I'm not affiliated with WildAid, but I am involved in some work related to wildlife conservation in Africa and Asia. I didn't consider the scope when I got into it, but part of wildlife...
I'm not affiliated with WildAid, but I am involved in some work related to wildlife conservation in Africa and Asia. I didn't consider the scope when I got into it, but part of wildlife conservation means spending time and money educating consumers on the demand side because there are people out there who mistakenly believe that if you saw off an elephant's modified incisors (the tusks) that they'll magically grow back. And that people in Africa do this all day long because that's totally easier and less dangerous than just shooting the elephant.
Education is not as glamorous as people imagine anti-poaching operations to be: big badass rangers conducting direct action in the field -- a field literally filled with dangerous animals -- and all the other stereotypes that go along with it. But educating people on the supply side, giving them job opportunities so they don't turn to participating in crime, and building the foundations of support that foster communities to manage and conserve their own land is really important. These programs are really crucial to improving people's lives and ensuring they have a sense of agency and a sense of pride -- because they can be stewards of their own conservancies; they don't have to cede control to private land owners or the government. It's just as important to educate people on the demand side, the people who read inaccurate claims about rhino horn curing cancer (or embiggening your organ) or that buy shark fin soup to show off to their business colleagues. Raising awareness and educating people in different ways, and yes, even advertising to them, is something that WildAid does really well.
A lot of wildlife NGOs focus on rehabilitating, rewilding, and studying the fuzzy wildlife and their habitats. Very few are directly involved in ethical anti-poaching operations (but to name a few: IAPF, Freeland Foundation, Chengeta Wildlife, and WITA). Even fewer NGOs spend time and money advertising, educating, and even training the people working in roles that place them as unsuspecting intermediaries in the trafficking of illegal products. Governments may focus training of border enforcement agents in the detection of drugs, gemstones, or humans being trafficked across borders, but give them little if any information about wildlife products.
Due to population decline, habitat loss, and retention of high-value wildlife on private game reserves or conservancy land, many people in Africa and Asia have never seen a lion in the wild (there are only a couple hundred Asiatic lions left in India), much less a leopard or one of the eight species of pangolin. They certainly wouldn't be able to identify the teeth, tusks, claws, or other parts from an endangered animal on their own. So it's important that someone is trying to fill that gap by educating port works in addition to training border agents and other law enforcement adjacent fields. I think it's encouraging that WildAid has not only been doing this, but they've been studying their own advertising campaigns and education efforts and reporting these successes. They actually have quite a long history of partnering with high-profile celebrities (Yao Ming, Li Bingbing, and David Beckham among others) during previous campaigns. Anyway, I think this is progress and that's pretty cool.
I'm not affiliated with WildAid, but I am involved in some work related to wildlife conservation in Africa and Asia. I didn't consider the scope when I got into it, but part of wildlife conservation means spending time and money educating consumers on the demand side because there are people out there who mistakenly believe that if you saw off an elephant's modified incisors (the tusks) that they'll magically grow back. And that people in Africa do this all day long because that's totally easier and less dangerous than just shooting the elephant.
Education is not as glamorous as people imagine anti-poaching operations to be: big badass rangers conducting direct action in the field -- a field literally filled with dangerous animals -- and all the other stereotypes that go along with it. But educating people on the supply side, giving them job opportunities so they don't turn to participating in crime, and building the foundations of support that foster communities to manage and conserve their own land is really important. These programs are really crucial to improving people's lives and ensuring they have a sense of agency and a sense of pride -- because they can be stewards of their own conservancies; they don't have to cede control to private land owners or the government. It's just as important to educate people on the demand side, the people who read inaccurate claims about rhino horn curing cancer (or embiggening your organ) or that buy shark fin soup to show off to their business colleagues. Raising awareness and educating people in different ways, and yes, even advertising to them, is something that WildAid does really well.
A lot of wildlife NGOs focus on rehabilitating, rewilding, and studying the fuzzy wildlife and their habitats. Very few are directly involved in ethical anti-poaching operations (but to name a few: IAPF, Freeland Foundation, Chengeta Wildlife, and WITA). Even fewer NGOs spend time and money advertising, educating, and even training the people working in roles that place them as unsuspecting intermediaries in the trafficking of illegal products. Governments may focus training of border enforcement agents in the detection of drugs, gemstones, or humans being trafficked across borders, but give them little if any information about wildlife products.
Due to population decline, habitat loss, and retention of high-value wildlife on private game reserves or conservancy land, many people in Africa and Asia have never seen a lion in the wild (there are only a couple hundred Asiatic lions left in India), much less a leopard or one of the eight species of pangolin. They certainly wouldn't be able to identify the teeth, tusks, claws, or other parts from an endangered animal on their own. So it's important that someone is trying to fill that gap by educating port works in addition to training border agents and other law enforcement adjacent fields. I think it's encouraging that WildAid has not only been doing this, but they've been studying their own advertising campaigns and education efforts and reporting these successes. They actually have quite a long history of partnering with high-profile celebrities (Yao Ming, Li Bingbing, and David Beckham among others) during previous campaigns. Anyway, I think this is progress and that's pretty cool.