So #TEAMEARTH has happened & I am soooo happy that these men were guest speakers on the day, four very different men all fighting the same cause ~ Animal Welfare.
I came across Richard Peirce when I found ‘Cuddle Me ~ Kill Me’ on the Born Free Foundation Facebook page. I purchased a signed copy & quickly read it on the bus to & from work, I have since read a couple more of Richards books, they start with stories of actual living animals who’s lives have gone through bad times, the second part of the books go into the fact’s, figures & politics of the topic. ‘Cuddle Me ~ Kill Me’ was a game changer for me, within two weeks of reading the book, I had booked to go & volunteer with the lions featured in the book, where they now live their lives in an ethical sanctuary.
When Richard volunteered to come to #TEAMEARTH I was so pleased that I would meet the man who opened my eyes to this abhorrent industry. Richard was as he is in the picture, he speaks candidly & with absolute knowledge & insight to the subject he is talking about.
On the day we screened ‘Blood Lions’ & showcased ‘Lions, Bones & Bullets’ the trailer to Richards film that will be out next year & premiered at the Wildscreen Festival, from the trailer & the stories Richard told I am sure this will be an amazing expose of that which we fight against.
It looked liked the majority of those who watched the films & listened to Richard, went on to buy his book, together we can be informed & do our best to end lion farming in South Africa.
Thankyou Richard, you ignited a passion & I tirelessly promote your book & will do the same for the film ~ I think it’s going to be outstanding!!
I came across Ian Redmond OBE shortly after returning from volunteering in Namibia, two weeks which had already started to change my life. Randomly an event ad came up on Facebook for The Ape Alliance Annual Panel Meeting, it was in Bristol & free to attend, so I went along. This is where I cam across Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection as the topic of the meeting was ‘the role of sanctuaries in conservation’.
To be honest on the evening, I wasn’t sure how I felt about going, but then it all starts playing through your mind & set me on my journey to doing what I can for animals.
I cheekily messaged Ian on Facebook to ask if he would speak at the event, he said yes, as long as he was in the country at the time, he would come, as it reminded him of when he was responsible for the premier of ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ for the west country.
I have been to some more of Ian’s events, he is a very gently spoken man, but with great knowledge & passion. My favorite moment is when he did a ‘Remembering Great Apes’ evening to launch the third book in the series ‘Remembering Wildlife’ Ian read his field notes, from the piece of paper he actually typed them on whilst working alongside Dian Fossey.
Ian’s talk was entitled ‘The Reluctant Volunteer’ talking of how he started off working with Dian as a handyman, showing slides & interacting with the audience & he recommended the BOOK of Gorilla’s in the Mist, far more factual than the film.
Thankyou Ian, for being such a gentle man AND for introducing me to Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection ~ see you at your next event !!
I came across Dominic Dyer, CEO of Badger Trust on Twitter, I finally joined the tweeting world when I started blogging, it’s a useful place to follow conservation world. Dominic popped up on LOT’S of tweets, so I followed him & found him to be a speaker at many events, so passionate about what is going on with wildlife & politics, so again I cheekily asked & with no hesitation he said yes.
Dominic was a great shoulder for me, I often asked him questions & he always answered with good advice & promoted the event to his thousands of followers.
Dominic is an AMAZING speaker, passionate, knowledgeable (swears a little ha ha) & engaging ~ a force of nature, those that listened to his talk on ‘The Politics of Wildlife Protection’ came to me & said that they also thought what a great speaker he was.
Dominic also showed Lizzy Daly’s ‘Silent Slaughter’ about the slaughter of seals to ‘protect’ farmed salmon.
I would like to thank Dominic for his support both for this event & going forward as he said (as has everyone else) that I must do it again, & he has idea’s he would like to help me with as someone who knows far more than novice me how to do it all.
Thankyou Dominic for your warmth, advice & encouragement, such a lovely man.
I approached Elephant Aid International to ask if I could show ‘Unchained’, straight away they said yes, I then received a follow up email saying that Alex C Rivera, the director would like to come along to support his film ~ HOW AMAZING !!
Alex talked about his film before it started, the reason for the film ~ as a tourist he had taken an elephant ride, upon realising some time later that this was not a good thing he contacted Carol Buckley, founder of Elephant Aid International to ask if he could follow her & film her work with captive Asian elephants, she said they could meet & would then decide if she liked him & if she could imagine him following her around. They met & the rest is history ‘Unchained’ was made & has gone on to win awards.
Alex was quite shy, his Spanish accent engaging as he spoke about his film & answered questions.
Thankyou Alex for volunteering to come & support your film, I will carry on promoting the work of Galgos Del Sol, after watching your lovely promotional video & if I end up adopting a Podenco, you will be dog sitting when I am off volunteering abroad !!
I would like to make it clear that NONE of these lovely men knew of my existence before I approached them, one way or the other, to come & talk at #TEAMEARTH, but they all said YES, they all gave freely of their time & gave great talks which engaged their audiences & for that I am truly GREAT FULL & I hope to work with them all again !!
THANKYOU
The Wildlife Volunteer 