VW partners with DICT
November 16, 2011 by dyertrust
The Trust is very excited to announce that Volkswagen South Africa has recently decided to sponsor our work, first by the sponsorship of two vehicles and by an intensive marketing campaign encouraging the public to support our various research and conservation projects.
Volkswagens vision is to become a company with meaning and impact in terms of environmental consciousness, and an industry leader in environmental responsibility. We believe our partnership and support of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust will play a critical role in assisting them to conserve the rich marine life in the Gansbaai area, said Mike Glendinning, Director: Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen Group South Africa.
Our sponsorship forms part of our Think Blue initiative by which we try to implement small changes that will make big differences in the future. This is our small contribution to the ecological sustainability of our Marine Big 5. As Volkswagen, we hope our sponsorship will generate public awareness that will lead to more funding that can be used to support the work of the DICT, added Glendinning.
The two sponsored vehicles, a Touareg with BlueMotion Technology and a Polo BlueMotion will assist DICT with beach rescues, transporting researchers and volunteers, and the general running of the organisation.
Dyer Island is a 20 hectare nature reserve in Gansbaai and is managed by CapeNature. It is a rich breeding ground for birds, most significantly the endangered African penguin and, accordingly, is classified an important bird area by Birdlife International. Dyer Islands surrounding waters are home to great white sharks, seals, dolphins and whales completing the Marine Big 5.
Wilfred Chivell founded the Trust in 2006 when, together with CapeNature, they started a penguin housing project to address the issue of the lack of breeding habitat for this species. Past extensive guano scraping removed the African penguins natural breeding habitat and left them exposed to predators and other elements. Wilfred designed a unique penguin home, modelled on their natural burrows. His design has been lauded nationally and internationally and is now used extensively at other colonies.
Wilfred said: We continuously conduct studies on penguins, whales and dolphins, but at the moment we have a strong focus on the great white shark. We are studying their phenomenal healing abilities and also, through acoustic tagging and tracking as well as looking at environmental parameters, their inshore seasonal migrations. Our database of extensive fin identification studies is crucial in building population estimates.
Most importantly, the DICT together with its eco-tourism partner, Marine Dynamics, want to educate people about the great white shark to help them view the species as essential in the oceanic food chain.
The DICT is also the point of contact for animal rescue in the Gansbaai area and is involved with seabird and whale disentanglements.
The DICT is excited to be associated with Volkswagens Think Blue Initiative. We are confident that our partnership will give our projects exposure to national and international communities, adds Wilfred.
(An edited version of original press release by Volkswagen SA)
