Wildlife Direct Update: Conservation In Congo

No Comments | April 12th, 2007 | Trackback

Photo from WildlifeDirect.org

I came across Wildlife Direct via an article featured in Yahoo news about the non-profit organization and ever since I’ve enjoyed keeping up with their Blogs From the Wild, maintained by different people involved in conservation efforts in Congo.

What’s new?
Wildlife Direct has been featured several times in the press, and since January 1 of this year, their site has received over 34, 000 visits, with donations totaling over $33,000. This crudely translates into an average donation of $1 per visit, though because many people visit regularly without donating (like, well, me), the average donation is in fact $159 - you can see their post on the stats here. Their four-year target is to reach $8m per year for conservation in Africa.

In the field, you can read about a rather adventurous short trip taken by two Wildlife Direct staff members to a bigger city and also get a glimpse into some of the difficulties facing the area. In the Masai Mara National Reserve, a large number of poachers were recently caught in one operation; from the Gorilla Protection Blog you can read about the wider effects of poaching for entire gorilla communities.

Some revision: What is Wildlife Direct?
Wildlife Direct is a program of the Africa Conservation Fund, founded and chaired by Richard Leakey: the purpose of Wildlife Direct is to provide support to conservationists via the use of blogs, many of which are the personal blogs of individuals involved in the conservation effort in Congo. Wildlife Direct does not take any administration fee from donations as it is funded separately, generally by European Union grants – funds donated go entirely to the conservation effort.

For more on Wildlife Direct, see the previous Volunteer Logue post about Pickles For Primates (which includes information on the fundraising of a US elementary school) or of course the Wildlife Direct site itself.

How can you help?
No on site volunteers are required at the moment, but you can of course donate and even direct your funds towards the expenses for one particular Congo ranger, many of whom have continued working despite the lack of a salary; you can start your own blog if you’re involved in conservation; you can visit the site, keep up with the blogs and leave comments, and send e-cards to your friends and family to let them know about the blogs. You can also check out the various Wildlife Direct videos at YouTube and give them a positive ranking if you agree that they are awesome.