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CITES ignores the Cheetah: Trafficking out of control
“at #CITESCOP18 last August, consumer countries in the Gulf States denied evidence of trafficked cheetahs, and those cheetah range states who called for more action to combat the trade were ignored" - Sarah Durant, Cheetah Scientist & Conservationist ...
International Calls for Iran to Release Conservationists
“Nowhere in the world, including Iran, should conservation be equated to spying or regarded as a crime,” said UN human rights experts in February 2018. “Detention of human rights defenders for their work is arbitrary in nature.” - United Nations Human Rights Experts...
Californian Poaches Leopard in South Africa
38 year old Californian real estate agent, Adam Thatcher Lawrence, of Willits in Mendocino County pled guilty to illegally hunting and killing a protected leopard in South Africa in 2011. He then secretly trafficked the skull and skin to Mozambique inside a spare...
Thank you, Dame Daphne Sheldrick
Great sadness from The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust with the news that founder Dame Daphne Sheldrick has passed away. In 2013, I saw a poached elephant in the North of Kenya with my own eyes. Upon returning to Nairobi, I took a day to visit DSWT. Watching the...
The Asiatic Cheetah: A Call to Reinstate Funding
With estimated numbers around just 50 in the wild, the Asiatic Cheetah is on the brink which begs the question of why funding would be pulled at such a critical moment for the species. Because heavy-handed sanctions prevented the transfer of funds to environmental...
Whitley Fund for Nature: The Green Oscars
There is a prestigious environmental award that has been in existence for over 20 years. While under the radar the Whitley Fund for Nature has quietly grown from £15,000 in 1994 to £1.1 million in 2015 in annual awards. Known to insiders as the Green Oscars, it funds...
Open Letter to Ken Fulk
An Open Letter to Ken Fulk & A Standing Offer Dear Mr. Fulk, I first came across your name in a Vanity Fair article about Denise Hale where you were mentioned as her darling of design and favorite party guest. Six months later I attended an event at The Battery...
The Hunting Question
Friends Niki Rust, a large carnivore research PhD candidate (& vegan), and Peter Allison, seasoned safari professional and author of the bestseller ‘Whatever You Do, Don’t Run’ got into a lively debate about the merits and morals of the trophy hunting industry...
Kenya’s Problematic Progress
As seen in National Geographic News Watch Driving on a Friday night from the idyllic campsite to a local farm for an after-dark game count, Action for Cheetahs (ACK) lead researcher Cosmas Wambua navigates a treacherous highway. The notorious Mombassa Road is a...
Tech & the Cheetah
As seen in National Geographic News Watch Some regions of Kenya have better cell phone reception than the heart of San Francisco’s financial district. This is no exaggeration. One can easily make a call or text from the Maasai Mara National Reserve. It’s changed the...
Podcast: Chasing Cheetahs
Podcast on MakeYouFamous: Chasing Cheetahs with Marcy Mendelson Marcy Mendelson has been documenting in advocating for wildlife in Africa for a decade. In this shot for media organizations like National Geographic and a far. She runs Geo-watch and runs safaris to...