Our Wild World

We have seen and heard evidence from indigenous peoples the world over that attests to the challenges of globalization and climate change. What events the eye seizes, what stories we gather, what species, tribes and life forms we are able to save will be our legacy to the next generation. We cannot tell the children of the future that this is where the wild things were. The book and the upcoming film re-imagine our mind-body-spirit connection between elephants and us, and thus the web of life between us, and animals. The crisis elephants are facing is a direct and deeper question of the challenges our planet and therefore, we, are facing. While these challenges are unprecedented in our history, this is the very fabric that provides unprecedented opportunities and alternatives for new ways to heighten our awareness of beauty, that engages humanity on a variety of levels to a different future.

Our guest today is Dale Preece-Kelly of Critterish Allsorts. As we talk about the many benefits of Animal Assisted Therapy or Pet Therapy, a natural holistic treatment, that pre-dates science, as we know it, and used within psychology as a proven Occupational Therapy tool that improves spirit-mind-body interconnectedness, reducing both anxiety and blood pressure. The interaction and relationship between people and animals has been shown to reduce stress and promote well being; increase socialization; improve self-esteem and confidence, promoting quality of life and encouraging the ability to nurture and accept responsibility in forming non-human relationships and enduring bonds, connecting people who may not otherwise have an opportunity to interact with animals, to learn about their welfare and conservation, providing an amazing opportunity to teach all ages the value of the human-animal bond.

Join Eli and special guest Dr. Max Graham, PhD and Member IUCN Elephant Specialist Group as we discuss Human-wildlife conflict, in particular crop damage by elephants, and how this causes immediate subsistence crises resulting in enormous resentment and anger among rural people. Elephants and other wildlife are injured and killed in retaliation and it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to implement conservation projects under these circumstances. Human-wildlife conflict is not easy to solve and requires large investments of time and resources to simply reduce it. The best thing we can do is prevent human-wildlife conflict from occurring in the first place. This preventative measure requires proper land-use planning before it is too late. Sadly in many places it is too late. Under these circumstances what are we doing about it?

Join us today with special guest, investigative journalist Julian Rademeyer as we discuss his book Killing For Profit, which reads like an international thriller, but is a terrifying true story of greed, corruption, and ruthless criminal enterprise centered around the illegal trafficking of rhino horn and wildlife. This is a compelling, meticulous and revelatory account of one the worlds most secretive trades aiding in the decimation of one of our world’s unique endangered species, the Rhino. Since publication, Mr. Rademeyer attended the CITES 2013 in Bangkok, reporting first hand the human folly and convoluted international conservation policies, politics, players and loopholes which undermine the global efforts to save the rhino from extinction.

Wouldn’t it be great if today’s headlines were : It’s okay. We can all come out now! the Extinction and Global crises are over, and We’ve Won! We don’t have to worry about environmental collapse or losing our polar bears and elephants, and our world turning into one big corporate machine, because humanity came to its senses the other day - we all pulled together and turned our wild world around! Each of us one day said to the other, well… here’s what I did today, and I’m going to do it every day from now on, and it caught on.

Join special guest, Dr. Kathleen Alexander PhD, DVM of CARACAL Biodiversity Center, Botswana and Associate Professor, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech who has been selected as one of three, African regional experts by World Health Organization and the Convention on Biological Diversity secretariat to participate in a regional workshop in Mozambique to present to national health and biodiversity experts from various African countries on integrating health and biodiversity into policy and planning. The objective is to contribute to the implementation of the Convention on the Biological Diversity in the WHO African Region, by providing a forum to national health and environment/biodiversity experts from African Parties to the CBD on actions to be taken in their respective countries. LINKS: http://www.vt.edu, www.Facebook.com/caracalbotswana, www.caracal.info, www.blogspot.healthbotswana.com

