Do you love elephants and rhinos and want to help save them? Here is a great and easy way to help. Meet the VETPAW organization.
An awesome group of Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient veterans and their team are helping abused animals. Witnessing elephant and rhino species extinction, they came to the rescue. Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife (VETPAW) was founded by Ryan Tate, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. After bravely serving from 2003-2007 in the most dangerous areas during the Iraq War, he was recognized as Marine of the Year in 2005.
Ryan Tate wanted to apply his skills towards his passion for wildlife conservation, to help save elephants and rhinos and to help stop poaching in Africa.
“Losing one species has an impact on all the other species in an ecosystem. If it’s not a balanced ecosystem, it all fails.” — Ryan Tate exclaims.
If poaching doesn’t stop, the extinction of elephants will happen within 20 years. Rhinos are also poached. Some species are already extinct.
“There’s a really solid chance that if you educate a poacher in the right manner and make that big of an impact on him, he’s not going to do it again when he gets out of jail.” – Ryan Tate
Donations to VETPAW helps trainers and rangers with the supplies they need, for fuel, helicopter time, firearms, food, and new technology for counter-poaching methods. Some goes to community engagement.
Some of the VETPAW missions include
Operation Rhino Shield – securing a long term home with the help of Army, Marine and Navy veterans and private reserves.
Operation Tanzania – investigations resulted in arrest of 50 suspected poachers, with the help of U.S. Special Forces, Army and Air Force, VETPAW-trained local rangers, and Tansazian Wlidlife Anit-Crimes Task Force.
Meet some of the VETPAW heroes:
We thank VETPAW for #HelpingAbusedAnimals and in turn, the world. Elephants and rhinos are family-oriented beings. They feel pain and loss. They are playful in loving situations. Just like humans. #BeKindToElephants, #BeKindToRhinos, #BeKindToAnimals.
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