About the Wildlife Ranger Challenge: 

COVID-19 has brought tourism revenue to a halt across Africa, threatening the important work and livelihoods of the rangers who protect iconic African wildlife such as elephants, pangolins, rhinos, lions, and more. Ranger teams are now uniting around the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, a running race with one goal: to raise money to support thousands of their fellow rangers. Now is the time to go the extra mile—it’s time to race to support our rangers. Every dollar donated will be matched by the Scheinberg Relief Fund, doubling your generous contribution.

Your contribution will help support 24 rangers and an estimated 75 livelihoods in and around Musekese-Lumbeya-Kafue National Park in Zambia.

The role of rangers:

The Musekese-Lumbeya region has historically been a hotspot for poaching with limited access for anti-poaching teams and a severe lack of resources to control illegal activities. Since 2018, however, two teams of anti-poaching rangers are now working from a strategic anti-poaching base and as of July 2020, nine additional rangers are being trained.

The rangers’ presence has had a noticeable impact over the past 20 months. In 2017 there were at least ten large animals killed in snares—in 2018 there were none record or found and this trend has continued to date.

How your donation will help:

Additional funding would support ongoing operations of our teams going into 2021. Ensuring that our teams can be continuously operating is critical to the wellbeing of our scouts and their families that rely on their income to survive.

Operations are also crucial to the survival of key species in this area. Early 2020 saw the arrival of seven lion cubs to the resident pride and we have positively identified 16 different leopards within 25 square km, along with multiple breeding herds of elephants moving through the region.

Effects of the pandemic:

The Musekese-Lumbeya region has two tourism operators, neither of which are operational currently. Tourism itself acts as a deterrent to illegal activity simply due to the increased responsible presence in the park. Now our operations are under a huge amount of pressure in strategically securing the core areas.

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Tusk is registered with JustGiving in the UK (or GoFundMe.com in the USA). Our online fundraising sites allow you to create a sponsorship form with easy access for your supporters, knowing their money is going directly to Tusk. UK tax-paying donors can enhance their contribution by agreeing to Gift Aid their sponsorship (for every £10 you raise, Tusk will receive another £2.50 from the Government provided you are a UK taxpayer). US supporters wishing to make a tax deductible donation can do so via GoFundMe.com.