Baraza

Category: WildlifeDirect news | Date: Aug 12 2008 | By: baraza

Hello again everyone, we are back from an intensive few days of strategic business planning. Phew what a marathon!

Business planning can be frightening. It’s at times like this that one prepares oneself for the worst - a consultant telling you that you’ve got your plans back to front, your vision is impossible or your plans out of date and that THINGS HAVE TO CHANGE! But to hear the consultant, congratulating us for WildlifeDirect’s innovative and effective approach to conservation  was more than a relief. It gave us a renewed burst of energy and excitment. Not least was Richard Leakey who has always believed in the power of the general public in responding to emergencies if they have access to the right information.  He admitted rather sheepishly that he has never been absolutely sure that his idea could work though. So you can imagine how he took the news, he was grinning ear to ear as he listened to the consultant report on the great potential we have and advising on the way forward. As it turns out, most of what has been recommended was already thought of, much wasn’t ever implemented as we were not sure …. but now that we have seen the analysis and projectionsn we can push forward and break new ground. It is so exciting.

Isaac, Arisa (the cat-like dog from Turkana), Mary and I debate the vision of WildlifeDirect. We had the retreat at Dr Leakey’s house in the rift Valley where we had to work intensively in groups - the location is spectacular, the weather perfect for working outdoors, it was easy to get distracted by the splendid views, yet it was probably the most constructive planning time that we have had in months. The entire WildlifeDirect team participated and it enabled us to digest the outcomes of the various surveys and analyses that have been ongoing for a few months now.

David and Masumi in deep thought. A number of important decisions were made and we are really excited with the plans ahead - we will continue to do what we do well, while focussing on developing and sustaining our organization by building our team and securing sustainable funding for our core costs. We will also improve our website platform and facilities to make it easier for you readers, donors and friends as well as blogger. In terms of geographical focus, we will be investing in a major expansion over the next two years through the East and Central African countries of DR Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi to support the conservation of Africa’s most biologically important and diverse landscape, the amazing Albertine Rift.  Species like chimpanzees, elephants, gorillas, okapi, lions, monkeys, birds and fish in diverse habitats including lakes, swamps, forests, mountains and savannas.

Shelley, from the consulting firm TCC flew out from the USA for the retreat meeting most the WildlifeDirect team for the first time. Here she is with Mary, Maina and David. We have a huge amount to of work cut out for us and hope you enjoy helping us to achieve it!

Even though I knew that I had to focus only on planning, I felt totally cut off for those few days away from the blogs. It helped me think about the big picture, but it made me feel rather blog-homesick. Getting back to the blogs was like christmas - and there is a piece of news I was so excited to read on return - that Simon Thomsett’s effort to raise funds on his blog for an eye operation on a Crowned Eagle has already raised over $1,000! This is fantastic news and I called Simon to tell him. He was on his way to the eye clinic with Rosy who I could hear calling pityfully in the back seat. I’d like to thank you all for making it possible for us to help people and projects like Simon and Rosy.

We have had 2 months of overcast weather so the first day of sun was a great sign for us. In the evening we watched the sunset over the Great Rift Valley ……perfect!

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Tags: business planning, crowned eagle, richard leakey, Simon Thomsett, wildlifedirect

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Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 05 2008 | By: baraza

I’ve just spent a couple of hours with Simon Thomsett talking about Rosy, a male Crowned Eagle that was brought in for care in 1977 with a broken wing. At that time Simon Thomsett was just a boy - today 32 years later, they are still best of friends.

Crowned eagles are the most powerful African bird of prey and are  critically endangered in Kenya.  Rosy matured and became one of the most famous breeding eagles in Africa. He married “Girl” in 1992, producing a total of 12 chicks to date. This is the only such breeding and release project in Africa, and released young are already breeding in the wild. Their story is a model for captive breeding of other forest eagles, and is documented in one of our WildlifeDirect blogs http://simonthomsett.wildlifedirect.org . Indeed, the breeding and release of these forest eagles has helped plan and execute similar projects elsewhere, such as with Harpy Eagle release programmes.  The pair, now in their thirties are still in good breeding condition but Rosy needs help.

They last bred successfully in mid 2005. In mid 2007 Simon noticed cataracts in both of Rosy’s eyes, and by April 2008 he was having trouble getting around his breeding pen. By June this year he was unable to fly anywhere both his eyes are now totally opaque. Unless treated Rosy will certainly die.

There is only one specialized eye unit for animals in Africa at the Animal Eye Hospital but we cannot send Rosy for the operation as the species is so endangered that Kenyan CITES bureaucracy is too slow for us to respond to the emergency in time. Rosy is rapidly getting worse, and he must be operated before September.

We at WildlifeDirect are doing everything we can to help Simon and Rosy. Eye operations are risky - Rosy will be examined by human eye surgeons on the 8^thAugust where his eyes will be measured for intraocular lens  so that new lenses can be made in USA and then sent to Kenya. The operation to insert the new lenses is our biggest challenge. We do not have experts in this country to conduct the operation and so we’re helping Simon find the veterinary expertise needed to conduct the cataract operation as soon as possible here in Nairobi.

As you can imagine, this is a risky situation for so valuable an eagle, it could go wrong, he could go completely blind, or even die, and so we are trying to get the worlds best veterinarian to handle the operation.

Please help us support Rosy and restore his eyesight - visit Simons blog and make a donation to help pay for a vet to travel to Nairobi.

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Tags: cataract operation, crowned eagle, Simon Thomsett, wildlifedirect

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