Category: Conservation Influencers

Japan The Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund (JTEF) has been active since 2009. Its core mission is to protect tigers, elephants and Iriomote cats, a critically endangered subspecies of Asia’s leopard cat. Its programmes are financed by three separate funds which existed before JTEF did: one fund for each of the three species it exists… Continue reading Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund

AZLE, TEXAS, USA Established in 1999, the International Elephant Foundation (IEF) is credited with being inspired and created by Michael Fouraker, Executive Director of the Fort Worth Zoo in the USA. In its words, IEF ‘creates a sustainable future for elephants’. It claims to generate and effectively invest in resources to support elephant conservation, education, research,… Continue reading The International Elephant Foundation

UK Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is the world’s oldest international wildlife conservation organisation. It was established in 1903 as The Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire, a name that it retained until 1981. In the the 21st-century, in keeping with its imperial origins, FFI remains under Royal patronage: HRH The Duke… Continue reading Fauna & Flora International

South Africa Founded in South Africa in 1973, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) is active throughout Southern Africa, as well as East Africa. The Endangered Wildlife Trust says that it exists to conserve threatened species and ecosystems. It does this, it says, by initiating research and conservation action programmes and projects. As a large regional… Continue reading Endangered Wildlife Trust

In 1906, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) put an African man on display in Bronx Zoo’s Monkey House. In 1918 one of WCS’s founding fathers, Madison Grant, published Passing of the Great Race, which Adolf Hitler referred to as his ‘Bible’. Another leading creator and early leader of WCS, Henry Fairfield Osborn Sr, was also a founder of the American Eugenics Society. His son headed WCS from 1940 to 1968, overseeing a series of major initiatives in Africa. There, WCS became one of the architects of the prohibition movement, which put wildlife for consumptive use and vast regions of land out of bounds to humanity. In 2020, WCS distanced itself in public from the racist views of Grant and Henry Fairfield Osborn Sr. But it has yet to issue a critical account of the legacy of Fairfield Osborn Jr, even though he led WCS into the modern era while sharing similar politically-inspired ecological goals to his father and Grant. WCS devotes considerable financial resources to influencing outcomes at CITES. WCS’s CEO reportedly earns USD$1,320,978.

Wiltshire, UK Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) was founded in 1987 as the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. However in 2012, it dropped the word society from its title to reflect the fact that it had transformed itself into a campaigning body.  In the UK, USA, Germany and Australia, WDC has teams on the ground… Continue reading Whale And Dolphin Conservation

Munich, Germany Pro Wildlife was founded in 1999 by biologists, veterinarians and others interested in nature and conservation issues. Its mission, according to its website, is to ‘improve the protection of wildlife and their habitats in Germany and around the globe’. Pro Wildlife is active in both the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and CITES. It… Continue reading Pro Wildlife

Pretoria, South Africa In 2011 Allison Thomson launched Outraged SA Citizens Against Poaching (OSCAP) as a facebook group opposed to rhino poaching. Encouraged by its rapid success online, OSCAP turned itself into a registered non-profit organisation in South Africa. In 2014, OSCAP held an International Rhino Conference at which it laid out its core beliefs and objectives.… Continue reading Outraged SA Citizens Against Poaching (OSCAP)

USA Launched in 2002, Born Free USA is managed by the UK-based Born Free Foundation (BFF). Its core mission is to keep wildlife in the wild. According to BFF, Born Free USA also raises awareness about the plight of captive wild animals in zoos, circuses and those kept as exotic pets, and it lobbies the… Continue reading Born Free USA united with Animal Protection Institute

No specific place of abode Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has no involvement with CITES. But it poses a threat to all those people and organisations that support the sustainable use of wildlife for the benefit of humanity. ALF is a loose global network of animal rights extremists who are best described as ecoterrorists. It is… Continue reading Animal Liberation Front