( CNN ) Even two-tonne , spike-horned , armor-skinned rhinos need a helping hand sometimes . Fortunately , they can rely on one committed defender : eight-year-old Alyssa Carter . `` When I heard that rhinos were being killed , they were my favorite animals and I wanted to start this , '' says the elementary school pupil . Her campaign , Alyssa 's Save the Rhinos , has raised thousands of dollars to protect her favorite animal -- South Africa 's poacher-threatened rhinoceros -- and fund an innovative scheme aimed at tracking the hunters who would do them harm . Carter , South Africa National Parks one-and-only `` Rhino Champion , '' sells homemade chocolates for 10 rand ( $ 0.85 ) at her school . So far , she has raised over $ 23,000 through a combination of chocolate sales and donations from the growing number of people -- young and old -- who have filled halls to hear the young campaigner speak . Picture perfect . It all started in May 2013 when Carter -- then aged six-and-a-half -- came home from school and drew a picture : the same crayon image of long-horned rhino beneath a rainbow that is now stamped on her campaign 's sweets and chocolate . Her father , Brian Carter , says she 'd been taught about the plight of endangered animals , and burst out crying when she heard rhinos were being butchered by poachers . At home that night , the family resolved to do something to help , settling on the chocolates as a good place to start . Her father was her first customer . `` Originally she just wanted to do something to help , '' he says . `` The idea was to sell to anybody that would buy , so we started off by selling to friends and family , grannies and grandpas and people at church . '' For over a year , she has been selling chocolates every Friday at her supportive Johannesburg primary school -- and has now grown her stall with rhino-branded lollipops , stickers , biltong , and a range of knitted rhino toys created by a well-wisher who had heard about her fundraising efforts . Carter knows her most enthusiastic customers : singling out one particularly generous schoolmistress , Teacher Phuti , and an exceptionally sweet-toothed class of her schoolmates as her biggest supporters . Dogs take bite out of poaching . `` What Alyssa wanted to do was to give the money toward buying trained sniffer dogs to go into the Kruger National Park , '' says dad Brian . There , across an area the size of New Jersey , park rangers fight a desperate battle with poachers to prevent the extinction of the rhinoceros , whose horn is prized for its supposed value in traditional Asian medicines . Highly trained canines are a new addition to the park , first arriving in 2012 . `` If they find a rhino lying dead , they can sniff out where the poachers are , '' explains Alyssa Carter -- allowing rangers track poachers , just as the poachers themselves stalk prey . Dogs will soon patrol the park 's entrance points , too , detecting weapons that poachers attempt to smuggle in , and contraband -- including rhinoceros horn -- being transported out . At Kruger , South Africa 's largest wildlife reserve , park authorities report an increase in contact with suspected poachers , with rangers claiming before Christmas that 164 had been arrested in the park over the year . With each dog 's purchase , training and kennel costs running to over $ 8,000 per dog , they are n't cheap , but the young `` rhino champion '' can now proudly boast to have already added two new K-9 enforcers to the battle . Rhino spotting . But why rhinos ? `` They 're nice and , with their big-horns , they look beautiful , and I like looking for them in the wild , '' explains Carter . Before starting Alyssa 's Save the Rhinos , the Johannesburg resident had never seen a rhinoceros in its natural habitat . Now , she 's been to Kruger several times , she says -- on invitation to meet the park 's other Honorary Rangers , on a few occasions , and recently visiting two sniffer dogs in training last summer . She eagerly snaps photographs of every animal she sees in the park but rhinos hold a special place : `` It 's really nice because I know I 'm doing something , '' she says . Carter says she keeps count of each of the rhino she sees -- and is up to `` 130-something , '' so far . Carter is keen to talk to others about her experiences with rhinos , standing up in front of 700 students at a school in December , and nearly 300 adults at a development conference earlier that year . She says it 's just as easy to talk to grown-ups as kids -- as long as her father is by her side . The elder Carter says he was n't involved in conservation before Alyssa started her campaign , and that the whole family has caught the young activist 's enthusiasm . The ambition now is for Alyssa to talk at more corporate events , including business golf days where she has found success encouraging businesspeople to give to the cause . `` The bottom line is we need to raise more money , '' says Brian , `` and we need to sell more chocolates . '' Read this : School boy 's website helps tourists spot big beasts . More from African Voices .
Eight-year-old Aylssa Carter has started her own campaign to protect rhinos from poaching . The Johannesburg primary school pupil has raised over $ 23,000 . Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: