News
WWF/CHRISTY WILLIAMS
“The poaching threat facing elephants in Myanmar has reached “crisis” levels, the World Wide Fund for Nature warned this week.”
“The wildlife conservationist Kuki Gallmann is recovering in a hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, after being shot twice in the stomach, on April 23rd, by armed raiders.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY REMO CASILLI / CAMERA PRESS / REDUX
Farm workers in a field at a farm in Klippoortie, east of Johannesburg. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
The Grevy's Zebra Trust has been monitoring herds and conserving habitats through partnerships within communities in the northern Kenya region since 2007.
In 2015, the Grevy's Zebra program was able to to reduce poaching incidents in El Barta by 60% through engaging communities that live off of wildlife and providing them alternative income through conservation. In 2009, the proportion of foals and juveniles among the population increased from 12-21%, and remains at this level today.
The Grevy's Zebra Trust is doing amazing work, and we are so proud to be a partner in these projects. We all need to protect these magnificent creatures before it is too late.
WorldWomenWork's supports the Grevy's Zebra Trust through funding 5 educational scholarships that send local Samburu girls to secondary school. We also provide the salaries of 5 scouts that track and monitor the zebra herds. WorldWomenWork also provides the full funding for the Nkirreten Project.
The Nkirreten project is a program that trains women to fabricate and sell reusable sanitary pads. This program not only provides a less expensive hygeine product for local women so they can continue with their everyday lives during menses, but it also gives local women an alternative income source through the sales of the pads. As a bonus, this project promotes environmentally friendly consumption.
At WorldWomenWork, we believe that the way to protect endangered species and conserve the natural world is through empowering local women. By providing educational opportunities and environmental training, we are preparing a new generation of leaders to protect our world.
In 2015, the Grevy's Zebra trust trained a total of 685 women, 591 elders, 491 warriors and 31 local leaders to improve environmental stewardship. Just imagine how much more they can do with your help.
Your support of this program in 2017 will be able to provide the salaries of more scouts to protect the endangered Grevy's Zebra and more educational opportunities for girls and women.
Thank you for all that you do.
We are in a crisis. Almost all of the big tuskers are gone from surges in poaching across Africa. The price of ivory has fueled the widespread killing of elephants. There are now only approximately 30 of the great tuskers left.
Now, these animals are dealing with a new problem. Without the matriarchs to lead the heard, the orphaned elephants do not know where to go. These herds are now wandering into new areas at risk of encountering dangerous habitats. The Orphan Project by Save the Elephants helps to understand the orphaned elephant's migratory patterns as they expand their ranges into uncharted territory. Over the past three years, WorldWomenWork has donated over $300,000 to this project for radio collars, vehicles, and staffing.
This monitoring will be increasingly important for ensuring the saftey of the herds during the Kenyan government's Vision 2030 development plan that will build road, rail and pipline links through both East-West and North-South in the Lamu Port, South Sudan, and Ethiopian Transport Corridor (LAPSSET). The Orphan Project's monitoring system will ensure that any development is created with access for migrating wildlife.
We anticipate to give another $100,000 in 2017 for additional tracking collar deployments, collar replacements, aerial patrol, monitoring time, and GIS (Geographic Information System) analysis of movements. This data will be crutial to ensuring the future of these elephant herds across the African savannahs.
WorldWomenWork has been fortunate to fund the work of Shifra Goldenberg and Dr. George Wittemyer through Save the Elephants. They have been researching the orphan's new migratory patterns and social behaviors in the Samburu National Reserve. Their work has been highlighted recently in the New York Times and National Geographic.
In this video by National Geographic, Shifra explains more about social bonds between elephants and their behavior when finding an elephant who has died.
This program is completely funded by generous donors like you. We are almost at the end of our 2016 fund drive, and need your support now more than ever.
Nothing can stop the Mama Simba
We are so inspired by the Mama Simba's hard work and dedication. This year, the "Mothers of Lions" have added 9 new members to their group, bringing their numbers from 10 to 19. In exchange for weekly educational classes, the Mama Simba have been a watch group for lion sightings and conflict issues. The group's support of conservational issues has allowed for a safe environment for the local lion population as well as the opportunity for increased income for the women participating.
Outreach programs like the Mama Simba and the Warriors founded by the Ewaso Lions, have had a positive impact on the lion population around the Samburu National Reserve. In December 2015 alone, the teams have stopped retaliatory lion killings 26 times. The goal is to transform human conflict with Lions into coexistence. This is done through the Ewaso Warriors & Mama Simba programs that promote prevention of conflict through tracking and reporting lion behavior.
It isn't just the adults that get to have all the fun. The group has held two Lion Kids Camps with a total of 122 Kenyan children learning and practicing conservation. The next generation of lion keepers are being made, and it is beautiful.
Now for the adorable news, new cubs have been found in the study area. They are the most amazing creatures. Jeneria, who found the cubs, had this reaction, "Because of the excitement, I almost threw my camera. I was shaking all over and it took me so long to take the first photo".
Thank you for continuing to inspire us with your love for conservation and support of women around the world.
We love this story! Within a week of the Lion Kids Camp, we heard that Zawadi, one of the young herding children who attended the camp, spoke to some warriors in her village and said "Do not go after the lions and hurt them. If you do, you will have to answer to me." The warrior spoke back and said "who are you to tell me what to do Zawadi? to which she replied, “I am the one who will teach you about lions."
Zawadi (pictured right in the photo) is the daughter of Mparasaroi (on the left), the leader of our Mama Simba programme. "We can see that Zawadi is becoming just like her mother - a real lion spokesperson!" From The Ewaso Lions Facebook Page
Questioning Captivity: Should animals be removed from nature for our enjoyment?
The death of Harambe has ignited a long-overdue debate around the ethics of captivating animals. This New York Times article captures our feelings best in this quote from primatologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy.
“When I visit zoos, I have to turn off my feelings and just tell myself that I am at a museum admiring nature’s masterpieces, otherwise, I can’t really justify keeping great apes in cages.”
When will we, as a species, realize that sometimes our cultural standards are damaging for other sentient creatures? At what point will we shrug off these accepted practices for the sake of morality.
The accepted actions of the past should not dictate how we want to live in the future. We need to question every action and practice. We need to have accountability to this planet and to every species on it.
Animals do not belong in cages.
WorldWomenWork helps support the Trust and director Belinda Mackey by employing underserved women from communities that share the zebra’s land. WorldWomenWork provides the salaries for thirteen scouts who monitor the zebras and collect critical data for understanding the animals and their plight. In 2012, scholarships were provided for five young women to begin a secondary education. These young students are a rarity in these communities where girls almost never have an opportunity for a high school education. Students and their greater community also witness firsthand that preserving an endangered species brings great benefits.
The goal of this program is to empower women through the production and marketing of reusable sanitary pads. The Grevy’s Zebra Scout ladies are trained in the fabrication of the pads, and they in turn sell them to their peers and community members. In April 2015, 29 women and 10 men participated in training workshops to make the sanitary pads.
By providing women with accessibility to feminine hygiene products, we are giving them freedom over their biology. This program will enable girls and women to improve their personal hygiene and health, as well as providing school-going girls with the confidence to continue classes during their menstrual cycle.
In order for the conservation of the Grevy’s Zebra to be successful, it is important for the community to thrive. This program provides yet another avenue for alternative income for women of the community. By investing in the improvement of the livelihoods of these women, we strengthen the connection between the community and the Grevy’s Zebra.
In 2015, WorldWomenWork funded this program through the generosity of our donors.
The Mama Simba, Mother’s of Lions program engages local women in Wildlife Conservation. Samburu women have rarely been actively included yet they spend a significant amount of time in wildlife areas.
We are so inspired by the Mama Simba’s hard work and dedication. This year, the “Mothers of Lions” have added 9 new members to their group, bringing their numbers from 10 to 19. In exchange for weekly educational classes, the Mama Simba have been a watch group for Lion sightings and conflict issues. The group’s support of conservational issues has allowed for a safe environment for the local lion population as well as the opportunity for increased income for the women participating.
