KZN animal rehab centre might close shop after four decades
The organisation known to Durbanites as CROW might have to close its doors because of financial constraints.
On Wednesday marked World Animal Day.
The Centre for Rehabilitation of Wildlife has been operating for 43 years, rescuing and nurturing injured, orphaned and displaced wild animals.
CROW is based in Yellowwood Park in the south of Durban, and is the oldest wildlife rehabilitation centre in South Africa.
Operations Director Clint Halkett-Siddall has told Newswatch they receive about 4 000 animals a year.
"We had about 355 animals on property that we are caring for 24/7 365 days a year and our main aim is to obviously release all the animals once they have recovered and once they have gotten to a point where they older enough to look after themselves. So we are always working and every day is World Annual Day."
He says the Covid pandemic lost them two years of international volunteers, who covered a large portion of their running costs.
Halkett-Siddall says they've had to stop after-hours services. He says if funding does not improve they'll also have to put rescues and collections on hold on.
"About 90% of the animals that come through our door are because of human interaction whether it be by hit by a car, attacked by dogs, people shooting them with pellet guns.
"Two of the recent cases was the Blesbok that was rescued from poachers and recently we had a successful release of a Porcupine that was with us for a couple of months, it was caught in a snare and had to recover from its wounds."
Crow is reaching out to the public so they can continue their work.
If you'd like to help, you can visit crowkzn.co.za for more information.
