{"id":140805,"date":"2017-01-03T06:12:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T04:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/140805\/arrows-high-flying-adventures\/"},"modified":"2017-01-03T13:44:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T11:44:31","slug":"arrows-high-flying-adventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/news-headlines\/2017\/01\/03\/arrows-high-flying-adventures\/","title":{"rendered":"Arrow\u2019s high-flying adventures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The last seven years have seen the elephant population fall by almost a third, and rhino poaching reach epidemic proportions, with around 1 200 rhinos being killed in 2014 and 2015 in South Africa alone.<\/p>\n<p>To combat this growing problem, the special Paramount Group\u2019s Anti-Poaching and K9 Academy based in Rustenburg was born.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/GABON-NATIONAL-PARKS-AGENCY-ANNOUNCES-NEW-ANTI-POACHING-RAPID-RESPONSE-CAPABILITIES-Custom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-140869\" src=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/GABON-NATIONAL-PARKS-AGENCY-ANNOUNCES-NEW-ANTI-POACHING-RAPID-RESPONSE-CAPABILITIES-Custom-520x400.jpg\" alt=\"GABON NATIONAL PARKS AGENCY ANNOUNCES NEW ANTI-POACHING RAPID RESPONSE CAPABILITIES (Custom)\" width=\"520\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Arrow the German Shepherd is part of this special dog unit trained to combat Africa\u2019s poaching crisis.<\/p><div class=\"stream-item stream-item-in-post stream-item-inline-post aligncenter\"><\/div>\n<p>Two-year-old Arrow was recently recognised as the world\u2019s first sky-diving anti-poaching dog by Guinness World Records.<\/p>\n<p>He made his maiden jump with handler Henry Holsthyzen at the Waterkloof Airforce Base on the outskirts of Pretoria.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A Guinness World Record for \u2018Arrow\u2019 The World&#039;s first \u2018Sky-Diving Anti-Poaching Dog\u2019\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aK5mwf2WzRU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Arrow was specially selected as a puppy for his temperament and trained to descend from a helicopter by rope, strapped to Holsthyzen, and finally, to skydive.<\/p>\n<p>His skydiving expertise hinges on his close relationship with his handler and since Arrow was a puppy the two have eaten, slept, and worked together in order to develop the inseparable bond needed to carry out high-pressure anti-poaching tasks together.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/Arrow-and-Henry-Holsthyzen-skydive-1-Custom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-140867\" src=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/Arrow-and-Henry-Holsthyzen-skydive-1-Custom-520x400.jpg\" alt=\"Arrow and Henry Holsthyzen skydive 1 (Custom)\" width=\"520\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Arrow is one of nearly 200 other specially bred and trained K9s at the Anti-Poaching and Canine Training Academy run by Paramount Group, the African-based defence and aerospace company that manufactures aircraft, armoured vehicles, naval vessels and UAVs for governments around the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith my knowledge of Arrow &#8211; knowing him, and knowing his personality &#8211; it gave me a good idea of what to expect and he acted accordingly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a natural-born skydiver and an adrenaline junkie, and I often found I was more scared than he was.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI jumped out of the helicopter and it was just natural for him to follow me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI rely on him and in turn he relies on me, and I\u2019m willing to go into battle with him because I trust him,\u201d Holsthyzen said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/Arrow-Henry-Holsthyzen-skydive-2-Custom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-140868\" src=\"https:\/\/germistoncitynews.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2016\/12\/Arrow-Henry-Holsthyzen-skydive-2-Custom-520x400.jpg\" alt=\"Arrow Henry Holsthyzen skydive 2 (Custom)\" width=\"520\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Trust forms the basis of the relationship between handler and the K9, and this enables their relationship to excel.<\/p>\n<p>The Paramount Anti-Poaching and K9 Academy is the culmination of six years of active involvement by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation and Paramount Group in anti-poaching initiatives, and is one of the largest of its kind in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Eric Ichikowitz, Director of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, explained more about the project, \u201cIn some cases we have to insert the canine into a difficult situation with the poachers or a challenging environment, such as a forest or mountainous regions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe parachute helps engage them quietly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt any one stage we have a large number of K9s at various stages of development, enabling us to develop on each K9s unique capabilities as identified and tracked from infancy through adolescence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe large pool enables us to select optimal pairings between handlers and dogs, and to experiment with combinations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The Paramount Anti-Poaching and K9 Academy addresses the ever-increasing need for the training of conservation officers in anti-poaching activities, wildlife contraband detection, specialist K9 solutions and ranger K9 handler training, all of which have proven success rates in combatting and apprehending poachers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"stream-item stream-item-below-post-content\">\n<div class='tenancy_slot tenancy_slot_1 jannah_ad' style='display: none;' data-query-id='c5e4bc5f6a9a7188f4806603b26e8234'><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two-year-old Arrow, was recently recognised as the world\u2019s first sky-diving anti-poaching dog by Guinness World Records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1848,"featured_media":140806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[8297,1012,1003,1106,979,969,2730],"class_list":["post-140805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-community-2","tag-east-rand","tag-ekurhuleni","tag-gcn","tag-germiston","tag-germiston-city-news","tag-leigh-hodgson"],"amp_enabled":true,"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["community","East Rand","Ekurhuleni","GCN","germiston","germiston city news","Leigh Hodgson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1848"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/germiston-city-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}