Baraza

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 24 2008 | By: baraza

Dear Friends,

Here is a guest post from Sheryl Bottner. You can read her blog here.

I never thought, when I was much younger, that I would live to be 50 years old. Burning out seemed a much better alternative than fading away, but the reality is much more interesting. There’s no fading away. Instead, I moved along and made mistakes and found truths and discovered ways to live my life that give it richness and meaning and purpose and … fun. 50 is only old if you make it that way and I’ve no intention of taking that path.

So, in a little more than a month, on January 24th, I will reach the half century mark.  It’s been a screamin’ fine ride so far and I anticipate a lot of exciting changes and challenges in my next half century.

One big thing that has changed the focus of my life is becoming an ethical vegan. Veganism is my moral and ethical compass, it guides my life in every possible aspect and I learn more every single day about honoring and protecting the non-human animals with whom we share this planet.

Another big thing is finding Wildlife Direct in the fall of 2006 when I stumbled on the former “Congo Warden’s blog,” now called “Gorilla Protection.” I was hooked immediately. I didn’t know anything about mountain gorillas but I was a new volunteer at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and eager to learn as much about wildlife conservation as possible. I certainly came to the right place to learn. In the past two years I’ve learned more about African wildlife and the conservationists working to protect it than I ever thought possible. Wildlife Direct has given me opportunities to help the conservationists directly by helping them with their blogs and donating to their work. I’m also a proud bonobo “mom” to little Lukuru at Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary.

Now, to celebrate my big, fat 50th birthday I’ve decided not to accept gifts but to instead ask my friends, family and total strangers to donate to Wildlife Direct. The team has kindly added a category for “Sheryl’s birthday present” in the donations widget under “One Time.” Please give early and often and you’ll have my heartfelt thanks and you’ll be doing something really good with your money - helping to save our wildlife.

From all of us at WildlifeDirect, Thank you and  ,HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERYL

Tags: Birthday, not honey, Sheryl

6 responses so far

Category: Appeals, WildlifeDirect news | Date: Dec 22 2008 | By: baraza

For the past month, we have been offering Christmas Gift Certificates for you to send to your family, friends and loved ones by making a donation to WildlifeDirect, we are happy to say that the response has been extremely positive and we have managed to raise a fairly good amount of money to help in our office operations.

I would like to thank the following people for donating:

• Sarah Boyle
• Wanda Harris
• Joanna Howson
• Ivan Tucakov
• Darren McRonald
• Peter Vander Veld
• Connie Archea
• David Li
• Karen B
• Helen B
• Sarah Vasicek
• Alison B
• Janice W
• Simon B

Thank you very much for your support.

If you donated and have not received your gift certificate yet, please do not hesitate to send me a email on victor@wildlifedirect.org and I’ll send it to you promptly.  And also if you have not purchased your gift certificate yet, there is no time like the present, donate and send me an email and I’ll make sure you get your gift certificate in time for Christmas.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays.

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 15 2008 | By: baraza

The books about Owen and Mzee were best sellers in USA and the original story is now translated into over 20 different languages as well as Braille. If you have the book and the plushies, you might want to complete your collection with a unique postage stamp.

The unique relationship betwen Owen and Mzee was commemorated in Kenya in 2007 with a Ksh 25/- stamp.

If you would like one of these stamps simply make a donation of 25$ on this blog and send us your email address to victor@wildlifedirect.org giving Victor your name, date you made the donation and your address to send the stamp to. There are only ten of these stamps available so book yours fast! All funds raised will go directly into helping WildlifeDirect to support conservation activities around the world.

Don’t forget you can also help wildlife and give your loved ones a wonderful gift through our gift certificate (see the donate button on the right), or you could purchase an original work of art donated by David Derrick to help raise funds for wildlife by bidding on the gorilla named Kelly or any of our items on ebay. Just search David Derrick on Ebay USA.

Tags: Haller Park, owen and mzee, postage stamp, wildlifedirect

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 14 2008 | By: baraza

We have all been inundated with images of the conflict raging in the Congo and how it has affected the Virunga National Park, rangers, gorillas and the forest not to mention other species.

