The Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre was established in 1991. A businessman from Pretoria in South Africa, Mr Strijdom, owns the farm on which the Centre is situated, and he in turn asked Brian Jones to establish and run the rehabilitation centre for him. Brian already had a Crowned Eagle in his possession and his reputation for the work he did with wild animals had spread rapidly. Brian Jones has been helping and caring for injured and orphaned animals from the age of four and thus he brought a great deal of knowledge and experience to the establishment of this rehabilitation centre
Very soon a variety of animals were being brought to him that were either orphaned, injured or poisoned and in need of help. The plight of Africa’s animals and our natural system has always been the main concern at Moholoholo and the philosophy is that awareness must be spread if we are to save our wildlife.
With Mr Strijdom’s dedicated support the Centre has expanded tremendously over the years and as a result Brian has, on numerous occasions, been invited to give talks all over the country and in various states in the USA to spread the message and inform people of the predicament our wildlife faces today.
In 2003 Dr Ian Player nominated Brian Jones for the Terra Nova Award and Moholoholo’s work has been featured in many TV programmes and series, such as ‘Wild Orphans’, which have been screened far and wide including on the National Geographic Channel.
At Moholoholo we are often faced with the difficult decision of what to do with an injured or poisoned animal which will not be able to be released back into the wild. As a result, we have a number of ‘permanent residents’ that reside at the centre at our own cost and are used as ‘ambassadors’ for their species. Members of the public are therefore able to get an ‘up close and personal’ experience of these incredible creatures, while we have the ability to practically demonstrate to the public the problems that wildlife is facing as well as being able to share information about each animal here at the Centre. Moholoholo receives 1 000 school children and adults on average per month. They visit the Rehabilitation Centre where they attend a guided tour during which they hear about these problems and the challenges associated with conservation and habitat protection.
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