We’re finally ready to kick off Sporting Rifle’s Save the Rhino auction for 2013-14. Check out the amazing lots and get bidding
This is the third time Sporting Rifle has run an auction to raise funds for Save the Rhino, and it’s an even bigger undertaking than it has been on the previous two occasions. Poaching levels are well on course to exceed 2012’s total, which in itself was the highest ever. In the first half of 2013, around 460 rhino were killed illegally for their horn, leading to a projected total of over 900 by the end of December. The rhino population simply cannot withstand this level of onslaught.
Luckily, the generosity of Sporting Rifle’s readers, advertisers, contributors and friends is growing in kind. The first auction in 2010 raised £5,000; the second in 2011-12 doubled that and raised £10,000. Our aim this year will be to go even higher.
The money raised will go towards efforts to combat rhino poaching in the uMkhuze reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Head ranger Dave Robertson and his team still lack even some of the most basic equipment to carry out their duties, so every penny we raise will have a real effect.
Remember, it’s not really us who raises the money – it’s you, as the reader who bids or as the friend of Sporting Rifle who donates a lot. So see the box below for details on how to bid or donate. And thank you all once again – let’s make this auction the biggest one ever..
Sporting Rifle’s amazing lots
1 A week’s rhino safari at Big Game Parks, Swaziland. Includes five days’ accommodation and guided viewing with black and white rhinos, elephant, lion and various antelope including the rare roan. A tour of the poaching exhibition at Reilly’s rock and an explanation of the anti-poaching efforts in Swaziland since the infamous rhino wars of the 1990s and transfer from Matsapha International Airport Swaziland (airfare not included). Reserve price: £2,000
2 A medal Chinese water deer buck in Bedfordshire with top stalker Paul Childerley. Must be taken this season – final bid date: 1 January. Leading bid: £510
3 Chalkstream trout fishing for up to six rods. A day’s brown trout fishing on one of the south of England’s premier trout streams. The Hurdcott Estate has two miles of double-bank fishing, with trout weighing up to 6lbs. Must be used before the end of 2014, subject to availability. Leading bid: £600
4 Trophy roebuck with Sporting Rifle contributor John Robson in Yorkshire – to be taken next spring or autumn. Leading bid: £500
5 Taxidermist Gary Knight has donated the preparation of a shoulder mount of either a roe, muntjac or Chinese water deer. Reserve price: £250
6 Scottish red stag with Steve Sweeting minimum eight-pointer to be taken in 2013. Reserve price: £400
7 Trophy roebuck stalk in East Yorkshire with Sporting Rifle editor Pete Carr – to be taken next spring or autumn. Leading bid: £570
8 Trophy wild goat to be taken with stalking guide David Virtue in 2014 in Northumberland’s Cheviot hills. Rifle can be supplied if necessary, and reasonable fitness is required. Leading bid: £750
9 One weekend of driven boar shooting in Germany to be taken in October or November 2013 or 2014 with Sporting Rifle editor Pete Carr. Leading bid: £1,500
10 A weekend fallow deer culling in Essex with Sporting Rifle contributor Geoff Garrod in February 2014. Leading bid: £570
11 One trophy muntjac buck in Essex with Sporting Rifle contributor Geoff Garrod. Reserve price: £300
12 A weekend’s foxing with Mark Nicholson to be taken post harvest 2013. FAC holders only with fox variation, expectation 20-plus foxes. Leading bid: £400
13 Four days’ guided wild brown trout fishing for two people in the Lake District mountain tarns. Includes five nights’ farmhouse accommodation with Sporting Rifle editor Pete Carr. Leading bid: £500
14 A framed limited edition yellow Labrador study by field sports artist Mic Cawston. Reserve price: £100
15 Rivers West Hill Pro smock and field trousers donated by Richard Lee. Leading bid: £160
16 Be a Sporting Rifle cover star. Your face on the front cover of your favourite magazine. Leading bid: £75
17 One day’s shooting with Tim Sumner of Shires Deer and Vermin Management Services for CWD or muntjac. Morning and afternoon, doe or bucks (non-medals). To be taken 1 November 2013 to 30 March 2014. Reserve price: £300
18 A day’s deer photography tuition with Sporting Rifle’s Brian Phipps in Somerset. Leading bid: £150
19 Famed South African wildlife artist Ilse de Villiers has donated a framed original acrylic of a rhino wallowing in a water hole. Leading bid: £500
20 Five-day safari with Settlers Safaris for one person. Includes six nights’ accommodation. Hunting includes two blesbok, one impala, one warthog – management animals not trophies. Includes all transfers, food, drink and full accommodation. Any extra days booked direct: £100. Contact: www.settlerssafaris.com. Leading bid: £1,650
21 Harkila has donated a Canis suit, a new classic all-round Gore-Tex suit. More details from www.harkilauk.co.uk. Leading bid: £450
Email bids to colinf@blazepublishing.co.uk.
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