All I Want For Christmas...

... is a world without poaching.

My feature image in this article is designed to spread some festive cheer, but with the purpose of spreading awareness of the continued threat that poaching causes, not just to rhinos, but to so many other animals as well.

At Christmas time, many portrait photographers (myself included) create images of children for families, based on Christmas themes. A very popular theme is that of the kids, next to a Christmas tree, looking out of a window, while Santa Claus flies past the moon. I decided to use this theme, but create a wildlife image using this stunning rhino & her calf. I loved the way the baby appeared to be seeking comfort from her mum, so thought it would work well in an image with Santa flying past. The image features beautiful black rhino, Salome with her new baby, Mizi at Howletts in Kent, England. The Aspinall Foundation have had huge success in breading black rhinos at their 2 parks - Howletts & Port Lympne, and have successfully re-introduced black rhinos (as well as other animals) into the wild.

I am primarily a portrait photographer and a digital artist, but having grown up in South Africa, I have a love of wildlife, especially for African animals; in fact as a child I wanted to be a game ranger or a wildlife cameraman. When we used to visit game reserves, I was happy to spend hours just watching the animals. Although I moved to the UK as a young adult, I can still smell the African bush and hear the roar of the lions carried on the evening breeze. There is nothing more magical in the world than the sites and sounds of our planets beautiful wildlife. I love to incorporate animals in my art and my fine art portraits, and use that to raise awareness of wildlife conservation.

I have often seen people being highly critical of zoos, and saying the animals should be free and not kept "in cages", etc. Wow, wouldn't that be amazing - all animals free to roam in their natural habitat! Sadly, we do not live in an ideal world and that is not possible or practical. Man is a huge threat to wildlife, not just through poaching, but through deforestation and the removal of natural habitats. Zoos and international breeding programmes are the only reason that many species are still on our planet, and sadly every day we move closer to another animal being extinct in the wild. Zoos are no longer a menagerie where people simple go to gawk at strange creatures in tiny cages. Zoos work very hard to educate, breed and re-introduce animals to the wild where possible. Much thought and planning is put into designing the enclosures & means of keeping the animals physically & psychologically stimulated to express naturalistic behaviours, and animal welfare is the priority. Sometimes the animals are very hard to spot, as the enclosures are well designed for their well being, not just as a means of being seen by visitors. So many animals are endangered and without zoos, many would be extinct.

Yes, there are still zoos in some parts of the world, which need improving, but we are moving forward everyday through education and awareness. It is my hope that through my photography, I can do my bit and help to raise funds, educate and spread awareness of endangered species.

Why are so many animals endangered?

The simple answer is because of man. In part due to the destruction of habitats and in part due to the senseless slaughter of wildlife.

Why does man feel the need to kill animals?

This is not a modern phenomena, it has been going on for thousands of years. The romans slaughter thousands of animals in their “games”. Nine thousand were killed in just one particularly brutal games and the quantity of slaughter in the Colosseum saw the number of lions, jaguars, and tigers plummet across the globe. This Roman “entertainment” devastated the wildlife in the Mediterranean and particularly in North Africa, where elephants and lions were wiped out completely. Thankfully the ancient Greeks had a different attitude to animals, and Aristotle is believed to have written the first book on animal husbandry.

Today, the largest threat to wildlife is poaching. Elephants are hunted for their ivory tusks, which are illegally sold for large sums of money. Tigers for their skin, claws, teeth and bones, and rhinos for their horns, for use in traditional Asian medicine or for the carving of ornate dagger handles. Rhino horns are largely made of keratin, and traditionally is used to treat all sorts of ailments. Keratin is also the main component of finger nails, which would be just as useless in the treatment of illnesses. Education is key to stopping future generations believing in these healing powers of animal parts. All children need to be taught that animals are a precious and important part of our planet and deserve to be cared for and protected. Wildlife numbers are rapidly diminishing. As an example, just after the war, their were over 100,000 black rhino in the wild; that number is now only 3,500. A similar story is seen with African elephants, whose numbers since the war have dwindled from 2 to 3 million to around 600,000. This is the shocking reality we are facing, and unless the whole world works together to educate and conserve our wildlife, this is sadly a story which will continue.

The Aspinall Foundation

The Aspinall Foundation is one of many foundations worldwide working on increasing endangered populations.

“John Aspinall started his famous animal collection in 1957 when he bought Howletts Wild Animal Park. In 1973 he bought Port Lympne Wild Animal Park to help house the growing groups of animals. Today the two wild animal parks are home to over 1000 animals and 100 different species. The Aspinall Foundation, is the registered charity set up to work with the wild animal parks in Kent who are responsible for the reintroduction and ongoing management in the wild of animals that have been born in Kent. To date The Aspinall Foundation have reintroduced western lowland gorilla, black rhino and przewalski horses born in Kent back into the wild.

Their mission is:

To halt the extinction of rare and endangered species in the wild

To continue to provide the most natural environment possible for the animals in both parks

To re-introduce these animals back to their wild habitat where this is possible

To continue to be world leaders in animal husbandry and breeding

To be a partner and catalyst to conservation efforts at home and abroad

Increasing public understanding of animals and their welfare and the issues involved in their conservation

To manage wilderness areas

To develop sustainable conservation-minded activities which provide economic benefits on a local and national scale.”

How do things work in Wildlife Conservation?

I was lucky enough to have a meeting at Howletts Wild Animal Part with the Animal Director, Neil Spooner, who introduced me to a few of the keepers and had a good chat with me about conservation. I learned a great deal during the time I spent with Neil about how things work in the conservation community.

It is important in wildlife conservation that a large gene pool is maintained, and for this reason zoos and aquariums work together, so that animals are moved around between zoos to give a low inbreeding co-efficiant. This has to be carefully monitored and maintained, so is overseen by the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA), with the goals of education, research and conservation by doing the following:

Providing funding and manpower to in situ conservation projects aimed at protecting animal populations and their habitats

Maintaining viable populations of animals in human care to ensure their survival over the long term

Educating visitors about animals and their habitats and providing them with the knowledge and opportunities they need to live sustainably as part of nature

Researching all aspects of animal biology to improve our understanding of animals and how they live and interact

Underneath the the EAZA umbrella is the EEP (The European Endangered Species Programme), which has Taxon Advisory Groups (TAG) for each family group. These groups work out which zoos are suitable for each animal, and where the animals should go to ensure an ongoing healthy gene pool.

As you can imagine, keeping the breeding programmes going, looking after the animals at the various parks, as well as in the wild and re-introduction into the wild is a costly business.

All the profits from the sale of many of my wildlife images will go to The Aspinall Foundation and it's parks. Funds are always needed for the running of the parks, as well as in-situ conservation and re-introduction of animals into the wild with projects like the recent introduction of gorillas into the Congo & Gambon.

Something that has really stuck with me, from my time with Neil is a slogan he told me about that was written on his t-shirt when he first started working, and I will leave you with those words.

EXTINCTION IS FOREVER

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