Shannon Elizabeth Foundation

Shannon Elizabeth Foundation Rescuing, rehabilitating & protecting endangered wildlife. Home to Munu, the blind black rhino, & the Khusela Endangered Wildlife Sanctuary. 🦏

Conserving habitat and biodiversity through community partnerships, education & sustainable opportunity.

09/22/2026

Five species. One shared future worth protecting. 🦏

This World Rhino Day, we celebrate one of the world's most ancient and extraordinary animals, while recognizing the very real threats that continue to put rhinos at risk.

There are five living species of rhino: black rhino, white rhino, greater one-horned Indian rhino, Sumatran rhino, and Javan rhino, further divided into recognized subspecies, reflecting the remarkable diversity within the rhino family.
Each is unique, each has an important place in the wild, and each deserves a future.

But conservation is about more than protecting a species in name. It means protecting individual animals, safeguarding the habitats they depend on, supporting the people who protect them, and working toward a future where rhinos can continue to live wild and free.

At the Shannon Elizabeth Foundation, protecting endangered wildlife is at the heart of what we do. Our commitment to rhinos is a commitment to their lives, their landscapes, and the future of the wild places they call home.

Today, and every day, we stand for the protection of rhinos and the people working tirelessly to give them a future.

Because every rhino has a place in the wild. And every effort to protect them matters.

Every animal leaves an imprint. 🦏For millions of years, rhinos have shaped the landscapes they call home. They browse, m...
09/22/2026

Every animal leaves an imprint. 🦏

For millions of years, rhinos have shaped the landscapes they call home. They browse, move, disperse seeds, create pathways, and influence the vegetation around them. Their presence is woven into the ecosystems they inhabit.

Today, all five living rhino species and subspecies face a changing world, and their survival depends on more than protecting individual animals. It means protecting the landscapes they need, the ecosystems they help sustain, and the people working to conserve them.

This World Rhino Day, we celebrate these extraordinary animals and reaffirm our commitment to a future where rhinos are not simply remembered, but remain a living part of the wild.
Because conservation is not about preserving a photograph of what once was.

It is about making sure there is still something wild to protect tomorrow. 🦏🌿

World Rhino Day | September 22

Somewhere across the African savanna, a family of Southern Ground Hornbills is moving through the grass.They walk togeth...
09/15/2026

Somewhere across the African savanna, a family of Southern Ground Hornbills is moving through the grass.

They walk together. They call together. They defend their territory together. They raise their young together.

And they may return to the same nesting tree year after year, generation after generation.

There is something deeply moving about that.

Because when we lose a mature tree with the right cavity, we are not simply losing a tree. We may be taking away a place that has been part of a family’s story for decades.

The Southern Ground Hornbill is already disappearing from parts of the landscape it once called home. Poisoning, electrocution, habitat loss, the removal of large nesting trees, and human persecution all continue to place pressure on a species that needs enormous territories and takes years to reach maturity.

They are not a bird that can simply replace what is lost overnight.

They need space.
They need safe places to nest.
They need healthy landscapes.
And, perhaps most importantly, they need time.

People think wildlife conservation is often about protecting the animals we know and love.
But it is also about noticing the remarkable species that can quietly disappear before most of us ever realize what we are losing.

The Southern Ground Hornbill deserves a future in the wild.
And that future begins with protecting the places, families, and ecosystems that allow them to belong there.

Want to discover more wildlife stories like this?
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# Conservation

Meet the spotted hyena. 🐾Often reduced to a scavenger with a sinister laugh, the spotted hyena is so much more than the ...
09/09/2026

Meet the spotted hyena. 🐾

Often reduced to a scavenger with a sinister laugh, the spotted hyena is so much more than the reputation that precedes it.

These highly social carnivores live in complex clans, navigate vast territories, communicate through a remarkable range of sounds, and are formidable predators in their own right. Their powerful jaws and specialised adaptations make them uniquely equipped for life across Africa’s landscapes.

And despite being one of Africa’s most misunderstood animals, there is far more to their story than meets the eye.

This week’s Wildlife Wonders takes a closer look at the spotted hyena, from life inside the clan to the remarkable adaptations that make this species so successful.

📖 Read the full story in this week’s Wildlife Wonders newsletter: https://bit.ly/SEF_Newsletter

Today, we’re celebrating the woman who started it all. A woman whose life is dedicated to protecting wildlife, showing u...
09/07/2026

Today, we’re celebrating the woman who started it all.

A woman whose life is dedicated to protecting wildlife, showing up for animals, and advocating for them wherever she can.

Shannon leads with her heart as much as her head, bringing compassion, determination, and an unwavering belief that every animal deserves a second chance to everything she does.

That belief is at the heart of the Shannon Elizabeth Foundation. It inspires us to create safe places for wildlife, support the people working tirelessly to protect them, and give a voice to the animals who cannot speak for themselves.

From Munu, the first to call our sanctuary home, to rangers working every day to protect wildlife in the field, Shannon’s heart is in all of it.

But today isn’t just about the work. It’s about celebrating Shannon, her incredible heart, her passion, her kindness, and the difference she continues to make through her dedication to animals and the natural world.

We wish our founder, Shannon Elizabeth, a very happy birthday filled with joy, love, and all the happiness she deserves. 💐

Thank you, Shannon, for continuing to turn compassion into action and for inspiring all of us to do more for the animals who need us most.

Please join us in wishing Shannon a very happy birthday in the comments below. 👇

🦂 Sometimes, the smallest creatures have the most fascinating stories.The Sideclaw Burrowing Scorpion is one of those sp...
09/04/2026

🦂 Sometimes, the smallest creatures have the most fascinating stories.

