Strauss & co - WWF Art Auction

11 in Uganda. By 1986, following in his father’s footsteps, Joseph graduated as a vet and was the first trained and specialised wildlife vet in Uganda for a local university too. Says Joseph: ‘I wanted adventure, to be in nature, to be in the wild. ‘I did lots of work on foot, collecting samples and working with remote nomadic tribes and investigating local wildlife diseases. I spoke with the land-living people, hearing how the wildlife took the disease from their domestic livestock. ‘I realised how there is so much we can learn fromwild animals, how they exist within real ecosystems! For the nomadic tribes, for example, it is the elephants that open up the watering holes, and from observing how a lion hunts and feeds we learn that it will never eat more than it needs. ‘We need to learn to be content. That is the problemwith poaching…people wanting more than they need.’ In his role withWWF, Joseph strongly endorses the fact that we work closely with communities to understand their cultural and social connection, or non-attachment, to specific animals. He supports and capacitates the building of proactive communities on the ground across Africa who can understand the long-term value of these special creatures rather than the short-term gain. By ensuring capacity building amongst the communities – growing the skills and dedication within these groups in rhino areas – the people who live near the rhinos can understand, and possibly even benefit from, the ongoing value and incentive of wildlife tourism. If they value the rhino, they become the strongest weapon in the fight against poachers. Joseph knows this better than anyone when it comes to rhinos: ‘The rhino is in fact the totem of my tribe, something to be protected as told through mythical stories. This was something my grandparents revered. The rhino is a symbol of strength and authority.’ Back in 2001, Joseph also experienced first hand the power of helping to repopulate previously rhino-rich areas. It was a dream come true for Joseph when he was appointed Uganda’s Wildlife Coordinator at the turn of the century – 15 years after he first became a vet. Soon after, Joseph was involved in importing two white rhinos as part of Uganda’s population growth programme. Today, Uganda has 27 rhinos with the latest one born in June 2013. This is just one example of the type of work Joseph is now able to influence and support across all the rhino range states in Africa as the head of WWF’s African Rhino Programme. Another exciting piece of work since he joined is WWF’s involvement since early 2010 with a pilot project involving SanParks and VGL, the Veterinary Genetic Laboratory, to collect rhino DNA samples. RhODIS, the rhino DNA Indexing System, aims to establish a worldwide rhino database, categorised by DNA through blood samples and other rhino tissues. This unique monitoring and tracking approach means that all indexed rhinos and rhino parts are 100% traceable anywhere across the globe. A recent and previously unprecedented victory used such DNA samples as key evidence to secure the conviction in 2012 of a Thai national involved in a poaching syndicate in South Africa. This now sets the tone for all future poaching convictions, sending a clear message that poaching crimes will be met with the most severe sentences possible by the judiciary. WWF initially invested funds into the RhODIS project and is now the biggest coordinator of this all-important DNA sampling work. RhODIS has also been deemed one of the leading decisions from the recent 2013 CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) – the next of which will be held in South Africa in 2016. This means all 174 international member countries are obligated to be accountable to rhino and obligated to supply genetic samples for the global database. Rhinos will now be protected by law which for wildlife investors also means a more secure area of environmental investment. It is also hugely affirming for donors to see such success and a brighter future for these critically endangered, prehistoric-looking, majestically docile beasts. While Joseph travels frequently to visit the various African rhino range states and conducts community, advocacy and lobbying work along the way, he is also a father and a family man. He believes strongly in wildlife education to help us understand the value of our animals and ecosystems: ‘Today I teach my kids about the importance of wild animals, passing on the stories I was told and planting the seeds in their young lives.’ 1 Over 1 000 rhino were shot by officers under the Game Control Act (1946-1948) to clear land for agricultural settlement.