Special Edition Round Up: World Rhino Day {Photos & Videos}

On September 22^nd, an unprecedented wave of common purpose swept the international community: World Rhino Day.

This week’s Round Up is an inspirational snapshot of both offline and online events undertaken by people all over the world to bring awareness to the plight of the planet’s remaining rhinos. The unifying message is one simple truth: “Rhino horn is NOT Medicine!”

Zimbabwe

World Rhino Day was huge in Zimbabwe, with the Zimbabwe National Parks hosting a parade in Harare, led by the police band.

Students also performed their own song “Join Hands to Save the Rhino” with youthful free-style spoken word.

The Minister of Environment, Francis Nhema, gave an inspirational speech demonstrating Zimbabwe’s commitment to rhino conservation and strongly promoting the message “Rhino Horn is NOT Medicine”.

Zimbabwe schoolchildren enjoyed a video of “The Rhino Song” …

… and created plenty of beautiful World Rhino Day artwork!

The UK

In London, Save the Rhino International took it to the streets and held a peaceful protest in front of the Vietnamese Embassy.

Wearing rhino costumes and carrying placards, the team showed off jars of human toenails, to emphasize the fact that consuming rhino horn has no more medicinal value than chewing a toenail.

http://youtu.be/JWvnAVQbaSo

Photos from Save the Rhino International’s event can be seen here.

Nepal

History was made in Nepal, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Partnership for Rhino Conservation (PARC/Nepal), who arranged a TV and radio broadcast to celebrate the country’s first World Rhino Day.

Learn more about the grassroots organization PARC/Nepal here.

South Africa

As of this writing, at least 287 rhinos have been killed in South Africa. Thus, there was no shortage of support for the country’s iconic pachyderms on World Rhino Day.

Pictured: Ross Bowers, Rhino Africa and Gareth Morgan MP – Democratic Alliance

An enthusiastic gathering in Cape Town attracted hundreds of people, thanks to the efforts of Rhino Africa Safaris and other local businesses.

Also in South Africa, the Green Renaissance team – together with a few passionate volunteers – made and erected 282 wooden crosses at Sea Point in Cape Town to symbolize the Rhinos killed this year in South Africa.

http://youtu.be/jL4xBjUXc_E

Malaysia/Southeast Asia

NGO TRAFFIC Southeast Asia is featuring rhinos throughout the month of September for its “Twelve in Trouble” awareness campaign.

Links to download the Javan and Sumatan rhino posters can be found here.

The posters (above) were created to commemorate World Rhino Day. Check out TRAFFIC Southeast Asia’s “Twelve in Trouble” campaign here.

Vietnam

Wildlife conservationists in Vietnam rallied around World Rhino Day, thanks to Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV), a local NGO.

The organization launched an online campaign on the ENV Volunteer Network page on Facebook®, which is in Vietnamese.

An article about rhino conservation and World Rhino Day (“Hưởng ứng ngày quốc tế bảo vệ Tê giác”) which discourages the use of rhino horn – pointing out that it is both unnecessary and illegal – is posted on the page. Read it here.

In addition, an album entitled “Sừng tê giác không phải thuốc trị bệnh” (“Rhino horn is not medicine”) featuring Vietnamese language posters created by Saving Rhinos (that’s me) has been created. URLs for downloading the posters are included. View the album here.

Rhino tattoos

The Bush Warriors posted this creative video of rhino tattoos on their blog:

(Mine is the fourth one, and you can see photos of it in progress here.)

‘Rhino horn is NOT medicine’

World Rhino Day events were also held by Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas (see World Rhino Day: Celebrating Texas-Style in the USA) and by the Asian Rhino Project in Australia (see World Rhino Day: Rock Climbing for Asian Rhinos).

On Twitter, “Today is World Rhino Day” was trending in South Africa.

World Rhino Day announcements and events were spotted elsewhere online, including:

• Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (Kenya) – check out the photo gallery here.
• Save the Rhino Trust (Namibia) – World Rhino Day 22 September
• Lion Country Safari (USA) – Lion Country Safari Celebrates World Rhino Day

If you have photos of your World Rhino Day event to share, you can still post them on the World Rhino Day page on Facebook®.

For more information about this international event, check out Mark Your Calendar: World Rhino Day is September 22 {Videos}.

Photo #1 courtesy & © Save the Rhino International; photos #2, 3, 4 & 5 courtesy © Lisa-Jane Campbell, Chishakwe Ranch, Zimbabwe; photo #6 courtesy & © Suman Bhattarai, PARC/Nepal; photos #7 & 8 courtesy & © Ross Bowers, Rhino Africa Safaris.

Javan and Sumatran rhino posters &copy Saving Rhinos LLC & TRAFFIC Southeast Asia; posters in Vietnamese © Saving Rhinos LLC.