|
Run for Wildlife 2005 - You Can Make A Difference
By James Florence
More than 450 runners from all over Zambia took part in the Run for
Wildlife 2004 event. An estimated total of 7,000 km was run in 2
hours by all the runners, which is approximately the distance from
Lusaka to Cape Town and back. Over K25,000,000 was raised for
carnivore conservation projects at Munda Wanga.
And it’s going to happen all over again.
Run for Wildlife 2005, sponsored by DSTV and National Milling
Corporation, is due to be both bigger and better than 2004.
This year’s event will be held on Saturday 17th September
2005 and will be raising money for a Rapid Action Response Unit (RARU)
for Munda Wanga. The RARU will be a mobile unit that can support
Munda Wanga’s mission to assist wild animal welfare issues
throughout Zambia. The unit will be able to assist Zambia’s wildlife
in two ways. Firstly, the team will be able to respond to a variety
of wild life emergency situations in the field, particularly the
rescue of orphaned baby elephants, victims of illegal poaching.
Secondly, the team will be able to rescue, rehabilitate and release
illegally kept animals that are being kept in the urban areas of the
country; all victims of an illegal pet trade. Without this new
acquisition, these animals will either be left to die in the field
or remain caged/chained for the rest of the lives at the pleasure of
their human captors.
Once rescued, these animals will be brought to the sanctuary,
rehabilitated and, if and when possible, returned to the wild,
through the Trust’s Stepping Stone Project. This project returns
many of our animals back to the bush for a second chance of a life
in the wilds of Zambia. Funding raised in Run for Wildlife this
year will be used alongside other funds raised, to purchase a
vehicle for the Unit, enabling the team to support Zambia’s needy
wildlife.
How can you get involved:
-
Enter as a family or individual in the main sponsored run
-
Enter your school in the inter-school competition
-
Enter your company in our new company race
This year we are encouraging companies to enter a team of your 5
best runners who will then run as many laps as possible in 1 hour
around our 1 km course. The wining team will receive the Run for
Wildlife Company Trophy and a DSTV package with 1 year’s free
subscription that can be donated to a school or charity of your
choice.
As well as the running, there will be lots of fun and games for both
children and adults, a food and drinks marquee, face painting,
jumping castles and much, much more. We also have live DJ’s taking
requests throughout the day which means you can either run to your
favourite music or request your partner’s favourite song to spur
them on to an extra lap or two.
For further details on Run for Wildlife 2005 or to register for the
sponsored run/Company race, please contact James on
biopark@zamnet.zm or
01-278-456/614.
This event could not have been made possible if it were not for the
generosity of our major sponsors DSTV and National Milling
Corporation.
|
August
2005