Meet the People Who Have Removed 83,000 Snares from Wildlife Habitats

Life is all about establishing relationships, and that holds true for wildlife conservation, too. There are a lot of animal organizations out there doing important work. The connection between these organizations that are spread across the globe, however, requires serious networking. Enter the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN), a non-profit organization that protects endangered species by supporting conservation entrepreneurs and strategies to help people and wildlife coexist.

Founded in 2002, the WCN takes a Silicon Valley approach to supporting conservation efforts. It uses a venture capital-like fundraising model to identify conservation efforts and provide support that helps these programs succeed. Since its inception, the WCN has grown dramatically in its efforts and impact while maintaining a mostly remote, streamlined staff.

Meet Paul Thomson

A-Z-Animals.com got a chance to speak with Paul Thomson, the Wildlife Conservation Network’s Senior Director of Conservation Programs. A native of the Bay Area and lifelong animal lover, Thomson earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan’s School of Natural Resources & Environment before getting a Master’s Degree from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

This led to a conservation internship in Kenya, which led to starting a small lion conservation fund with a friend. This introduced Thomson to the Wildlife Conservation Network. Impressed with their investment model, Thomson eventually moved back to California and took a job at the WCN. “The rest is kind of history,” he says.

The Wildlife Conservation Network’s 3-Pronged Approach

The Wildlife Conservation Network’s work falls into three general categories, strategies, and developments that Thomson oversees. First, the WCN invests in organizations that protect species. This involves establishing long-term partnerships so said organizations can grow and run more efficiently. Typically, the WCN facilitates this process by matching them with worldwide funding.

This funding comes from three groups: individuals, foundations, and corporations. Individuals may donate $20, and wealthy philanthropists may donate thousands. Regardless, though, every dollar counts. In recent years, private companies have put skin in the game as well. “There’s an increasing number of private companies that have a corporate responsibility,” Thomson explains. “They support our work as a way to contribute back to the world.”

The second category also involves funding but on a more macro level. The WCN has a portfolio of six wildlife funds. These act as funding mechanisms to raise resources and efficiently give out grants to projects that are working on a species across the entire range of population locations. Take elephant organizations, for example. “We don’t just work with one elephant organization,” Thomson explains. “Instead, we issue funding to any elephant group that’s doing strong work underneath one guiding strategy. It’s like a neutral fund that’s available to anybody as long as they’re doing good work.”

Finally, the Wildlife Conservation Network equips the next generation of conservation leaders. Titled the Rising Wildlife Leaders strategy, this program provides scholarships, leadership training, and career development for young, enterprising people. Pay, however, is not necessarily commensurate with experience in wildlife conservation, so the WCN provides support. “This way they have that opportunity and have some resources to continue to rise up so that they don’t run out of money,” Thomson explains.

Challenges

This umbrella of initiatives provides a wide array of support for the best wildlife conservation efforts, but the work the WCN does is not without its challenges. With such a spread-out constellation of donors, funds, and supported programs, measuring success can be tricky. Plus, contributors want to know where their money is going and if it’s having a positive effect. “We’re working through this large network of players that are all over the world in different geographies, [working with] different species that are combating different types of threats,” Thomson says. “It’s really difficult to kind of roll that up to measure the overall success.”

To create maximum clarity in communication, the Wildlife Conservation Network tracks its conservation partners over time to see how the organizations are growing, evolving, and strengthening. This involves recording everything from the growth of wildlife populations to the number of people employed by conservation efforts. Along the way, the WCN tracks everything involved including the number of snares removed from habitats to ranger patrols deployed each year. Ultimately, the WCN wants to see wildlife populations increase and human-wildlife conflict decrease. “That’s definitely the end goal of tracking success, but the intermediate is seeing how our conservation partners are adapting, growing, and thriving as a result of our support,” Thomson explains.

External Factors

Providing measurable support to wildlife conservation efforts becomes harder when dealing with external factors. There are always roadblocks along the way, be it locust infestations, natural disasters, and political instability in far-off countries. Since the WCN is a private organization that relies on private funding, it remains accountable to its donors.

These donors are usually far removed from conservation efforts and can become frustrated when they don’t see their donations translated into overnight successes. “I’ve talked to folks here in America and they’re like, ‘Oh, well, why can’t you just put up a fence between the people and the places where there’s wildlife? Why can’t you just tell people to not kill elephants?'” Thomson says.

As Thomson explains, it’s not that easy. The organization has to walk the fine line between context and collaboration. People in East or Southern Africa, for example, live alongside these animals. It would be counterproductive for the WCN to eschew their traditional ways of living. Simply put: if the people living in these wildlife habitats don’t benefit from the animal’s presence, they lose the incentive to coexist.

Protect the Pride Disney Partnership

This work requires as much on-the-ground effort as public exposure. Recently, the Wildlife Conservation Network teamed up with Disney for the Protect the Pride campaign. Commencing in 2019 with the release of The Lion King, the collaboration raised awareness and provided financial resources for the WCN’s Lion Recovery Fund. Since the release of the first Lion King movie in 1994, half the world’s lion population disappeared.

Numbers have slowly increased, or at least not decreased, but most people aren’t aware that lions are threatened. “Most people are aware of the plight of the tiger, elephant, or rhino. But when I tell people that lions are also in trouble, there’s always this moment of shock,” says Thomson. “People think it’s the king of the jungle so it has to be safe. In fact, that’s not really true.”

To help spread awareness, the Wildlife Conservation Network teamed up with Disney again for the release of Mufasa, a prequel to The Lion King, this week. Besides supporting the WCN’s Protect the Pride Campaign, the partnership hopes to encourage people to take action, see the movie, spread the word about threatened lion populations, and “hopefully, make a contribution to our Lion Recovery Fund,” Thomson adds.

Measurable Success

Luckily, people have been waking up to the Earth’s biodiversity crisis, which has increased support for the WCN’s work tenfold. Over the years, the organization has enjoyed very concrete success. It’s issued over 400 grants across 25 countries, helped employ more than 1,000 people, and removed 83,000 snares from wildlife habitats. In terms of lions, the WCN has made a serious impact as well. “Fifty percent of the places where we work are now showing stable or growing lion populations,” Thompson says.

Implementing proper strategy can be tough, but for the WCN, the future looks bright. The organization intends to keep growing, provide funding where it’s needed, and help more rising leaders become effective conservationists. It supports some really great initiatives including the Elephant Crisis Fund, the Rhino Recovery Fund, and the Pangolin Crisis Fund, which is near and dear to Thomson.

One strategy the WCN has successfully implemented is its flagship event, the annual WCN Wildlife Conservation Expo in San Francisco, which brings in wildlife experts from across the globe to talk about their work. “We want to bring that to new cities and new areas so that we can connect with more people,” Thomson says.

What Can You Do to Help?

The beauty of the Wildlife Conservation Network’s fundraising model is that anyone can help. Donations can go directly to the WCN, which will allocate the funds where the need is greatest, or a specific species or organization under its purview. The WCN’s website also features a shop with all types of products, the proceeds from which support conservation in the field.

Beyond that, Thomson and the WCN encourage people to spread the word and raise awareness. It may seem like lip service, but the WCN and its partners benefit when people post on social media about their work and species in need. Ultimately, supporting threatened animals matters the most. “We really ask people to become advocates for wildlife,” Thompson adds.