I cannot get this image out of my head – a dead rhinoceros, poached for its horn only, the rest of its body was a tangled mess of horror. This was not my imagination. It was a real-life photo that I saw in a special exhibit at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, California. For many of us who have never seen a wild rhino, a wild elephant, or giraffe, this seems like something we only hear of or see in a photograph. But in Africa, poaching is a real crisis.

There is no surprise there are only 2 North White Rhino’s left in the world (both female), so they will soon be extinct. Rhinos are typically killed for their horns (falsely believed by many to have healing properties so some misinformed people will pay a large sum of money for it), elephants are killed for their tusks (for the highly prized ivory), and pangolins (also endangered and are supposed to be protected under International Treaty) are captured, sold and eaten because some believe their scales and blood can heal disease. This is ironic since it is widely believed and theorized that the illegal capture of these pangolins led to our current COVID-19 pandemic! Hopefully we learn many lessons from this pandemic.

Here are few fantastic organizations working hard to protect these land animals in Africa. I hope to travel someday to Africa to see these amazing creatures and support the organizations that desperately need funding.

Big Life Foundation

Big Life Foundation is focused on saving African wildlife by partnering with local communities to protect nature (their backyard). Big Life was the first organization in East Africa to build anti-poaching operations across borders. Poaching is still a huge problem, due to increasing demand for ivory and other animal parts. Now, with rising poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, poaching has escalated because these poachers are trying to survive to feed themselves and their families. It costs a staggering amount of money to hire the hundreds of armed rangers to watch the backs of lions, elephants, rhinos, and giraffes.

Big Life Foundation thinks OUTSIDE THE BOX. Their mission is bigger than simply hiring rangers to combat poaching. Big Life works with the local Maasai people to rally them into protecting the lands, including wildlife such as lions and elephants. As our human population rises, we inevitably encroach upon the wild lands of these animals for farming and cattle grazing. To help with this competing use of the land, Big Life set up an Elephant Human Conflict Mitigation fund, which aids the local people in the region from damage caused by elephants. Crop-protection fences are put up to protect both the peoples’ produce and water supply.

Big Life also set up the Predator Compensation Fund so that livestock owners are compensated for their livestock killed by wild lions roaming the land. This helps prevent the Maasai people from retaliatory killing of the predators (i.e. lions) that preyed on their livestock.

Big Life also sponsors the Maasai Olympics to award young men and women who are coming of age, award their sportsmanship in competitive sports such as javelin toss, jumping and running/sprinting. Deep-rooted in tradition, the Maasai people proved their manlihood by killing a lion. The Maasai Olympics, held twice a year since 2012, has been wildly successful in providing educational scholarships and monetary awards as an alternative to killing.

 

https://biglife.org/

African Wildlife Foundation (AWF)

AWF strives to protect some of the world’s most endangered species. To keep wildlife in their natural habitats, AWF empowers local communities to be watch guards of these animals, hire rangers and hound dogs to stop wildlife trafficking, educate communities and youth, and research wildlife conservation strategies.

https://www.awf.org/

Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Ol Pejeta has one of the densest wildlife populations in Kenya, has cutting edge conservation strategies that uses smart fencing, to allow wildlife to reign freely, some of which are the most endangered. They have on their preserve the last two remaining northern white rhinos, the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, and the only place in Kenya to see chimpanzees. They are known for their natural wilderness experiences. Unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are not getting the visitors needed to fund their operation costs.

https://www.olpejetaconservancy.org/