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THE HISTORY OF SANWILD: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY
In 1989, a South African based conservation organization, the Rhino & Elephant Foundation, launched a fundraising campaign for black rhinos under the name of Project Rhino. The campaign received considerable media coverage and it caught the imagination and attention of Louise Joubert, an account executive for a major advertising agency in Cape Town. She contacted the Rhino & Elephant Foundation and suggested that they run a telethon to raise funds. This was an entirely new concept in fundraising at the time, but Louise’s initiative and dedication resulted in National Rhino Pledge Day on 29 October 1989. The telethon, which was televised throughout the day, raised R1.78 million and much of the funding was used to buy land to extend the Addo Elephant National Park, which has a significant population of black rhino. Funds were also used to purchase much needed anti-poaching equipment and to translocate black rhinos from danger zones.
Louise's brush with wildlife conservation and its personalities throughout the run-up to Pledge Day changed her life and in 1990, she decided to leave Cape Town and her career behind and went to live in the Limpopo Province in order to work with wild animals. However, she inadvertently found herself involved in a component of a then fledgling wildlife industry - game capture. Over the ten years that followed, Louise saw many things that did not sit well with her, but the game-and-wildlife trade industry has a persuasive way of justifying its activities and as Louise herself says, “If you silence your conscience for long enough, it eventually stops speaking to you”. It was especially the young un-weaned animals suffering as a result of mass game relocation that prompted her into action and she began taking in orphaned and injured animals for hand raising - particularly plains game species such as zebra, kudu and blue wildebeest. This one on one close contact with young wild animals and the success of her efforts to rehabilitate them to become independent, free-ranging wild animals awoke her silenced conscience. She became increasingly empathetic to the animals caught up in South Africa’s wildlife industry and more and more she became an outspoken critic of the industry’s unethical and inhumane operators.
THE GOOD:
It was during this time that Louise met her future husband, Andre Grobler. He was born in the Limpopo Province and grew up on a cattle farm in the Waterberg district. His father’s cattle farm was sold to a conservation group that set up the Lapalala Wilderness under the expert guidance of well-known international black rhino specialist and conservationist, Clive Walker. Andre also loved the great outdoors and when he met Louise, he was a biltong hunter. Soon however, her love for animals rubbed off and after helping to rescue and bottle-feed numerous injured and orphaned animals Andre sold his hunting rifles for good and turned animal lover and conservationist. The couple married on Louise’s birthday in 1996.
They settled on Andre’s 21-hectare property close to Letsitele. Soon the property on which they were hand raising and treating injured and orphaned animals became too small to accommodate the increasing number of wild animals, which by now had diversified to include a wide range of species.
On the 30th November 1998, they entered into a 5-year lease contract with a Mrs. Strauss for a piece of land after her husband passed away. The contract included an option to purchase the land that was used predominantly for cattle grazing after the initial 5-year period.
After Louise and Andre took occupation of the land in December 1998, the old cattle fences were removed and the SanWild team eagerly got to work to develop the neglected property. A small number of wild animals already lived on the property, but poaching was rife and many of the wild animals continued to be killed by poachers even after the couple took occupation. It was therefore decided not to move rehabilitated animals from the small 21-hectare property immediately, but to rather concentrate on eradicating poaching first. Anti-poaching efforts and patrols paid off and in September 2000, the wild animals on the 21-hectare property could be moved to the new, larger property.
The couple wanted to ensure that the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary would continue even after they had gone and the same year the SanWild Wildlife Trust was formed to ensure protection for the sanctuary and the rehabilitated animals so that they did not inadvertently find themselves back in the very industry and trade from which they were rescued.
For the first time in South African history, a wildlife reserve was being established that belonged to the wild animals themselves. Although the new property, named the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary, could accommodate many more wild animals, it was acknowledged by the trustees that it was too small to be viable in the long term. Louise continued her efforts to increase the size of the sanctuary while being supported by the Board of Trustees.
Despite many failed efforts, perseverance finally paid off and on the 1st July 2002 the deposit to purchase a terribly neglected adjoining tomato farm was paid with a substantial donation received from France in memory of Mr. Claude Detave. Bulldozers moved in and the old cattle fences were removed. Work to fence in the new land started within days. Once all fencing was completed the fences between the two pieces of land could be taken down and wild animals started traversing on both sections.
However before the animals could be allowed to move onto the new land a professional team of environmentalists were contracted to do relevant impact assessments and prepare full EIA’s in order to assist the SanWild’s management team to address the bush encroachment and soil erosion problems caused by previous overgrazing with cattle and the agricultural farming activities. Truckloads of rubbish consisting on old tomato wire, plastic piping, discarded glass bottles, beer cans, and open pit latrines had to be cleaned up and removed. More than 389 snares were removed from a 20-hectare area adjoining the old tomato fields. It was evident that this piece of land was particularly abused and neglected and that the plants and animals had very little protection indeed. Continued efforts to restore the land to its original state are progressing well.
When the lease agreement with Mrs. Strauss expired after the initial 5 years the SanWild Wildlife Trust entered into a sales agreement with her in November 2003 to exercise their right to purchase as set out in the lease contract.
THE BAD:
For many years the Trust had been trying to find a suitable investor that shared their dreams of wildlife conservation and animal protection. In October 2003 it seemed that they had finally managed to find just such an investor.
Two directors of property development group from KwaZulu Natal visited the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary in September 2003 and notified the Trust soon afterwards that they had indeed reached a decision to join forces with the Trust to secure a 10 000 hectare private game reserve for the benefit of the wild animals. At the time, on the request of the éLan Group, the Trust formed a company called SanWild Property Development to facilitate a small limited share block development in the sanctuary. With this concept in mind a limited number of share block units attached to a small but comprehensive game lodge was to be sold off and the rest of the land would remain under the protection of the Trust for the benefit of the wild animals. The concept fitted in perfectly with SanWild’s objectives and everybody was extremely excited about the partnership agreement with the éLan Group.
Little did Louise or Andre realize at the time that their dream was soon to turn into a nightmare and that it would set them off on a long road of misfortune and that would take all their strength and courage of conviction to continue building up the SanWild Wildlife Sanctuary! Louise negotiated sales contracts with owners of the adjoining farms on behalf of the élan Group and the managing director Mr. Mark Taylor had the sales contracts finalized and signed within weeks. During negotiations with the éLan Group Louise insisted that no hunting or any other form of consumptive commercialization of wild animals would ever take place in the SanWild Sanctuary and this agreement was contained in the contract between éLan and SanWild. However when the éLan Group’s project manager arrived at SanWild to start with the project, he made it clear that SanWild’s founders had no choice, neither a say and that selective hunting would take place to satisfy his company’s investors. During a confrontational conversation with Louise he told her “that beggars cannot be choosers”, meaning that SanWild needed their investment to continue. Little did he realize that Louise’s principles could not be bought and she in no uncertain terms told him and his company to “go take a hike”. Unfortunately because Mr. Taylor and his company did not honour their agreement, the Trust was placed in a very difficult financial predicament and they almost lost the land they were repaying monthly, but with the help of some very loyal supporters and donors they managed to pull through and get the project back on track.
THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY:
Despite this setback, Louise & Andre continued their work with wild animals and responded immediately when she received a request from Limpopo Nature Conservation to take in some wild dogs that were to be confiscated from local citrus farmers, Mr. Edward and Piet Voster in Letsitele. SanWild was informed that the dogs had apparently been trapped from the wild illegally and had been kept on the Voster’s farm for more than a year already. During this period the Vosters’ negotiated with the conservation authorities to obtain a permit to set up a captive breeding project, but that it had now been turned down and the authorities wanted the animals removed and returned to the wild. The farmers in question did not take kindly to the fact that they were being taken to task by the conservation department and became infuriated when they realized that SanWild had agreed to assist the conservation authorities. When the confiscation of the wild dogs took place, the Vosters’ filmed the entire operation and then contacted a freelance journalist and television producer, Mrs. Janine Grobler to do a program about the confiscation of the wild dogs and SanWild's supposed involvement. Mrs. Grobler had a field day with her program that was aired on 50/50 in South Africa and did everything in her power to discredit the work of the SanWild Wildlife Trust and in particular the credibility of Louise personally. It was evident to all involved in the inner-circle that the pro-use lobby for sustainable use and the hunting fraternity in South Africa wanted to use this opportunity and Janine Grobler to silence Louise and break SanWild’s courage to take on the wildlife industry and expose the despicable practices that resulted in the continued abuse of wild animals. In the past many other individuals have had the same treatment if they chose to report on or about irregular activities or if they were seen to assist conservation departments or law enforcement agencies. Strong-arm tactics ranged from open threats of physical injury, to campaigns to discredit and get rid of individuals or organizations. Not too many individuals or animal welfare organisations have shown the courage of conviction to stand up and fight for what they know is right and many animal abuses continued to go unchallenged in South Africa’s wildlife industry! It seems that Janine is no stranger to producing damage control programs downplaying the cruelty and pain inflicted on wild animals – she was at the forefront, producing a program for the environmental program 50/50 in South Africa to show why it was okay for Ricardo Ghiazza to abuse the young Tuli elephants after Carte Blanche exposed the removal of baby elephants from their breeding herds in Botswana to be tamed down and trained for elephant backed safaris, zoos and circuses. Fortunately despite terrible abuse inflicted on these poor baby elephants, animal welfare won this particular battle and most of the baby elephants were confiscated by the authorities and released back into wild herds in the Marakele National Park. Sadly some were exported to international zoos and some ended up on a hunting farm in South Africa. A couple more were sold to a so-called “elephant sanctuary”. During the production of her program about the wild dogs, Janine Grobler visited Mrs. Strauss from whom the Trust purchased the initial piece of land and told her that Louise could not be trusted. She further indicated that Louise’s claims that she loved animals were not true and that indeed she was “stealing” donor funding for personal use. Mrs. Strauss at the time had lost most of her sight and her health was failing, but she nevertheless was shocked by the allegations made by Janine Grobler and decided that she no longer wanted to continue with the sale of her land to SanWild and asked her legal council to notify the Trust accordingly. Fortunately, the Trust had already entered into a legal sales contract with her and she no longer had the option to cancel her contract. Attempts to put the ageing old lady’s mind at ease failed. While the Trust was waiting for their final bond application to purchase Mrs. Strauss’s land to be approved, the relationship between SanWild and Mrs. Strauss became very problematic. It seemed simply impossible to convince an ageing old lady with failing health that the Trusts intentions were honorable and that Janine Grobler’s program was filled with malicious lies. At the time nobody at SanWild could foresee the challenges still lying ahead and during this time Janine kept fuelling her campaign against SanWild by keeping in contact with Mrs. Strauss.
