A Sensless Hunt - A Hippo?

This just in from my friend Toni:

"It is with great sadness we must report that the Hippo that BWC hoped to purchase from a farmer, and relocate him to a place of safety, has already been shot and killed.


An advert was sent out offering a Hippo shoot, as it seems he was 'a problem animal'. We know there is no such thing as a problem animal, only intolerant, impatient, overbearing and greedy humans who will kill anyone in their way deemed to have 'no value'. De Hoek advertised the 'hunt' although they did not have anything to do with the final actions.

Email: dehoeksafari@mtnloaded.co.za
Tel.: 083 549 9096 / 082 627 5011.
Contact Hansie Minnaar / Rina.

To hunt a hippo is probably as challenging as beating a fly to death with a rolled up piece of newspaper. A bull is chosen and one simply walks up to the bank of the river or pond, takes aim, waits for the hippo to present a good head shot and bang, ‘hunt’ over.

Immediately the situation came to light, telephone calls were made and e-mails sent to rescue the Hippo, but we have been notified that the hippo died yesterday."

If this makes your heart boil as it does mine please let your voice be heard by:

• Telling the "hunt" organizers (email address noted above)
• Sharing this post on Face Book and Twitter (share buttons below)

Thank you.  The surviving wildlife thanks you.

Time to Scream? Maybe not...

AAAAAArrrrrrrrrgggggggggg! There! Now I feel better.

Talk about frustrations!  If it's not my software crashing it's internet access slowing.  If it's not hold ups with the website it's merchant services glitches.  And all I want to do is help people like Michele and Ian, Will and his dedicated team, Shannon and Ben, Karin, and... so they can do their small part in saving and protecting the wildlife we all love.

In the meantime I hear that more rhinos have been lost to horn slashing poachers.  That the the king of beasts, the lion is on a fast track toward extinction.  Ironic, just as the new Narnia movie with posters of Aslan are seen everywhere, while most of us are oblivious to the real lion's plight.

Okay... I got a grip!

"Start Where You Are... Use What You Have... Do What You Can."

This advice from Pat Williams and Jay Strack in their book "Shamgar" has saved my life many a time.  Life is good.

Start where you are:  Have great wildlife experts with amazing projects to support.  Have people like you sending us good vibes (and money.)  Got the website almost finished.  Got Noah from DonationPay getting our donation system in place.  Have Russ working feverishly along side of me.  Have Michael shooting our Twitter following way past 2,500.  Have Sand creating the best videos. Got my cat Weasel at my feet. 

There... I'm off to 'use what I have' to 'do what I can' and write up some more PROJECTS to include on the website.

Happy Thanksgiving... No Matter Where in the World You Are

In the mid '70s when I moved to the USA I was introduced to Thanksgiving.  Although it took me years to like yams smoothered with melted marshmellows I quickly embraced taking time out to give thanks.

Now as I pause I'm so grateful for:

• A God in Heaven (helps me make sense of things when nothing makes sense at all.)
• The beauties of creation (look at that bird and the giraffe she's de-bugging!)
• Fresh air to breathe (spent time in Manilla, Philippines where I nearly died.)
• A loyal companion (been together over 35 years... and counting.)
• Three amazing kids (that's really six now... those they love have become "mine" too.)
• Five ever-changing and growing grandkids (love being Lola... enjoy 'em, then give 'em back.)
• The dedicated wildlife conservationists (many I'm privileged to call friends.)
• The many who in small and big ways are helping Nikela emerge (I'll forget someone if I start naming.)

The list goes on... and my heart keeps expanding with gratitude.
God bless and thank you for your part in making this world a better place for all.

NikelaWildlife Videos are Happening

Thousands of photos!  Hundreds of videos!  Sifting thru music clips, sorting, shifting and editing and voila Sand has created a NikelaWildlife video.

Here is a sampling of many more to come:

"Keep 'em Barking?" Who's barking?

Like it? Share it.

