DALLAS TX – A professional South African hunting guide has been missing from a hunting expedition in Zimbabwe since Friday, April 7. An extensive land and air search is underway to find Scott van Zyl but the guide has yet to be found. DSC Frontline Foundation has approved an emergency grant to support the helicopter search efforts.
Van Zyl and his tracker left their vehicle and set off on foot into a rural area. Both men split up and traveled in different directions with van Zyl never returning to the vehicle. The guide’s dog returned and a cursory search of the area turned up no trace of the guide. Van Zyl reportedly left his firearm and personal items in the vehicle. Helicopter search teams spotted van Zyl’s backpack on the banks of Limpopo River but the man was not found.
“The Frontline Foundation wants to do all that is possible so the search for Scott can continue,” said DSC Frontline Foundation President Karl Evans. “We hold out hope that he will be found alive soon. Scott has worked with DSC members in the past and he is someone we consider a colleague and friend. Our hearts and prayers go out to Scott’s wife and children in this time of uncertainty.”
A friend of van Zyl who is involved with the search said they would need approximately R500,000 (US$36,000) to keep the helicopters in the air. The Heritage Protection Group, the SA Professional Hunters’ Association and Limpopo’s search and rescue teams are still searching for the guide.
Individuals or groups who wish to help fund the search and rescue of Scott van Zyl can either donate at this GoFundMe page or make a tax deductible directed donation by credit card to the DSC Frontline Foundation here by following the donate and support link. Donators should be sure to indicate the donation is for van Zyl.
About DSC Frontline Foundation
The DSC Frontline Foundation, a Texas non-profit corporation, was started by a group of dedicated DSC members with the support and encouragement of the Dallas Safari Club.
The Foundation has received notice that it is exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to the Foundation are deductible under Section 170 of the Code.
The Foundation Board of Directors consists of DSC members and includes people involved in the professional hunting industry as well as those who appreciate and respect the risks that professional hunters, outfitters, guides and their assistants face on a daily basis.
The mission of the DSC Frontline Foundation is to provide financial relief to professional hunters and their assistants who are killed or seriously injured in the course of providing professional hunting services or anti-poaching activities. The mission of the foundation was expanded to include a separate anti-poaching fund to provide financial relief to government employees killed in the course of providing anti-poaching activities. The individuals we seek to help are often on the frontline of hunts and therefore exposed to the dangers inherent in hunting. These same individuals are unlikely to have adequate, or any, health insurance. They are unlikely to have life insurance or disability coverage. As a result, a serious injury has the potential to be even more devastating to these individuals than to most of the rest of us. The death of a primary breadwinner could have equally dire consequences for most of the people we seek to help.
About DSC
A member of IUCN, DSC is a mission-focused conservation organization, funded by hunters from around the world. With an administrative staff of less than 15 and a volunteer army of 500, DSC hosts the Greatest Hunters Convention on the Planet™ that raises funds for grants in conservation, outdoor education and hunter advocacy. In the past five years, more than $5 million has been channeled to qualified projects, organizations and programs in support of that mission. Get involved with DSC at www.biggame.org.
