On any given day, one can read the news or articles on the state of the environment and the sheer enormity of the threats, challenges, and losses can be overwhelming. For those of us working in conservation, it can be even harder. The species we have dedicated our lives to protect face extinction, and we see the very worst that humans can do to wildlife. I have often been asked how I work in conservation, “isn’t it depressing” people ask? On some days, yes, but others keep our hope alive, and on 10 May 2022, I had a day of hope.
I joined a colleague, Rebo Rachuene from our Birds of Prey Programme, in the field to monitor a grass owl site. Rebo and his colleagues have been monitoring this site for over ten years. We arrived at a farm situated in the Highveld region of Mpumalanga, the area recently the focus of the deadly air case. The short drive from Johannesburg to the farm showed the severity of air pollution in the area, and while the deadly air case was focused on human health and wellbeing, I couldn’t help but wonder about the effect the air pollution was having on wildlife in the area. The farm is a mix of land uses with agriculture, virgin grasslands, and a new coal mine on its border. The threats associated with human activities began to feel overwhelming.
Grass Owl nesting site in the Highveld region of Mpumalanga, South Africa. Mixed land-use is common in the area – agricultural plots, natural grasslands, and coal mines are sandwiched in between each other
As we were approaching the nest, two birds took off – each on different sides of the wetland area the nest is in. One was a Marsh Owl, and the other, an adult Grass Owl. We found the Grass Owl nest, and instead of the fledglings we expected, we found eggs. Rebo explained that the previous eggs had probably been predated, and the Grass Owls had then laid more. In addition to natural and expected threats like predation, Grass Owls need to contend with human-related threats such as pollution, the threat of invasive species, disturbance and trampling by livestock, and habitat loss. Despite these ever-increasing threats, this species and so many others in South Africa continue to persevere. On our short walk back to the car, we came across a Brown House Snake, Serval footprints, and a Black Winged Kite – all indicators of a functional ecosystem – a safe space made possible through the incredible work of my colleagues and the conservation efforts of landowners. This is how hope is kept alive and how we can continue to promote conservation in South Africa and chip away and reduce threats from human activities. I walked away from that nest excited for the next 35 days when hopefully, the Grass Owl population will increase by five when the eggs hatch. I walked away with hope, committed to doing what I can to protect this safe space and others like it, and more committed than ever to promoting conservation in South Africa.
Grass Owl flushed from its nest. Once its eggs or chicks have been recorded and we move out, it will return to the nest.
On any given day, one can read the news or articles on the state of the environment and the sheer enormity of the threats, challenges, and losses can be overwhelming. For those of us working in conservation, it can be even harder. The species we have dedicated our lives to protect face extinction, and we see the very worst that humans can do to wildlife. I have often been asked how I work in conservation, “isn’t it depressing” people ask? On some days, yes, but others keep our hope alive, and on 10 May 2022, I had a day of hope.
I joined a colleague, Rebo Rachuene from our Birds of Prey Programme, in the field to monitor a grass owl site. Rebo and his colleagues have been monitoring this site for over ten years. We arrived at a farm situated in the Highveld region of Mpumalanga, the area recently the focus of the deadly air case. The short drive from Johannesburg to the farm showed the severity of air pollution in the area, and while the deadly air case was focused on human health and wellbeing, I couldn’t help but wonder about the effect the air pollution was having on wildlife in the area. The farm is a mix of land uses with agriculture, virgin grasslands, and a new coal mine on its border. The threats associated with human activities began to feel overwhelming.
Grass Owl nesting site in the Highveld region of Mpumalanga, South Africa. Mixed land-use is common in the area – agricultural plots, natural grasslands, and coal mines are sandwiched in between each other
As we were approaching the nest, two birds took off – each on different sides of the wetland area the nest is in. One was a Marsh Owl, and the other, an adult Grass Owl. We found the Grass Owl nest, and instead of the fledglings we expected, we found eggs. Rebo explained that the previous eggs had probably been predated, and the Grass Owls had then laid more. In addition to natural and expected threats like predation, Grass Owls need to contend with human-related threats such as pollution, the threat of invasive species, disturbance and trampling by livestock, and habitat loss. Despite these ever-increasing threats, this species and so many others in South Africa continue to persevere. On our short walk back to the car, we came across a Brown House Snake, Serval footprints, and a Black Winged Kite – all indicators of a functional ecosystem – a safe space made possible through the incredible work of my colleagues and the conservation efforts of landowners. This is how hope is kept alive and how we can continue to promote conservation in South Africa and chip away and reduce threats from human activities. I walked away from that nest excited for the next 35 days when hopefully, the Grass Owl population will increase by five when the eggs hatch. I walked away with hope, committed to doing what I can to protect this safe space and others like it, and more committed than ever to promoting conservation in South Africa.
