A 23-year-old from Nottingham has been filming a project that aims to stop poachers in Uganda by microchipping rhinos.
Alex Wilkinson from The Meadows, was asked to help Rhino Fund Uganda by documenting the darting and microchipping of rare rhinoceroses.
In the 1980’s wild rhinos became extinct in Uganda due to poachers trying to sell their horns. The charity hopes that microchipping will help them catch and prosecute people trying to attack them.
Photo: created by Alex Wilkinson.
The animals were brought back into the country in 2005 and are now carefully protected in a rhino sanctuary in Uganda. But the charity still fears for the animals safety.
Video: Opio Raymond from the Rhino Fund Uganda. Credit to Alex Wilkinson.
Alex Wilkinson who has a masters degree in biological photography and imaging, went to Uganda a year ago to study chimpanzees for his dissertation.
After making contact with members of the team at the Rhino Sanctuary, he was later trusted to go back and capture some rare footage of the process to show how they are keeping the rhinos safe.
I hope that the video will be an educational resource for the public and sanctuary, and a deterrent to poachers in Uganda.
Alex Wilkinson, Photographer and Videographer.
A rhinos horn can be sold for tens of thousands of pounds in East Asia. By microchipping the rhinos, the charity can monitor the animals and find a poacher if they were able take the rhinos horn.
More information on Alex Wilkinson’s work can be found at – www.wilkinson-photography.co.uk