The Sideclaw Burrowing Scorpion is one of those species. From building its own underground home to its unusual courtship dance, there is so much to discover about this fascinating little creature.

And this is why learning about wildlife, however small, unfamiliar, or unexpected, matters. There are countless fascinating facts waiting to be discovered, from the way scorpions use digestive enzymes to break down their prey before consuming it, to the incredible adaptations that help them survive in their environment.

Every species is part of the natural world, whether we notice it or not. Conservation isn't only about protecting the animals we already know and love. It's also about understanding the incredible diversity of life around us, including the species that may initially make us look twice.

Being a little afraid of wildlife isn't necessarily a bad thing, either. A healthy respect reminds us to give wild animals the space they need. A scorpion may sting if it feels threatened, but that is simply its way of protecting itself.

Want to follow along with our Wildlife Wonders series? Sign up for the SEF newsletter and discover more species with us, one at a time:

👉 https://bit.ly/SEF_Newsletter

🦌 Something new is coming to your feed.Welcome to Wildlife Wonders, our new weekly series exploring the incredible anima...
08/28/2026

🦌 Something new is coming to your feed.

Welcome to Wildlife Wonders, our new weekly series exploring the incredible animals around us, including the species that call Khusela home.

And we're starting with the Nyala. 🌿 There's more to this striking antelope than meets the eye.

There is much to discover when we take the time to look beyond what we already know about the animals we share this world with. How they live, how they interact with their surroundings, and the little details that make each species unique; every animal has a story worth knowing.

For instance, the first slide is a male, while the remaining slides feature females and young. The visual differences are remarkable! You could almost mistake them for separate species. 🦌
This is known as sexual dimorphism, which exists across a wide variety of species!

👀 Can you guess what animal we'll be discovering next?
Or better yet: what animal would YOU like to see featured? Tell us in the comments! 👇

Curious to know more? 🦌 Each week's Wildlife Wonder gets its own deeper dive in our newsletter, because there is always more to discover than we can fit into a carousel.

📩 Sign up through the link in our bio, or here: https://bit.ly/SEF_Newsletter

One animal. One story. One more reason to care. 🌍

Every August 12, people around the world pause to mark World Elephant Day, a day founded in 2012 to bring attention to w...
08/12/2026

Every August 12, people around the world pause to mark World Elephant Day, a day founded in 2012 to bring attention to what elephants face: poaching, the ivory trade, shrinking habitat, and the conflict that comes with it. It's a day of awareness. But awareness on its own has never been enough.

Elephant herds are led by a matriarch, usually the oldest female, who carries decades of memory on where to find water, food, and safety, and passes that knowledge down through generations. They communicate through rumbles too low for us to hear, felt more than heard, traveling for miles between family members out of sight of each other. They grieve. They return to the bones of herd members who have died and touch them gently with their trunks, a behavior we still don't fully understand. And they shape entire landscapes just by moving through them, opening paths, carrying seeds, and creating the waterholes that other species depend on.

But this day carries something more personal for our founder, Shannon Elizabeth.

It started with a video on Instagram. A ranger, scanning the field, his voice quiet and heartbroken: "This poor baby's been out here all night suffering." And then you see it, a trunk, off to the side, an elephant face, barely visible. And then...
she moves.

That was the moment Shannon couldn't unsee, and couldn't unfeel. It led her to South Africa. It led her to build something real on the ground, not just give from a distance. And eventually, it led her to Munu, a connection that became the inspiration for founding her sanctuary.

Some African elephant species are now considered threatened. For instance, savanna elephant numbers have fallen an estimated 60 to 70 percent over the last fifty years. Those aren't distant statistics to us. They're the reason this foundation exists, and the reason the work continues long after the hashtags fade.

Every animal leaves an imprint. That's what keeps us going, today and every day.

Swipe through for a closer look at the giants who shape the world around them. 🐘

Every year on August 9, South Africa marks National Women's Day, honoring the women who marched on the Union Buildings i...
08/09/2026

Every year on August 9, South Africa marks National Women's Day, honoring the women who marched on the Union Buildings in 1956 and the generations who've carried that spirit forward since. This year, we wanted to celebrate it by turning the spotlight on some of the women who make SEF's work in conservation possible.

Four different paths, one shared commitment to protecting wildlife in South Africa. To them, and to every woman doing this work often without recognition, we see you, and we're proud to stand alongside you.



SHANNON ELIZABETH, our founder, whose encounter with a video of a poached elephant on Instagram became a defining moment, inspiring a lifelong commitment to wildlife conservation. Since founding SEF in 2018, she has supported ranger teams and anti-poaching efforts, championed conservation research, and established the Khusela Endangered Wildlife Sanctuary in the Eastern Cape.

Dr. Marietta Hopley, one of our trustees, brings a background in business governance, community engagement, and strategic fundraising, shaped by co-owning three South African businesses, a global board directorship, and her service in the South African Air Force leading large-scale public-private partnerships. That experience now guides how she steers SEF's community initiatives and sanctuary expansion in the Eastern Cape, all in service of a simple goal: leaving a better world behind for her daughter, Mia-Rae, and the generations after her.

Dr. Jana Pretorius, a long-time advisor to SEF, has spent over 15 years as a wildlife veterinarian, leading rhino capture and relocation efforts across Southern Africa and representing the South African Veterinary Council at the National Rhino Summit. She continues to focus on rhino rehabilitation, while expanding her impact into plasma arc technology, turning waste into energy, to help create a cleaner world while generating sustainable funding for conservation.

Merlyn Nomsa Nkomo, supported by SEF and One Woman's Legacy, is completing her PhD this year after presenting her research internationally and winning best presentation at the Oppenheimer Research C

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