Wild Discovery is a small zoo based in the North West of England which aims to raise the profile of the world's animal kingdom through a range of interactive and educational activities. Our first in-situ conservation project has just been set up based in Kasese, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda. The project is encouraging local villagers living in the exclusion zones in and around QENP to introduce bee keeping on their land as a way to reduce human wildlife conflict. Elephants, carnivores and other large herbivores such as buffalo are persecuted for destroying crops, taking livestock and even causing human fatalities.

The families living in these exclusion zones are very poor, and the population is growing which means that they need more land for growing more crops. This is difficult to achieve as the villagers are not allowed to farm outside of the exclusion zone boundary otherwise they will receive heavy fines from the Ugandan Wildlife Authority (UWA). To protect their crops and livestock, the head of the family, usually the dad will stand guard during the night, but unfortunately this often leads to serious injury or even death! This then means that the children have to help guard and no longer go to school. It is a difficult scenario, but with the support of this project there is a way of reducing this human wildlife conflict.

To try and combat this conflict beehives are being introduced on the edge of the crops. Elephants are afraid of the bees and therefore they act as a deterrent and prevent crops from being destroyed. The bees also help pollinate the crops and the surrounding bush. The villagers also sell the honey which allows them to generate an additional income and therefore purchase thorny bushes to plant around their land and prevent carnivores from taking their livestock. The additional income can also help to buy other food and resources for the family.

Your donations will help build the beehives and maintain the colonies, it will also fund the field officer that works with the communities to introduce the project and support the villagers in setting up the hives. If we are successful in achieving the target of £10000 the project will be able to expand to other villages within Queen Elizabeth National Park and see more families benefiting from a safer life living with wildlife.