Our special guest today is Joshua Ole Musa, a key team member of the Maasai Cultural Heritage Program, and in coordinating an annual festival. The project’s goal is to perpetuate Maasai heritage in an age of cultural convergence and loss of traditions through gathering both historical and contemporary culture material and art. To discover how other tribal cultures maintain and celebrate their cultural heritage, three Maasai Joshua Kirrinkol, Michael Tiampati, John Kimanga, an anthropologist, and a representative of African Conservation Fund, traveled together as part of a planning team, to visit to the 63rd Annual Navajo Festival of Arts and Culture in Flagstaff, Arizona, visiting with Navajo artists, pastoralists, spiritual leaders, an environmental group, and schools throughout the Navajo Nation to learn about some of the ways the Navajo are maintaining their cultural heritage. http://www.africanconservationfund.org/index.php/current-projects

So many critical efforts are happening right now! The CITES meeting in Bangkok, Thailand may well decide the future for elephants and rhinos around the world. The US. Wildlife Services are under fire for unethical killing of our wildlife- both endangered and non-targeted species. The USFW is working hard to keep up with the Environmental Protection Act and government policies, and we are facing global biodiversity tipping points everywhere we look. Our policies and politics and our everday choices do make a difference, both here at home and around the world. Despite all this, there is Hope, and it’s right beneath our feet - we just need to focus by each of us taking some small actions in our everyday lives to protect the future that our ancestors left to us and which we will leave to our children.

Heard but not always seen, wild parrots are indicators of the health of the environment. Even though some are captive bred, parrots are still considered wild animals. Over 22 million parrots and related birds are kept as pets in the US. Many are not even a generation away from their wild cousins. If they could tell us how to help save their species, what would we learn from these avian ambassadors? With special guest, Julie Murad of the Gabriel Foundation, we’ll explore the mystique and status of parrots, companion, captive and wild.

There is and Elephyant in the room that is dying. Join Dli with the Elphant in the Foom production team, special guests Travis Fultion, Executive Producer; Vladimir van Maule, Director, Cinematographer; and Kire Godal, Producer and 2nd Camera. The EITR, who, with the support and funding through WildiZe Foundation, have just returned from Kenya for the making of a short film to draw attention to the elephant's plight. Elephants are in crisis like never before, it is an all out slaughter, especially in East Africa. In Kenya and Tanzania, 67-100 elephants are being killed PER DAY for their ivory which is shipped out through the various black market trade routes and pipelines, most of it headed for China with no end in sight. As China builds it's capacity and the middle class climbs the economic ladder and desire to reconnect with their history and culture to honor their ancestors and wealth and status, ivory, and thus dead elephants, are in ever more demand.

The short film “The Elephant in the Room is being made in Kenya as this episode airs. With the devastating rise in poaching of elephants in sub-Saharan Africa, the ivory of which is mainly headed for the Asian and Chinese markets, this episode will highlight the plight of elephants and the dramatic rising in poaching as we lead up to the 2013 CITES meeting in Bangkok where the ban on ivory is once again up for discussion. We will highlight the various in-country efforts being done to mitigate the slaughter including education and anti-poaching projects funded by WildiZe the purpose of this short film. Today’s episode will provide some background information on the history of elephants and just how profound this species is, and why its survival is critical. When the production crew returns from Kenya, they will be Our Wild World guests on the show Feb. 25, 2013.

Join us with special guest Manny Mvula, Co-Founder of High Five Club, UK & Zambia whose mission is to give communities in the developing world a hand up rather than a hand out, in raising their living standards and future livelihood prospects by funding small-scale community projects that address: Poverty alleviation, Education, Empowerment, Sanitation, Healthcare, Alternative energy, Biodiversity, Agriculture, Food distribution. Well be discussing conservation the S.N.A.R.E.D. production, a charismatic and tense drama that is seen to take place in the African bush: A hunter is confronted by an angry conservationist armed with a gun. As the poacher pleads for his life, we unravel the complex issues around wildlife conservation in this beautiful but dangerous land, addressing one of Our Wild World’s greatest conservation threats: poaching and snaring of Africa’s wildlife. SNARED was on tour through the UK in 2012.

The needs of people and wildlife are inextricably linked, bound together by the common resources of our earth. Our human sense of entitlement over these resources vs. the needs of animals is where conflict arises that often turns into a boiling battle: Let’s call it the Tree-hugger vs. the Corporation. But what we're really talking about here is the economics of conservation vs. the moral and ethical dilemma of providing an atmosphere that allows for and includes security for the other life-forms we share this earth with. This is the basis of how we can define the health and wealth of our communities, both locally and globally; the decisions we make that affect not only our current quality of life, but that of future generations of both our human and wildlife communities.

