“TAKE A PRIDE IN YOUR NAME”
CORPORATE PRIDE SPONSORSHIP

In 2003 SanWild was approached by the Limpopo Nature Conservation authorities to set up a temporary holding facility for large predators; in particular lions that were to be confiscated from the sordid canned lion hunting industry because their owners had set up illegal breeding projects or intended hunting lions without the necessary conservation permits.

With the financial support of international animal welfare charities the facility was constructed and in 2003 the first pride of confiscated lions arrived. Unfortunately politics from within the conservation authorities led to great internal turmoil and this in return resulted in SanWild having to find donor funding to support the confiscated lions. The conservation departments failed to honour their agreement with the trust in which they undertook to pay for the lions feeding.

For the first time ever a non-profit animal welfare group had to commit themselves to taking on the huge financial responsibility of three confiscated prides of lions that had nowhere else to go. Care of the lions includes their daily welfare, feeding and cleaning of enclosures and supplying veterinary care when necessary. All the pride males have had vasectomies to ensure that no breeding of lions can take place. Our objective is to care for these prides for the duration of their natural lives.

Looking back now it is easy to realize that at the end of the day it all came down to the love that a single pride instilled in individual peoples’ hearts. The beauty of the black-maned Jespha, the love between a lioness and her cubs; the trust that all will be “okay” that was clearly reflected in the pride members’ yellow eyes, kept it all together.

Being representative of the thousands of lions held captive (sometimes under the most appalling conditions) on lion breeding farms, the rescued lions at SanWild has became animal welfare icons that will continue to be a reminder of how good people did nothing to prevent a horrific industry to grow rapidly in a country who it seemed, cared very little about the unethical and cruel practices they allowed to grow under the banner of so-called sustainable utilization.

Fortunately there were those who cared and with the support of friends, donors and supporters the trust has continued to look after the three prides of lions. However as financial times become more and more difficult the trust needs to find new and ingenious ways to raise funds to care for our lion prides.

In February 2009 the South African Revenue Services approved animal welfare and conservation under the income tax act to be tax-exempt. This means that all personal and corporate donations received inside South Africa is tax deductible. Ten percent of personal and company tax can now be written off as a charitable donation to SanWild.

We therefore would like to urge you to consider “taking pride” in your company and adopt the respective lion prides at SanWild to ensure that these unfortunate victims of canned hunting may live out the rest of their lives in safety.

Adopting a specific pride will allow your company to use our TAKE A PRIDE IN YOUR NAME logo on your company website, brochures, letterheads and correspondence. It will also allow you to write off your donation against your company taxes and will give you the intellectual properties to “your lion pride” for a period of 12 months to be used in advertising or promotional materials or campaigns.

You will also receive the following:

• A corporate adoptions certificate.

• A original bronze sculpture by Barry Jackson (includes Certificate of Authenticity) for your boardroom) The following sculptures are available: Lion with kill; Brothers; Cheetah Family and Wild Dogs.

• The naming of your sponsored pride with your company name.

• A stunning photograph and pride history that can be framed for your office or boardroom.

For more information please email louise@sanwild.org ASAP.

PRIDE SPONSORSHIP NEEDED URGENTLY:

• Jespha’s Pride – R 155 125,00 per year
• Royal Pride – R 232 687,50 per year
• Lutalo’s Pride – R 232 687,50 per year

Full costing breakdown can be found on our website. Costs relate to a 12 months sponsorship period.

For more information about the various prides held at SanWild, please visit our Success Stories section.

Art for SanWild has been launched to help raise the necessary funds to sponsor the daily feeding and veterinary care costs for the above mentioned prides.

More information available under our Art for SanWild section which can be accessed from the How You Can Help link.