Grass Owl flushed from its nest. Once its eggs or chicks have been recorded and we move out, it will return to the nest.
Harriet Davies-Mostert, EWT’s Head of Conservation
After 23 stimulating and fulfilling years at the Endangered Wildlife Trust, I have made the difficult but exciting decision to spread my wings and leave the EWT to join another conservation NGO, Conserve Global. This organisation works to secure and protect vulnerable conservation landscapes across Africa while bringing benefits to the wildlife and communities whose well-being depends on the integrity of these landscapes. It focuses outside of the existing national park network on landscapes that are home to significant biodiversity and play a significant role in buffering national parks and increasing connectivity between wildlife areas. As Director of Impact, and a member of the senior leadership team, I will concentrate on institutional fundraising, monitoring and evaluation and impact reporting, and driving science-led adaptive project management across our entire portfolio of projects.
The EWT has been my home for most of my professional life: I have learned so much and had so many rich and unique experiences. It has been wonderful to have worked in an organisation that is both strategic and yet quick to respond, is science-led and credible and yet constantly embraces new ideas, and where co-workers quickly become friends. Thank you so much to the many colleagues who have taught me new ways of thinking, inspired me, shown me the true meaning of passion and commitment, and made me laugh (and sometimes cry!). A very special thanks to the EWT’s indomitable CEO, Yolan Friedmann, for her leadership, mentorship, energy, and inspiration. We have travelled a long and rewarding journey together, which has readied me for the challenging steps ahead. Thank you!
Emily Taylor, EWT Communications and Marketing Manager
I met Harriet in 2012 when I started volunteering at the Endangered Wildlife Trust. She was the Head of Conservation Science, larger than life, and a renowned force of change and good in the conservation sector. I wanted nothing more than to work for the EWT, but I had no experience and only a lowly Nature Conservation Diploma behind my name. But I could write, which was one of the requirements when they advertised an intern position. I threw caution to the wind, applied, and somehow became her Conservation Science Intern. We were instant friends – aided by the proximity of our houses and the convenience of lift-sharing. I would look forward to the drives into the office and back each day – an opportunity to pick her brain, gossip, brainstorm, to laugh. She was looking to move closer to work, and I remember looking at houses with her and seeing her face when we saw the one that she and her family moved into not long after and love almost a decade later. I tagged along to meetings, conferences, doctors appointments, and the fireman’s pub or 33 High Street in Modderfontein for drinks after work. I was considering doing a BTech in Nature Conservation, and Harriet was unimpressed and convinced that I should pursue an MSc at WITS, despite not having a science degree. I was sceptical that I would manage it, particularly the really sciency stuff like statistical modelling. But Harriet believed in me. Despite me being her intern, she always valued my opinion and treated me as an equal. And she pushed my boundaries, telling me with conviction that I could achieve things I considered out of my reach. Slowly, I began to believe in myself a little more each day. Nine years later, I am no longer her intern, but she will always be my mentor and very dear friend. Thank you for believing in me, Harriet, and guiding me towards a future I hadn’t dared to dream of. Mine is but one story of how you have touched people’s lives in remarkable ways, and I do not doubt that there will be many more of these to come. Wherever you go, Harriet, we walk with you, and you will always be one of the voices in my head, telling me that I am so much more capable than I think I am and that you believe in me. What a legacy to leave.
Kishaylin Chetty, Eskom
As a scholar having just left high school, I volunteered over the December holidays to monitor, collect fecal samples, look after and learn to track wild dogs in Northern KZN. It was the first time I heard of Harriet. Fast forward 12 years later and I was to meet Dr Harriet in the flesh for business through Eskom. I was in absolute awe, but I played it cool. Here was someone I had heard about, read about and was now in the same room with, able to ask any question. Nerves flowing through the veins, a casual ‘high’ is all I could mutter. The nerves settled when I was appointed in Harriet’s Amazing Race team at my very first EWT Conservation week function I attended. What an event and what an introduction to Harriet. Harriet is one of the world’s great scientific conservation minds – she sees and thinks of things others don’t and has a structured level of thinking second to none. I’ve also been impressed with how Harriet has this intense work side and then this amazing fun side, all whilst being a super mom and wife. Harriet you are an inspiration to many up and coming scientists like myself and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to have worked with you and learnt from you – even if only through the Eskom EWT Partnership. You have changed my very own thinking on how to be a better scientist, but also on how to enjoy personal life and work. You have been an institution at EWT. You will be sorely missed and I wish you everything of the best in the new adventure. Hoping our paths will cross again.
