“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead
About James
Sometimes we can feel a little overwhelmed by the complexity of the issues facing the natural world. The only decision we need to make is not to leave it to someone else to fix. It is too easy to get caught up in the day-to-day. I know as a father I knew I needed to be prepared for when my wildlife loving daughters asked me what I was doing to save the rhinos, elephants, lions etc. I wasn’t prepared to tell them I was too busy with work and life!
I became involved in helping endangered animals after reading an article about the widespread poaching of rhinos that was occurring in Africa. The article was terrifying. Fully armed poachers would sneak into the large conservation parks at night and use the light of a full moon to hunt down and kill the rhinos. And then saw off their horns many times as they lay dying. If it was a female rhino it oftentimes meant leaving behind an orphaned baby rhino to fend for itself. This illegal black market for rhino horn was created purely so that wealthy business people in Vietnam could sip powdered rhino horn, infused into water or rice wine. Reading that article and learning that 3 rhinos per day were being killed in this manner was just too much for me NOT to get involved.
Over the past 4 years we have seen a reduction in the poaching of Rhinos in Africa as lots of people have been getting involved to help. However, we still need to do more to protect the survival of this species in the wild. The long-term strategy that is guaranteed to work is to reduce the demand for rhino horn among the buyers. This work will be a key project of Active for Animals.
My experience with helping the rhino and being involved with organizations working to help endangered animals has inspired me to start my own organization dedicated to developing programs designed to protect other endangered animal species.
All of us must be a part of the solution. Part of the reason for starting this organization is also to send a strong message to anyone who listens that if there are issues that distress you, as the rhino poaching crisis impacted me, then I encourage you to act. To get involved. You are either part of the problem (through your inactivity) or part of the solution. It feels empowering to be part of the solution. Trust me on that one!
And find out for yourself. Get Active For Animals