FreeMe expansion project – Zululand

At Ubuntu Wildlife Trust we believe in the inherent rights of wild animals to be wild. Any wild animal involved in human-wildlife conflict should get the best chance of being able to return to the wild and add conservation value to the populations. We also strongly believe that this is a specialist role and specialists must do what specialist do best.

In a collaborative effort involving several stakeholders, Ubuntu Wildlife Trust is partnering with FreeMe Wildlife, a leading professional, fully permitted, wildlife rehabilitation organisation, to construct the first and only legal professional wildlife rehabilitation centre in northern KwaZulu-Natal. This centre will begin as a raptor-focused centre and grow organically to fulfil the pressing needs if injured wildlife in the region, particularly paying attention to the smaller species so often ignored. The Centre will be managed by FreeMe Wildlife as the experts in rehabilitation, and Ubuntu Wildlife Trust will provide support for the centres construction and the various programmes planned.

FreeMe Wildlife has secured a long – term lease with the Wild Tomorrow Fund NPC for 4 hectares within a formally declared wildlife reserve and all permits have been obtained for the centre through Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife. The property has been swept and cleared of any old snares, regular patrols set up with the managing authority to secure the area for conservation, and the entrance road cleared in accordance with permits from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF). Clearance work has been done using the all women, community sourced, single-mother-and-child-headed-household team known as the Green Mambas. The supplies to construct the raptor centre has already been donated and construction will begin soon.