LEAVING A LEGACY FOR LIFE – Remembering Melanie Kwan
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]On 2 May three years ago, Melanie Kwan passed on but made sure that the EWT was included in her will. Her nephew Jayden, aged 12, wrote these wonderful words of tribute to Melanie.
“Melanie always loved animals and saving them! She had cancer but that did not stop her from loving animals. She always appreciated animals just the way they were, and not the way she wanted them to be. Every week she would go to the animal shelter and take a few hours out of her day to help them even though she was not well. She loved going to the Kruger National Park and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park when she was well enough to go. She was brave and independent and her very last trip to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was on her own.
When the time came to write down her will, Melanie decided to donate everything for the love of animals and dogs. She chose the EWT because she wanted to forever take care of animals in the wild even though she knew she could not do that herself. The money will help those animals who are always being killed. I want my own children one day to be able to see those animals that God created.
We love you Aunty Melanie and appreciate all the time and effort and money that you put into animals. Thank you Aunty Melanie!”
Rough Moss Frog (Arthroleptella rugosa). Photo credit: Johan du Plessis
The Rough Moss Frog (Arthroleptella rugosa) is a Critically Endangered frog species found only on a single mountain range, the Klein Swartberg, in the Overberg district of the Western Cape, South Africa. In 2020 we realized that this little frog was in big trouble. Its habitat was being degraded rapidly by alien invasive vegetation to such an extent that the survival of the only known population of this species was uncertain.
With this realization, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) approached the IUCN Save Our Species fund for support to implement a critical rapid action intervention to save this population. In 2021, the IUCN Save Our Species answered the plea for assistance with co-funding from the European Union. This support allowed us to develop a firebreak system around this original population of Rough Moss Frogs. This critical intervention supported the planning of an ecological burn in 2022 as a tool to manage an extensive pine infestation that was damaging the population’s seepage habitat. This was a novel approach to amphibian species conservation on the Klein Swartberg Mountain, not least globally.
During the surveys supported by the SOS project, an additional three populations of this species were recorded on the Klein Swartberg by project partner Bionerds PTY Ltd. This was a welcome discovery, bringing the known populations to four. Two of these newly discovered populations were in well-managed natural habitats, also good news for the species!
On 16 March 2022, the firebreaks and planning for the ecological fire were completed by our contractor, Enviro Wildfire, through the employment of an alien vegetation clearing team from the local community of Caledon. The planned ecological burn took place during the week of 28 March 2022. The ecological burn was intended to eradicate invasive pine trees and allow for the recovery of natural fynbos vegetation, not only for the conservation of the Rough Moss Frog population but also for various other Endangered plants and animals. This intervention will also benefit the local community living in the catchment zone below the Klein Swartberg by increasing the water yield from the mountain draining into the aquatic systems in the seeps and rivers and the agricultural community reliant on these water resources.
Team preparing firebreaks in the Klein Swartberg, Western Cape, South Africa. Photo credit: Johan du Plessis
The burn was successful, with very few invasive alien pine trees remaining. And those that survived will be cleared mechanically in the coming months, alongside the development of a long-term alien vegetation clearing plan covering the full extent of the mountain and supported by project partners, the Klein Swartberg Conservancy and the Fynbos Trust. In addition to the 800 ha planned for the burn, over 4,500 ha of the mountain also burnt, including the three additional Rough Moss Frog population sites discovered during the project. Post-fire monitoring by the team has happily confirmed the presence of Rough Moss Frogs at one of the burn sites. These populations will be continuously monitored over the coming breeding season (June onwards). This monitoring will include post-fire bioacoustics monitoring (recording of frog calls) to compare with pre-fire recordings to document the recovery of these populations in the coming years as habitat is restored.
Southern slope after ecological burn in the Klein Swartberg, Western Cape, South Africa. Photo credit: Johan du Plessis
The project not only achieved its objective of significantly reducing the threat of invasive vegetation to the original population but also forged partnerships, discovered previously unknown populations of a Critically Endangered species and initiated formal habitat protection processes for five properties where the species is now known to occur.
This project is supported by IUCN Save Our Species and co-funded by the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Endangered Wildlife Trust and do not necessarily reflect the views of IUCN or the European Union.
