11/09/2022
Thank you Lauren for sharing your story!
“Hi. My name is Lauren Lee, and I'm the Education Coordinator for Global Conservation Force.
My journey started in the veterinary field, where I went to school for biology through the University of Chicago.
After a few years of working in veterinary medicine, I had some interests outside my job description, so I decided to look into wildlife conservation. San Diego Zoo has a great master's program for biology, and I decided to pursue that. So, after doing my master's degree at the San Diego Zoo, I became a Safari Park Educator.
We talked about conservation, and I met many passionate people like Bob. Bob was one of the most dynamic and charismatic tour guides at the Safari Park. He had all these stories because he had been there for many years.
I have seen his website! Very visually stimulating.
Good job, Bob.
And I love the animals on the website. That's my favorite part. So it's excellent, easy to use, and has lots of my favorite animals.
At the end of his rhino page, he highlights GCF, which is lovely. It's nice to see people giving back.
Thanks, Bob!
Our mission is to protect and save endangered animals through a multifaceted approach: education, ranger training, and monetary support.
A Ranger is a soldier for animals and conservation, and wildlife.
Our anti-poaching rangers abroad are skilled at reading animal tracks, seeking out poachers themselves, hand-to-hand combat, and providing lots of intellect.
A lot of them are locals, too. So we seek out local community members to become rangers.
We're creating jobs for them and pride in the animals they share their homes with so that they continue to protect them for the future.
Rangers are out in those reserves overnight, ensuring the animals are always protected, and they could face anything from poaching to illegal trafficking, bushmeat, you name it.
So our rangers are out there putting their lives on the line to help wildlife on the forefront.
I visited with our mounted APU, our anti-poaching unit, and our mounted APU rangers, Sino and Kamve. They take care of the horses and can monitor many kilometers of the property daily.
Mounted APU horses are quiet enough in the wild terrain, so they don't spook the animals.
Since Global Conservation started in 2014, we've supported more than 1700 rangers, and that number continues to grow.
We are thriving as an organization with volunteers and supporters on the stateside and abroad.
In addition, we have more partners worldwide, allowing us to work in 16 countries.