“Pen and camera are weapons against oblivion. They can raise awareness for that which may soon be lost forever” – George Schaller

Conservation photography is instrumental in replacing environmental indifference with a culture of stewardship and passion for our wildlife and wild places and has never been more important that it is today – Thomas P. Paschak. I read this sentence with keen interest as I think about all the horrific images I have seen over the last year. One such image is of the blood path that happens every year in the Faroe Islands, Denmark. A blood bath caused by a ceremony that in my mind does not prove that a boy has “become a man” but rather shows the ability of a boy to switch off his humanity. Images of rhinos stumbling around with blood spattered faces and horrific disfigurement. Disfigurement caused due to a lack of education and intense cultural beliefs with no regard to nature or its existence. However, I also think to the images that show some of the triumphs of conservation. The joy and accomplishment on the faces of people as they release an animal into the wild or the relief of seeing an animal removed from a life of cruel captivity. Breeding programs welcoming another tiny member into the world, aiding the desire to replenish the world with species that man has eradicated in its senseless and selfish drive to have everything and anything that it desires. This desire seems to come at a cost of mind blowing proportions. However, in order to understand the perilous consequences that these desires come at, many people need to see…not just hear or be told about the events that are occurring and the situations unfolding on nature today. This is where photos and images that pull at the lingering conscious that many people still possess, are so important in preserving what we have left. If we can spread the understanding that our beautiful world around us is in great peril to more people, the earth and what we are trying to protect…might just have a small hope. A hope that is felt each time an animal is rescued from a meaningless and callous death, when an endangered animal gives birth to its young and when an animal, crippled by man’s makings, is released back to live wild and free.

Some of the dogs from the Modisa project which hopes to be able to return them to the wild so they no longer have to gaze at the outside world through a fence. Check out what they are doing. www.modisa.org