While we spend millions toward the legal battles and conservation of wolves, we are also spending millions of policies to eradicate them. What drives policy and who benefits? How do our protective wildlife laws get lost in the ever increasing political shifts and the need for resources? The plight of the wolf is, in short, a parable for African conservation and the future of conserving our world's predators.

With special guests Jessica Dawson and Roger Parry, founders of the VFWT, previously known as Wild Horizons Wildlife Trust, work in concert with the wildlife departments and veterinary departments in research and education within the local communities and beyond in the Kavango – Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation area (KAZA TFCA). Their current major projects include genetics and wildlife disease monitoring, tracking the movements of TB between wild and domestic animals and people along with providing critical veterinarian services and wildlife rescue. This they combine with their Children’s Conservation Interaction and Community Outreach projects. Jessica and Roger will discuss how these projects impact not only local wildlife and communities but the future of wildlife conservation

Today we'll have an on the ground look at multilayered conservation in Botswana. We have special Guests Dr. Kathy Alexander and Dr. Mark Vandewalle, whom together have founded and are directors of the CARACAL Biodiversity Center in Kasane, Botswana. CARACAL is a field based educational and research center that focuses on strengthening rural livelihoods, developing community approaches to mitigation of human-wildlife conflict, and securing the health of the ecosystems on which we all depend. CARACAL is the only indigenous conservation and rural development NGO in the Chobe Linyanti Kwando Wetlands within the Botswana component of the Zambezi Basin. This facility provides first class field laboratory and supporting research into the health of the ecosystems and wildlife in the area with the development of the first regional Wildlife Health Laboratory with both molecular genetics and bacteriological capabilities.

As the rise in demand for natural resources continues to pressure our ability to provide for our increased human population, what will happen to our protected areas? Where will wildlife go? Our dependence upon fossil fuels and traditional energy models is crashing headlong into our conservation model. We have severely affected our oceans, our land use, and our wildlife- our refuges, public lands and seas. In Africa, as an emerging global commerce, this demand for resources is affecting many of our last remaining large landscape and migratory wildlife populations We, as individuals, our combined governments and NGOs of both national and international Aid organizations, have a responsibility to shift the paradigm of how we define our wealth and health- from that of what’s in our wallet to what’s on our planet.

Over the past one hundred years, the conservation movement has undergone dramatic changes- from a living in harmony ‘as is and at will’ concept through a series of models of protectionism to community based, from little research and knowledge to major technological and scientific understandings. Where has this led us today? And where is conservation as a lifestyle and model headed into the future? We'll discuss some of the history of how conservation came about, the changes it is had to face and must undergo to face the challenges of tomorrow.

It’s the time of year when we look for ways to fulfill our spiritual need to be involved in something greater than ourselves, giving back to our world and those in need. WildiZe has a variety of projects that depend upon the generosity of people like you to protect Mother Earth’s magnificent wildlife and helping the people who live with it. From lions and elephants to supporting community groups, all of which affect the overall health and spirit of every living being that shares this planet. There are many ways you can make a difference come and become involved today and tomorrow, that will be felt for generations to come - from a specific project that fulfills your wild passion to shopping our WildiZe Store African Market full of unique African handcrafts to artifacts that support our conservation projects, to being one of the core WildiZe Warriors membership to protecting wildlife every time you have a glass of wine to sponsoring “Our Wild World”.

Happy Holidays! It’s the time of year where we think about giving back to our world or paying forward the good we see around us! Today we’ll discuss a few of the critical conservation projects WildiZe Foundation involved in on the ground. From mitigating conflicts between Lions, elephants and people to and disease research which affect the health of all living beings. These various aspects of conservation impact the health of our ecosystems for both people and wildlife in any given area. There are many ways you can can be WildiZe Warrior, from donating to specific projects, becoming a member, sponsoring a student, to shopping our WildiZe Store African Market, all of which provide critical support to both projects and people in need in Africa.