Yao Ming in Africa with Wild Aid

ARoleModel aims to put light on the many positive influences stars and celebrities are having on important worldwide issues. Today, a look at former NBA star Yao Ming and his work with animal rights inAfrica. . . 

Yao Ming and WildAid

The former Houston Rockets NBA star and 7 foot 6 inch giant Yao Ming has turned his hand from basketball to combating illegal wildlife trade. Yao Ming, who is a WildAid Ambassador, is in Africa documenting the poaching crisis facing rhinos and elephants.

The Asian demand for rhino horn and ivory is a critical animal rights issue being fought by WildAid. Yao Ming has been writing about his experiences in Africa and about the fight for animal rights for rhinos and elephants there. Yesterday he was at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy inKenya. This is what he wrote while there.

“Poaching has become such a serious problem in East Africa, that last year alone, Ol Pejeta lost five of their 88 rhinos to poachers, which has been their greatest loss in twenty years. Ol Pejeta and the KWS have had to step up their game to defeat poaching, and some members of the security team undergo intensive training programs to sharpen their surveillance skills.”

 

Here is another great entry from Yao Ming’s blog:

 

From Yao Ming’s Blog

Lions and Tigers and Dogs, Oh My

… We track down a collared lion using a radio signal. The animals are tracked to learn more about their behaviour, I learn from Simba Zhuo, a Chinese conservationist working inKenya’s Maasai Mara.

Lions are now endangered – falling from a population of 200,000 a hundred years ago to only 20,000 today.  This is because of habitat loss, largely to agriculture uses, and conflict with livestock.  On top of that, their bones are now targeted for Asian medicinal use, because tiger numbers have been so depleted.

 

About WildAid

WildAid’s mission is to end the illegal & unsustainable wildlife trade within our lifetimes

To achieve this WildAid uniquely focuses on raising awareness to reduce the demand for wildlife products and to increase public support for wildlife conservation.

We believe that the ecological damage, cruelty and corruption involved in the illegal & unsustainable wildlife trade are as unnecessary as they are unacceptable and that these activities constitute a theft from future generations.

We want a world where communities can improve their lives without destroying their environment and humanity can survive together with wildlife for generations to come.

 

Please show your support for this charity by visiting the WildAid website.

 

 

 

 

Just in case you don’t happen to know Yao Ming; here’s somewhere you will recognise him from: the Yao Ming Scared Face!

Yao Ming Scared Face