So far, we have deployed two tracking dogs in reserves and will soon be deploying a further four, including both tracking and detection dogs. We have also supported the full training of two new handlers and partial training for a third handler through our relationship with Genesis K9 Group. Furthermore, we provide ongoing support to these deployed dogs and the handlers who have recently completed their training to reinforce what they have learned.
This project is supported by IUCN Save Our Species and co-funded by the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Endangered Wildlife Trust and do not necessarily reflect the views of IUCN or the European Union.
LATEST STORIES
Thanks to this grant, the EWT supports seven reserves that have many ecologically and economically important species threatened by poaching. We are taking a three-pronged approach that includes deploying freshly trained young Conservation Canines (trained in detection or tracking), training dog handlers who will be responsible for working with and looking after these dogs and supporting these dog-handler teams in these reserves to ensure they have what they need to work effectively.
Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The Black Rhino is threatened by the illegal trade in rhino horn products. Photo credit: the african eye
The reserves we are assisting suffered income losses during the COVID-19 pandemic due to tourist travel bans, and we aim to support them through these hard economic times. Many reserves at risk of poaching use a variety of approaches to combat it, with anti-poaching field rangers commonly the first line of defence. Certified dog-handler teams can provide invaluable support to these teams on the ground in several ways. Our dogs either track poacher incursion routes within a reserve or provide a quick and reliable method for screening vehicles for concealed firearms or wildlife contraband.
So far, we have deployed two tracking dogs in reserves and will soon be deploying a further four, including both tracking and detection dogs. We have also supported the full training of two new handlers and partial training for a third handler through our relationship with Genesis K9 Group. Furthermore, we provide ongoing support to these deployed dogs and the handlers who have recently completed their training to reinforce what they have learned.
Conservation Canine Nala, a three-year old Belgian Malinois recently deployed in the Eastern Cape. Nala is a tracking dog and works with anti-poaching teams to protect threatened species.
This project is supported by IUCN Save Our Species and co-funded by the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Endangered Wildlife Trust and do not necessarily reflect the views of IUCN or the European Union.
LATEST STORIES
Conservation Canines to Save our Species from illegal wildlife trade
Dr Andrew Taylor, EWT’s Wildlife in Trade Programme Manager, andrewt@ewt.org.za
South Africa is blessed with exceptional wildlife and landscapes that attract tourists and boost our economy. Some of our country’s biggest drawcards, such as White and Black rhinos (which are Near Threatened and Critically Endangered, respectively on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species), the African Savannah Elephant (Endangered), and the African Lion (Vulnerable), play vital roles in our ecosystems while also bringing in valuable ecotourism income. However, these species are threatened by the global illegal wildlife trade (IWT), which is a major cause of population declines in some countries. With funding from the IUCN Save Our Species Rapid Action Grant and the European Union, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) aims to reduce IWT by preventing wildlife poaching. We use our Conservation Canines to achieve this by training and deploying them to detect wildlife products and track poachers.
Newly qualified dog handler trained at Genesis K9 Newly qualified dog handler trained to reduce poaching as part of the project funded by the IUCN Save Our Species Rapid Action Grant and the European Union.
Thanks to this grant, the EWT supports seven reserves that have many ecologically and economically important species threatened by poaching. We are taking a three-pronged approach that includes deploying freshly trained young Conservation Canines (trained in detection or tracking), training dog handlers who will be responsible for working with and looking after these dogs and supporting these dog-handler teams in these reserves to ensure they have what they need to work effectively.
Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The Black Rhino is threatened by the illegal trade in rhino horn products. Photo credit: the african eye
The reserves we are assisting suffered income losses during the COVID-19 pandemic due to tourist travel bans, and we aim to support them through these hard economic times. Many reserves at risk of poaching use a variety of approaches to combat it, with anti-poaching field rangers commonly the first line of defence. Certified dog-handler teams can provide invaluable support to these teams on the ground in several ways. Our dogs either track poacher incursion routes within a reserve or provide a quick and reliable method for screening vehicles for concealed firearms or wildlife contraband.
So far, we have deployed two tracking dogs in reserves and will soon be deploying a further four, including both tracking and detection dogs. We have also supported the full training of two new handlers and partial training for a third handler through our relationship with Genesis K9 Group. Furthermore, we provide ongoing support to these deployed dogs and the handlers who have recently completed their training to reinforce what they have learned.
Conservation Canine Nala, a three-year old Belgian Malinois recently deployed in the Eastern Cape. Nala is a tracking dog and works with anti-poaching teams to protect threatened species.
This project is supported by IUCN Save Our Species and co-funded by the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Endangered Wildlife Trust and do not necessarily reflect the views of IUCN or the European Union.