The Starfish and the Iphone

The sun starting it's daily journey as the boy and his grandfather head for the beach.  Instead of finding the usual fragments of sea worn shells, hundreds of starfish lie beached on the cool sand.

As they move down the beach Grandfather randomly picks up a starfish, looks at it gently and with a flick of his arm tosses it out into the waves.  He stoops down to pick up another and the boy asks, "Grandfather, what are you doing?  Throwing one or two back isn't going to do anything."

Now in the traditional telling of this story the Grandfather respondes, "Ah, but to those it makes all the difference in the world!"

Today the story has a totally new ending...
Grandfather stops to look at the boy and says, "You're right my Boy."  Then he reaches into his pocket, pulls out his Iphone and startes texting.  Within a matter of minutes he has 37 friends reply and 15 show up on the beach ready to toss starfish.  By midday the beach is empty.

This is NIKELA's role.  Watch for the announcement of our website launch... real soon.

When the website goes live the URL for this blog
will change to http://www.nikelawildlife.org/

Not Quite as Exciting... or is it?

Who am I?

Write, edit, format, redo, crop, cut, rewrite... that's what our team is doing this week.  Not as exciting as visiting with great people like Tony from Birds of Eden, or Karin from the Darwin Project, but...

My respect for writers and web designers, not to mention video producers, has grown ten fold as we get the official Nikela website ready to go live.  In a few days the URL http://www.nikela.org/ will no longer point to this BLOG, but rather to our website that will house the blog and oh so much more, including photos from our South African wildlife conservation tour and how you can support folks like Michele and Ian who run the amazing bush school tucked way out there in northern South Africa.  Not to forget Shannon and her flying raptors and getting more kids to enjoy that great experience of the soaring birds.

Did you guess who the eyes of the first photo belong to?  Now the one at the end is a little harder.  They belong to a predator that is highly at risk to disappearing from the wild altogether.

Back to sorting through my photos to include in our photo gallery...

Who am I?

First Sponsored Project a Big Success!



Students and Teachers from the Meholokazulu High School, Imbali, KZN, South Africa.
Photo courtesy of www.frankvanegmond.nl

 Its early afternoon on Saturday October 30th and Russ and I are on the road once again, this time headed for Salt Lake City via Cheyenne. Shannon’s flight demonstration in Pietermaritzburg has to be over. How did it all go? Russ’s phone bleeps. A text message from Thoko (Meholokazulu High School science teacher):

“…we are just back from the trip it was so so awesome kids learnt a lot and got more interested (in wildlife). The principal asked for a proposal to participate in pilot…”

Dispelling myths about owls at the Raptor flight demonstration
Photo courtesy of www.frankvanegmond.nl

Whoo! Hoo! As my son would say… we are so thrilled.  Not only did the students from the Environmental Club have the experience we hoped for, the principal is on board to conduct our wildlife conservation education pilot project in his school!  Wonderful news!

"Owls are bad luck."  "If you see an owl someone you love will die." 

Getting up close and personal with owls helps dispel these myths that get these beautiful birds killed and increasingly at risk for becoming endangered. 



Shannon dispels myths about sniffing vulture brains
Photo courtesy of www.frankvanegmond.nl



"No, sniffing the dried brains of a vulture doesn't help you win the lotto!"  The false understanding that vulture brains can make humans clairvoyant costs thousands of vultures their lives every year.  These students now know better.

This trip to visit the Raptor Sanctuary and experience Shannon’s interactive flight show is NIKELA’S very first sponsored project. Frank van Egmond (my photographer friend from the Netherlands) took the photos. He kindly donated his time and expertise to capture the moment.

Thanks to all of you who made it happen. If you didn’t get a chance to contribute your donation is welcome to assist with funding the pilot wildlife conservation education project at the Meholokazulu High School. More about this forth coming.

PS: Watch for comments from the students who were there in future postings.


Photo courtesy of http://www.frankvanegmond.nl/



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NIKELA

100 Commons Rd Ste 7-417

Dripping Springs, TX 78620