Well today’s news  is both good and bad. The good news is that a new offensive against the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has just been launched in Garamba National Park, also in Eastern Congo. For years the LRA which is led by Joseph Kony have been terrorising northern Uganda, southern Sudan and Congo, killing and maiming thousands of people. They are famed for the abduction of children leading to a nightly migration of children from villages into small towns where they sleep on the streets in huddles - for safety in numbers. Kony and his top commanders are accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of raping, mutilating and murdering civilians as well as forcibly recruiting child soldiers. Kony wants the charges dropped and has stalled peace negotiations with the Uganda’s government demanding that arrest warrants for him and his associates are dropped before any agreement can be struck.

The Ugandan news paper The New Vision, Reuters, BBC and Al Jazeera all report that yesterday morning, Uganda, South Sudan and DR Congo attacked the LRA in Garamaba forest in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The attack was backed by the American government and other Western powers. Initial reports say that the attack was successful, and Kony’s  main camp was set on fire.

The bad news? This fight is taking place inside a national Garamba Park.   is n’t any old park, it is a world heritage site, and home to the worlds last northern white rhino. It is also famed for its African elephant domestication programme started in the 1960s. Our thoughts are with our friends in Garamba who are working in extremely tough conditions.

Bull fighting called

I wrote earlier about a planned bull fight in Nairobi to celebrate the ‘Obama circuit’. Well, a public protest in Kenya seemed to have been quite effective and the fight was called off as it contravened Kenyas  Animal Welfare Act. I feel jubilant about this - perhaps the worlds and concerns of Kenyans matter to our authorities? Well I’m holding my breath on that one.  Today I was stopped on the highway by protestors against two much more nationally important issues, our politicians, though some of the most highly paid in the world, refuse to pay taxes, and they have just passed a bill in parliament to muzzle the press who have been condemning them for their greed.  The minister of information and communications who is accused of illegally taking tens of thousands of dollars in allowances, pushed the bill through. He is a trained journalist but obviously doesn’t like it when his illegal actiosn get exposed. Kenyans are outraged and protests are being met with force, over 40 journalists have been arrested and another 70 people were arretesd wearing for wearing T-shirst saying Yes to Members of Parliament paying taxes. As usual our president is silent on the matter though he will make the final decision. Muzzling the press will affect all of us, and our ability to get stories out whether about corruption, illegal trade in wildlife, or issues affecting our parks.  I came away from the protest feeling quite angry at how things seem to be going backwards when it comes to freedom of the press press. We’ve seen how it has held Zimbabwe back and kept us from getting up to date information about what is happening on the ground in all spheres.

Tags: DRC, garamba Park, Jospeh Kony, LRA, Nairob Bull fight, wildlifedirect

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 12 2008 | By: baraza

Hi Everyon, I’m reposting this to give you the links to the individual sketches.

As mentioned earlier, DAvid Derrick donated some original pieces of art to WildlifeDirect to help raise funds during this difficult time. We have uploaded some of these on auction on Ebay. All of these sketches were done in the field from life in Kenya  by David G. Derrick Jr., an artist in the Los Angeles area. David works as a fine artist painting and sculpting animals. David is a member of Artists for Conservation.

David also works as an artist in the animation Industry, primarily at DreamWorks Feature Animation. He is also a published author/illustrator. Prior to his career as an artist David studied fine art at the University of Utah and furthered his education at California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS). As a student his films were very successful garnering many awards including a student Emmy Award. To see more of David’s work visit http://www.dgderrick.com/ Please help David to help 
WildlifeDirect Inc 

The sketches are all original and signed by the artist. They are  worth considerably more than the reserve price.

Click here to bid on Elephant Brothers

To bid on this marabou stork  go here

To bid on the two hornbills go here

More wonderful paintings are coming later….simply search for David Derrick on Ebay USA to see the list of all of them.

Tags: art, David Derrick, Kenya, marabou stork, wildlifedirect

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 11 2008 | By: baraza

Here’s a podcast that should put a smile on your face, plug in your headphone and let Antony from the lion Guardians entertain you!

Click To Play

Let us know what you think and  don forget to buy a Christmas gift certificate!

Tags: Antony, Kenya, lion guardians, Lions, Masai, wildlifedirect

3 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 10 2008 | By: baraza

Dear Friends,

Don’t forget that you can donate a WildlifeDirect gift certificate to give to your  friends, family members or loved ones here. Once you have made a donation on the right hand donations bar, please email victor on victor@wildlifedirect.org and he will send you the gift certificate.

Thank you for your unrelenting support. From all of us at WildlifeDirect.

Help us by sharing this on facebook, myspace, bebo and wherever else you socialise online!

Tags: elephants, Gorillas, Masai Mara, National Geographic, Video, wildlifedirect

No responses yet

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 10 2008 | By: baraza

Tourism in Kenya has always been the answer to wildlife conservation - it’s how we finance our parks and reserves. It’s also a major industry in this otherwise developing nation. The Big Five refer to lion, elephant, hippo, buffalo and leopard - the species hunters always wanted to ‘bag’. Thankfully, we banned hunting a while ago and now they are shot only by camera.

Most visitors to Kenya come for the wildlife, scenery and beaches, and nowadays, there is growing interest in cultural and traditional attractions. I learned yesterday that ‘bull fighting’ is to now be promoted as a tourism attraction, a sure winner seeing as it is a tradition from western Kenya where Obama’s father hails.

That this cruel practice is actually against the Animal Welfare Act has not stoppped a certain politican from entering his own bulls into a competition that is slated to take place this sunday at our national sports stadium in Nairobi.  If we allow our ministers and our business people to break the law to make money through the suffering of domestic animals, it could be just the beginning of the abuse of wildlife as well  - there are strong campaigns ongoing to open up hunting of wildlife which many of us fear will be disasterous.  The Animal Welfare Act should protect wildlife and domestic animals alike.

A number of organizations and thousands of individuals are understandably outraged with the planned bull fight as noted by the BBC here  and Sheryl has posted information about a petition on her blog ‘Don’t tap on the Glass” here for anyone who feels strongly against bull fighting to sign.

Tags: animal welfare, conservation, Kenya, wildlifedirect

5 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 10 2008 | By: Maina

The troubles in Zimbabwe seem to be getting worse. In the recent weeks, the cholera outbreak has been spreading like bushfire and has already claimed 600 people. There is no food, water or money - or rather the money can’t buy anything.

Now human misery seems to have spread to wildlife: from the killing of wildlife in the the parks to starvation and dehydration of those poor destitute animals in orphanages. One such orphanage is the world famous Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage in the outskirts of the Zimbabwean city of Bulawayo. Chipangali is also one of the largest orphanages in the world with about 300 animals. These animals are brought here because they are either orphaned, abandoned, injured, born in captivity or brought up unsuccessfully as pets. They attract thousands of tourists every year but depends on donations to feed these wild refugees that include lions, leopards, baboons, snakes, owls, and crocodiles as well as other wildlife.

Nicky Wilson who runs the orphanage expressed concern the donations were drying up. She said they might be forced to close down if the situation does not improve soon. “We are facing serious problems,” Wilson told the Zimbabwe Standard. “Wild animals face starvation at the center due to food shortages” she adds.

This sanctuary for the destitute animals was founded in 1973 by Vivian and Paddy Wilson as not-for-profit organization and has been successful ever since.

It is a pity that it is on the verge of collapse in these trying times for humans and wildlife in Zimbabwe.

Here are 11 seconds of two of the destitutes.

2 responses so far

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Dec 09 2008 | By: baraza

Dear Friends,

We are so pleased to be  the recipients of donations of original art works by David Derrick to help raise funds for WildlifeDirect. 

Seven fantastic sketches and paintings of wildlife will be auctioned on Ebay and all proceeds will benefit wildlife through WildlifeDirect. This is your opportunity to become a proud owner of an original work of art - or to give an extra special gift to that  hmm…extra special person in your life….

These two hornbills were sketched in the field from life in the spectacular Samburu National Park in Kenya by David G. Derrick Jr., an artist in the Los Angeles area. David works as a fine artist painting and sculpting animals. David is a member of Artists for Conservation and pledges has donated this picture to us at WildlifeDirect!

Make your bid now by clicking on Ebay now or search for Hornbills.  David also works as an artist in the animation Industry, primarily at DreamWorks Feature Animation. He is also a published author/illustrator. Prior to his career as an artist David studied fine art at the University of Utah and furthered his education at California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS). As a student his films were very successful garnering many awards including a student Emmy Award. To see more of David’s work visit http://www.dgderrick.com/ Please help David to help us. Make your bid here on Ebay now look for item number 320323983572

Here is a photo of David working in the field. Thank you David, you are a star!!! From all of us at WildlifeDirect

Thank you for helping us to share this amazing offer on facebook, myspace, bebo and wherever else you socialize online! 

Tags: art, conservation, David Derric, Ebay, Samburu Hornbills, wildlifedirect

No responses yet