New Crowd Funding Campaign for lion collars

On May 19th, we launched a new crowdfunding campaign for Pride in Our Prides!  As our project grows in Northern Botswana, we want to expand our lion tracking efforts to develop a more comprehensive coverage of the study area.   With each additional satellite tracking collar, we are able to learn about the lion social groups, inform communities about their personalities and habits and integrate their movements into our early-warning system.

Since this campaign is only awarded IF we reach our goal, we hope that you feel inspired to support our effort!

Click HERE to visit the campaign site! Thank you for your support!

Pride in Our Prides welcomes Dr. Florian Weise to the field team!

Pride in Our Prides Team: Eric LeFlore, Mr. Mwezi of DWNP, Pro Tomeletso and Dr. Florian Weise

Flo arrived on site to continue with PiOP’s project activities as Eric is getting ready to analyze results from the first 21 months of lion conflict work in northern Botswana.  Together with “Pro”, PiOP’s trusted project assistant and local lion guardian, they met the livestock kraal builders, wildlife officials, and village chiefs to introduce Flo.  One chief in particular stressed that lions are the main cause of problems for communities surrounding the Okavango Delta as the cats frequently take to livestock predation.  Often, villagers have little means to deal with the conflict and may resort to persecution – the reason why PiOP was launched in 2014.  While investigating a lion conflict site in the field, the team also had an exciting (and rather close) encounter with an elephant herd of 35!  The ellies moved on, as will PiOP with its continuous efforts to mitigate human-lion conflict and increase tolerance for these majestic cats outside protected areas.  Enjoy some photos of Flo’s first day in the Seronga area…

Pro and Flo having a laugh by the village water pump

The Village Kgotla

Successful Launch of CLAWS: On-line Campaign and Trivia Night

The CLAWS Conservancy launched its inaugural fundraising campaign with our first annual Show Your CLAWS Trivia Night and Fundraiser on May 7th. The trivia night was a huge success featuring a talk from our President and Founder Dr. Andrew Stein on our current efforts to conserve lions, leopards and wolves through innovative approaches to community engagements and research.

The meal was prepared by award winning chef Neftali Duran that highlighted locally grown veggies in the roasted asparagus soup, and green salad punctuated by shrimp pasta and his signature pulled pork tacos.

The trivia was hosted by Ian Goldsten, a long-time friend of Andrew, featuring questions about our study species in literature, music, movies and sports. Though team CLAWStrophobia won the trivia, there were many teams in the running for best name including LION CHEETAHS, Apocalypse MEOW, Roaring BattaLIONS, CAT/MAN/DUO and others.

Lastly, our raffle was competitive for the big prizes of the night- Box Seats to the Boston Red Sox sponsored by Bernie and Lois Edinberg, Whalewatch/ Dinner Combo on Cape Cod Sponsored by the Center for Coastal Studies and Land Ho! Restaurant, Yoga by Meredyth Klotz, Tango Lessons with Corin Lee Girard, Pole Dancing Lessons from Barre and Pole Northampton, a Night of in the ESP Clay Studio, Wildlife Photos from Andrew Stein and Lion Sponsorship from CLAWS Conservancy.

The winner of 10 day visit to our Botswana Lion Projects was Dan Beringer, who made the largest donation during the Seeing Spots Campaign! Thank you Dan and we look forward to seeing you in the field!

Including on-line contributions and the Seeing Spots Campaign, CLAWS raised $5,500!

Thank you to all of the volunteers who helped with set up, registration, raffle donations, bar service, clean up and especially Chef Neftali Duran and Ian Goldstein for making this such a special Inaugural Event! Photos provided by Patricia Squitiero and Elena Shih