for 2015!

Thanks to all those we have worked with in the last year – Department of National Parks and Wildlife, African Parks, Central African Wilderness Safaris, Conservation Research Africa, Cluny Wildlife Trust, the Wilderness Trust and Land Rover.  You can read about some of WERU’s recent exploits here.