Outreach programs like the Mama Simba and the Warriors founded by the Ewaso Lions, have had a positive impact on the lion population around the Samburu National Reserve. In December 2015 alone, the teams have stopped the killing of lions 26 times. The goal is to transform human conflict with Lions into coexistence. This is done through the Ewaso Warriors & Mama Simba programs that teach education in the local community and tracking lion behavior.
It isn’t just the adults that get to have all the fun. The group has held two Lion Kids Camps with a total of 122 Kenyan children learning and practicing conservation. The next generation of lion keepers are being made, and it is beautiful.
Now for the adorable news, new cubs have been found in the study area. They are the most amazing creatures. Jeneria, who found the cubs, had this reaction, “Because of the excitement, I almost threw my camera. I was shaking all over and it took me so long to take the first photo”.
Sangduen Lek Chailert and World Women Work work towards a better future for Thailand's remaining elephants.
I want to update you on Losing the Elephants as a lot has happened!
It has has been a wrenching experience, one moment total agony, disbelief, the next joy.
I spent 2 weeks with the Swell Pictures crew in November filming the second part, the rescue of an elephant at the Surin Elephant Roundup with Lek. The people of Surin were traditionally excellent at capturing elephants in Cambodia and then training them as working animals. Today it’s entertainment to make a living, reenactment of past century battles with drugged elephants, rides and selling. We arrived in Surin after an 18hour drive. I felt a sense of foreboding. In the chaos of the elephant breakfast and rides an elephant lost it after being teased with food and attacked the woman who was hospitalized with a coma – don’t know the outcome. From there we went to the Army grounds where many elephants are being kept to look at one Lek hoped to buy, but she had died. We find another lady about 30 who has a broken leg from a logging accident in Burma, almost blind in one eye and then 5 years of begging on the streets of Bangkok. This is one of the most desperate scenes I have ever seen. Mahouts and families are living under tarpaulins surrounded by cooking fires, trash and filth. Poverty with elephants the only means of economic survival are brutally chained, some repeatedly throwing themselves on the ground in desperation. Stab wounds, malnutrition the norm, but we have found “Mae Bua Loi”- Floating Lotus – and the negotiations begin. The price $13,000 is agreed upon. She is going back to her village for a farewell ceremony.
We arrive at dusk the next evening. Lek joins the men sitting on the ground, the centerpiece a pig’s head on a platter with money and plenty of liquor for the goodbye ceremony and many spirits. We have had to rent a truck which is outfitted with tree trunks wrapped with blankets felled in the dark to keep her stable on the 20 hour trip back to the sanctuary. We leave about 8. Lek and I are sitting at her feet where fresh fruits – watermelon, mango, banana, jack fruit – are piled for her to munch on the 20 hour journey ahead. She towers over us, her eyes filled with fear, but she is calm. The next afternoon again sitting in the shadow of this magnificent creature we arrive at the Park. Everyone is waiting for us as we drive toward the river. She is unchained for the first time in how long and walks slowly with her new mahout to the river and then into the distance as the sun sets. Tears of joy abound!
The next morning the most incredible thing happens. Bua Loi is walking and munching on grass when out of the trees comes an elephant. They came together slowly with trunks outreached – much touching and feeling. They had lived together in the same village in Burma and had begged in Bangkok. They had not seen each other for 2 years!
As some of you know ‘Losing the Elephants’ premiered to a packed house at the 2008 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. It has gone on to be an official selection at a number of other prestigious festivals including Telluride Mountain Film and its traveling festival which will bring it to audiences worldwide. National Geographic Television chose it to be a part their series ‘Wild Chronicles’ and as a result, a condensed version of the film has been seen by PBS audiences nationwide.
The expected delivery of the re edited film in its full broadcast hour is this summer which will allow ample time to get the film out to the 2009 film festivals including the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. In addition the film will be presented to broadcast outlets, including National Geographic Television and the Discovery Channel. Thank you all so much for being a part of this incredible project.