Red Lion helps Black Rhino

Lou Murphy and Bez White from the Red Lion in Hooe took park in the Edinburgh marathon to raise money to protect black rhinos.

Bez was dressed in her now famous rhino suit for the entire event in sunny but windy conditions while Lou ran alongside collecting money and keeping the crowd entertained.

Neither has run a full marathon for six years and had limited training - Lou was still recovering from a broken leg.

She runs the Red Lion with her sister Sam while Bez is based in St Leonards and helps out at the pub occasionally.

This was an important challenge for both of them though as they wanted to raise funds to conserve rhinos in Zambia, and want to contribute towards tracking GPS systems to be used in North Luangwa.

There were 12,000 black rhinos at one time in the Luangwa Valley but heavy poaching meant the species was declared extinct in the region in 1998.

In 2003 the North Luangwa Conservation project and Zambia's Wildlife authority started working alongside on a large scale reintroduction programme. The local community has been actively involved in the project and a secure sanctuary has been built. Five black rhinos from South Africa arrived in 2003 and a few years later 10 more were brought in and are said to be breeding.

Lou commented: "This month the final five will join them. We hope to raise as much money as possible - this will be used on monitoring GPS systems for the scouts to enable them to monitor the rhinos' whereabouts and movements, essential equipment for the rhinos' security.

Anyone wishing to contribute to their effort can do so on Bez's rhino donation site - www.justgiving.com/berrywhite, or call her on 07926360294.