By Brook Minx, SCIF President
This article originally appeared in the 2023 July/August issue of Safari Magazine.
Everything we do at SCI Foundation is focused First for Wildlife. Most recognizable, people first think of the essential conservation projects that our very own Dr. Chris Comer plans and carries out all over the world. In last year’s September/October issue of SAFARI Magazine I wrote in-depth about each of our conservation programs currently taking place:
• Mozambique Leopard Study
• North America Brown Bear Studies
• Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolutions in multiple countries
• CWD research in the U.S.
But there are many programs that SCIF has prioritized that equally contribute to our overall mission ensuring the future of wildlife. These programs include our customized outdoor education work, including all we do through the International Wildlife Museum, our commitment to R3 symposiums and programs. Humanitarian work, such as the SCIF & Bell Family Blue Bag program, also indirectly impacts wildlife populations.
As rural communities are visited by, and financially benefit from, hunting tourists, those rural communities are more likely to treat their land in a way that benefits wildlife and incentivizes more hunting tourism.
There are many ways SCIF remains dedicated to the future of wildlife. One of the biggest benefits to wildlife populations is regulated hunting and the suppression of wildlife poaching. This is something I have personally been working to increase awareness of. Poaching issues are always multi-faceted, and unique in each area they occur. But supporting anti-poaching initiatives is essential to our wildlife conservation focus as an organization.
If you have not yet subscribed, visit patrolling.org for the most comprehensive, educational, and entertaining conglomeration of anti-poaching news ever compiled.
We’re only on our 6th volume released, so you’re still early, and the response from these stories has been outstanding.
But SCIF is committed to more than just the educational side of anti-poaching. Several times we’ve teamed-up in support of The Savé Valley Conservancy’s Special Species Protection Unit, and we remain active with leopards and other activities on the conservancy today.
In Mozambique, we’re just beginning a large-scale elephant habitat/conflict management program with the Mozambique Wildlife Alliance. Poaching has long been an important issue in Africa as well as globally. SCIF remains committed to working with local entities to address poaching threats