When the bond application was finally approved Mrs. Strauss refused to give permission that the Trust could take transfer of the property that they had developed for the past five years. Initially the sales agreement was signed in the name of SanWild Property Development to accommodate the agreement with the élan Group, but as éLan was no longer part of the project, the Trust wanted to take transfer it its own name. Mrs. Strauss stubbornly stuck to her guns and it was only after she was paid a cash amount of R26 000, that she agreed to sign an addendum to allow the Trust to take transfer.
Sadly, this exercise resulted in the bank guarantees being delivered one day late by the SanWild legal council that had arranged the extension with Mrs. Strauss and her legal council. Sadly this extension was not done in writing. Despite initially agreeing to accept the bank guarantees a day late, Mrs. Strauss soon changed her mind. This was exactly the opportunity she had been waiting for and she instructed her legal council to notify the Trust that their sales agreement had been cancelled and that she was taking back her land. All attempts to resolve the issue with Mrs. Strauss failed.
Nobody knew at the time that her decision to cancel the sales
contract had been influenced by a Pretoria
Mr. Nico Fourie has various business interests in Pretoria and also runs a hunting safari company called Austral African Ventures. http://www.aavsafari.co.za
Mrs. Strauss passed away in December 2005 and attempts by the trust to resolve the matter were once again rejected by Mrs. Strauss’s children early in 2006. They choose to favour Mr. Fourie with his increased purchase price and continued with the legal application.
While Louise and Andre remained strong in their faith and focused to continue SanWild’s work, Mr. Fourie negotiated in December 2006 with the other trustees to sell his Option to Purchase back to the SanWild Wildlife Trust for a purchase price of R10 million provided that the trust withdraw the pending appeal hearing against him. He also insisted that Louise resigns from the Trust. His offer was rejected by a full board of trustees with the contempt that it deserves. It was during these very difficult times that it was essential for the trust and its supporters to remain strong for the sake of the many wild animals that counted on their support. The board of trustees decided that it should be business as usual and when Louise received a call for help to save a small herd of African elephants from culling, the green light to proceed was given at yet another board meeting. At the time the SanWild Wildlife Trust had found another ally in the Murry Foundation that was in the process of finalizing a sales agreement on an adjoining farm. Mr. Adam Murry was fully aware of the pending legal battle to secure SanWild’s survival and the safety of the more than 4500 wild animals already living in the sanctuary. He had taken huge personal financial risk at the time to ensure that land would be available for the animals even if SanWild lost their legal application. At least wild animals depending on the SanWild could be moved across to the new land should the Trust not be able to overcome this hurdle. However when he received a call from Louise asking his support for Operation Jumbo Journey, he immediately agreed to speed up the land purchase to ensure that the elephants could be saved. In November 2006 the Thukela Elephants were relocated to SanWild under extremely difficult circumstances for both the elephants and the individual’s involved with the rescue, but as Louise said: “It is ironic that two innocent parties such as SanWild and the elephants have to fight for our place in the sun in these difficult times. The current situation makes Operation Jumbo Journey even more challenging and important! However we have God on our side and we trust His judgment to ensure that both SanWild and the elephants will find a long-term home and safety in this stunning reserve. This is a battle He will win for both us and the elephants”. The final arbitration appeal hearing was set down for February 2007 and on the 11 April 2007 the arbitration judges ruled two against one in favour of the SanWild Wildlife Trust. They instructed the executors of Mrs. Straus’s estate to immediately make all the necessary arrangements to register the land in the name of the Trust and further ruled that the executors pay all the legal costs in the matter.
THE FUTURE:
The Murry Foundation in the United Kingdom supported by the personal sureties of the SanWild trustees obtained a bond to purchase an adjoining piece of land. The incorporation of this land saw the SanWild Sanctuary’s land size increase with 120%. The two organizations have entered into a partnership agreement that will see both organizations work together to further the work of the SanWild Wildlife Trust in South Africa and to ensure that all wild animals in the sanctuary is protected in perpetuity by people that really do care. The Murry Foundation and the SanWild Wildlife Trust respectively hold shares in the new land that will be registered under the name of the Murry Foundation Conservation Holdings. All animals in the reserve belongs to the SanWild Wildlife Trust that will ensure their long-term well-being and safety. For more about the respective organizations please visit the following websites: www.sanwild.org, www.afritrust.com and also www.murryfoundation.com The Story of SanWild's logo Zebra - click SanWild below to read more.
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