LAND ROVER TO THE RESCUE

From helping to rescue baby elephants in Sri Lanka to tracking endangered snow leopards in Russia, Land Rover is dedicated to wildlife conservation, writes Kim McCullough, Brand Vice President, Land Rover North America, LLC.

 

You might have read in the papers that we recently donated a new Land Rover Defender to Tusk Trust, the wildlife conservation charity that does such great work throughout Africa.

The story was big news because their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, attended the reception in Beverly Hills where we handed over the keys to a Defender 110 Station Wagon. The Duke of Cambridge is Tusk Trust’s Royal patron.

Providing vehicles to conservation organizations is nothing new for Land Rover. For more than 60 years we’ve been working with groups around the world who are as passionate as we are about protecting wildlife. In fact, over those 60 years, we’ve donated literally hundreds of vehicles.

We’re as committed today as we’ve ever been. The majority of our efforts go into supporting our five Global Conservation Partners – the Earthwatch Institute, the Royal Geographical Society, Biosphere Expeditions, the China Exploration & Research Society, and the Born Free Foundation.

re‑runs of that classic ‘Born Free’ movie with Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers playing Joy and George Adamson, the real‑life couple who raised Elsa the lioness and drove everywhere in a rugged Land Rover.

Land Rover has been supporting the Born Free Foundation since 2002, and earlier this year re‑affirmed its support by providing a new Defender 130 Double Cab for use on the Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa.

This remarkable reserve provides care and a safe haven for rescued big cats from around the world. The hard‑working Defender is used to tow heavy trailers, deliver food for the hungry cats being cared for and transport Born Free Foundation workers between the two sanctuaries at opposite ends of the reserve.

Land Rover’s involvement with the Tusk Trust goes back more than a decade. To mark the charity’s 20^th anniversary in 2010, we donated a new Land Rover Defender to a Tusk wildlife project in Botswana and every year provide a fleet of Land Rover vehicles to support the charity’s Safaricom Marathon fund‑raiser.

It doesn’t stop there; Land Rover vehicles are being used by Biosphere Expeditions to track rare Arabian leopards in Oman. We’ve also provided them with a fleet of four Land Rover Defender vehicles in Namibia used to track cheetahs at risk of straying onto farmlands.

A Land Rover Defender is also the official workhorse of the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Reintroduction Project in Central Kalimantan, which is in Indonesia. The project currently has over 530 orangutans in its care, and the vehicle plays a vital part in returning the animals to the wild.

Wherever animals are at risk, you can guarantee that a Land Rover isn’t far away.

http://theexperience.ning.com/page/global‑wildlife‑conservation   (go to Newsroom and click on Wildlife Conservation)