Rhino war drafts a SEAL

His partying dreams died a quick boot-camp death, but Roy’s enthusiasm was made of sturdier stuff. He served on the aircraft carrier Nimitz for two years, and by 1987, he was in SEAL training in San Diego. That’s where he met Sawyer.

A few decades and many secret missions later, Sawyer called his SEAL buddy and asked him to consider joining the “Rhino Wars” team.

Roy didn’t think of himself as a conservationist or an animal lover, but a SEAL can’t say no to a challenge. At least not this SEAL. And after the challenge came the surprise.

“To go to South Africa and see the animals in their natural habitat, it makes a huge difference,” said Roy, who runs the SOT-G Corp. consulting business and lives in Coronado with his wife and two children. “It’s not about us, and it’s not about Animal Planet. It’s about how we can send a message so that people are aware. It’s not just about rhinos. It’s about how we abuse our guardianship of the planet.”

At the moment, “Battleground: Rhino Wars” is just a three-episode miniseries. But if Animal Planet wanted Roy to return to the rhino killing fields, he would do it. Because when his calling calls, Rob Roy figures he’d better answer.

“If it becomes my calling to be an environmentalist, I would do it. We did stop some poaching, and we arrested a few people and found out about their networks. We had an opportunity to make a differences, and I hope we did.”


