Category: News from our NGO

Dear animal lovers,
The Trust "Saving endangered wildlife" invites you to the lecture
"The return of the wolves"
by Thomas Liebenstein, wildlife manager at the government of Middle Franconia.
Date: Sunday, 15 May 2022, at 6:00 p.m. in the Iwalewa House of the University of Bayreuth, 95444 Bayreuth, Wölfelstr. 2.
Hardly any other wild animal divides minds in Germany as much as the wolf. More than 125 years after its extinction, it is also returning to Bavaria - a reason for joy or rather for fear? Thomas Liebenstein takes you on a search for clues: Why were wolves exterminated? Why and where are they coming back from? What exactly does a wolf's life look like? And what advantages and problems does the return of the wolf, one of Europe's largest predators, bring with it?
You are cordially invited to participate together with your friends. We are looking forward to your coming.

On 30 March 2021 and on 22 June 2021 our small society had donated € 10,000.00 each, making a total of € 20,000 to the anti poaching unit in the Bumi Hills at Kariba Reservoir in Zimbabwe. With the €5,000 each already transferred in January and the €5,000 transferred again on 13 December 2021, the donations for Bumi hills 2021 add up to €30,000.00.

On 31 March, the head of this unit Catherine Norton wrote:

We just cannot thank you enough – this is truly wonderful. Your support ( from one small organisation, to another!) is just overwhelming. 

After donating again, this message from Catherine reached us by email on 22 June 2021:

We are completely overwhelmed – we really did not expect such an incredible donation from you both. I don’t know what to say, except that we are deeply, deeply grateful. You are absolutely correct in saying that the risk of not paying our scouts enough is that they might become desperate – although we have great faith in their integrity and commitment, it has been known to happen in other , less concerned units. 

After announcing the renewed donation by our society in December 2021, Catherine Norton wrote: This is not just good news, it’s astounding news! Finances are always very tight towards the end of the year, and we really did think that as you had already been so very generous, that there was little hope of any further donations – and then this e mail arrived! I have to admit to executing a joyful little dance around our operations room. 

Please click on this video to learn more about the work of the Bumi Hills Anti Poaching Unit: 

der Bumi Hills zu erfahren:

Finally, interesting continuing education courses again.

After the break forced by the corona pandemic, it is now possible to hold lecture events again under the 3G scheme. As always, Prof. Dr. Gerrit Begemann reports very vividly on what you should know about the egg. Don't miss this amusing lecture. Free admission. Donations for the association requested.

On 16.10.21 we visited the Circus Krone farm in Wessling near Munich. It's great that a circus has set up a sanctuary for its animals and also cares for animal welfare outside the circus with the Lacey Fund. At the moment, however, active animals such as lions and tigers can also be seen at the Krone Farm.

Saving endangered wild animals and animals in the circus - is then compatible? Yes, at least in this specific case of Circus Krone. Why? A few years ago we petted a lion running free in a national park without any further preparation. He was 18 months old. At that age it is still possible. So if you come into contact with the big wild cats early enough, you can build up wonderful relationships.

Yes, but wild cats can walk a lot of kilometres/day in the wild. That's right, but they only do that to look for food and, if necessary, to defend their territory or to mate. When they have enough to eat, they lie around lazily. I observed a large pride of lions in the African wilderness sleeping about 20 m away from drinking zebras. The lions were full. The zebras, which are usually prey for the lions, knew this and dared to approach the lions. Domestic cats also sleep for about 18 hours a day. The big cats also sleep when they are full. The rest of the time they want to be kept busy.

The tigers and lions regard the circus performances as training and employment units. And these units are really fun for these animals at Circus Krone, otherwise they wouldn't do them. Thanks to Martin and Alexander Lacey's enormous experience, empathy and love of animals, this happens completely without coercion. As the lions and tigers need these sessions, the trainer cannot take a holiday of more than 2 weeks. All the animals that are in the arena at the same time as their trainer form a pack. That is why they get along.

What would happen if these animals were released into the wild? According to Dirk Steffens (information at the University of Bayreuth on 19.10.21 on the occasion of the award of the honorary doctorate), there is no longer a sufficiently large habitat for tigers on earth. The abandoned tigers would have real problems with the already existing ones. Give them to the zoo? Who would be so intensively concerned with these animals? Lions could still be released into the wild in Africa. But here, too, the habitat for these animals has become very, very narrow, as I experienced myself. In addition, the big cats that have grown up in human hands would be a found object for the unfortunately still existing big game hunters to kill mercilessly. These horrible people spend about $50,000 for this.

In summary, we could see that the tigers and lions we observed at Krone Farm were doing really well, as were all the other animals. At the same time, the adults and especially the children have a wonderful opportunity to get to know and love these animals. Most children in Africa no longer know any wild animals. Accordingly, the emotional relationship is missing, which in turn gives impetus to poaching.

As the picture shows, this girl completed the same training sessions with her cats without any problems right after her visit to the Krone Farm.