Sorry We’re Not Sorry: U.S. Bans Elephant Trophy Imports from Tanzania & Zimbabwe

And the exciting news of this week: the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) has temporarily banned elephant trophy imports from Tanzania and Zimbabwe, citing (among other problems), “Questionable management practices, a lack of effective law enforcement and weak governance.” You may remember our good friends at the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism…

Kedge: Teaching Business to Benefit Conservation.

Hi, y’all! So in the last week (and just in time for World Wildlife Day), I’ve been working hard on my most exciting adventure to date: launching a conservation-based social enterprise startup in Kenya! We’re called Kedge, and we want to change the way you think about wildlife conservation. The Problem: Biodiversity loss is proceeding…

Bringing the Beaver Back to Britain (or: Beaver? I Hardly Knew Her!)

So I went slightly crazy this week, and the good people of the Twitterverse diagnosed me with BEAVER FEVER. Not the tummy rumbles kind, though; the fun and adorable kind (see below)! Indeed, the first wild beaver spotted in England in 500+ years was seen this week, skulking around a Devon farm in the town…

Conservation is Goin’ To the Dogs (or at least, Leaning Too Heavily on Lassie)

So let’s talk about dogs! Everyone loves dogs. In particular, let’s talk about Livestock Guarding Dogs (LGDs). For those who have let lapse their subscription to Working Dog Digest, let me bring you up to speed: in the effort to save wildlife throughout the African Continent, a few conservationists have become interested in the potential…

The Curious Incident of the Lion Hunt in South Africa

So there’s been some debate lately on the interwebs about a certain lady, who was photographed with a certain dead carcass, and the certain lodge that made it happen. So this photo is all over Buzzfeed/the internet, and people keep asking me about it, and I’ve tried to mostly ignore it (because I don’t think…

Gentlemen, We Can Rebuild It: a Potential Application of Synthetic Biology in Biodiversity Conservation

A few months ago, National Geographic hosted a TEDx De-Extinction meeting in Washington, D.C. What followed the meeting was a flurry of op-eds, thought pieces, and opines on the merits and risks of species de-extinction. Although exciting in its own right (or terrifying, depending on where you stand), I felt that the most interesting part…