Wildlife detective and conservationist, Ivan Carter, headed into season two of his series, Carter’s W.A.R., with a new foundation, his eye on the likelihood of putting another US$2 million on the frontline of animal conservation this year as a direct result of the show, and the satisfaction of an “immediate win” or two in what can seem like an impossible battle.
On a visit to Asia with Outdoor Channel this month, Carter talked about setting up the Ivan Carter Wildlife Conservation Alliance NGO as a direct result of viewer response to season one of the show, which airs exclusively on Outdoor Channel across the region.
Each issue of the series, produced by Shockey Productions, chooses a specific wildlife issue. Within that, the series focuses on a hero and a solution.
Carter’s alliance, based in the U.S., supports existing conservation efforts rather than setting up anything new. “Why reinvent the wheel when we have existing heroes of conservation, and they are telling us what their needs are,” he says.
Each episode has the potential to gather a community of supporters around a conservation cause, from baby chimpanzees being trafficked in the exotic pet trade to giraffe species in danger of being wiped out.
“Each episode can create change. And that’s the whole goal,” he says. “That has absolutely happened”.
Donors are able to see their donations at work through technology such as satellite trackers. There’s a “tangible and measurable effect,” he says.
In Uganda for instance, the alliance supported the relocation of a seed population of Nubian giraffe from Murchison Falls National Park across the Nile to a part of the park where poaching has been largely eliminated but too late to save the Nubian giraffe population in the area.
This followed viewer donations and response to the Carter’s W.A.R. episode on giraffe. The episode was produced in partnership with Julian Fennessy’s Giraffe Conservation Foundation.
As a direct result of the migration initiative, “in 10 days in front of our eyes...
Wildlife detective and conservationist, Ivan Carter, headed into season two of his series, Carter’s W.A.R., with a new foundation, his eye on the likelihood of putting another US$2 million on the frontline of animal conservation this year as a direct result of the show, and the satisfaction of an “immediate win” or two in what can seem like an impossible battle.
On a visit to Asia with Outdoor Channel this month, Carter talked about setting up the Ivan Carter Wildlife Conservation Alliance NGO as a direct result of viewer response to season one of the show, which airs exclusively on Outdoor Channel across the region.
Each issue of the series, produced by Shockey Productions, chooses a specific wildlife issue. Within that, the series focuses on a hero and a solution.
Carter’s alliance, based in the U.S., supports existing conservation efforts rather than setting up anything new. “Why reinvent the wheel when we have existing heroes of conservation, and they are telling us what their needs are,” he says.
Each episode has the potential to gather a community of supporters around a conservation cause, from baby chimpanzees being trafficked in the exotic pet trade to giraffe species in danger of being wiped out.
“Each episode can create change. And that’s the whole goal,” he says. “That has absolutely happened”.
Donors are able to see their donations at work through technology such as satellite trackers. There’s a “tangible and measurable effect,” he says.
In Uganda for instance, the alliance supported the relocation of a seed population of Nubian giraffe from Murchison Falls National Park across the Nile to a part of the park where poaching has been largely eliminated but too late to save the Nubian giraffe population in the area.
This followed viewer donations and response to the Carter’s W.A.R. episode on giraffe. The episode was produced in partnership with Julian Fennessy’s Giraffe Conservation Foundation.
As a direct result of the migration initiative, “in 10 days in front of our eyes, we increased the home range of the giraffe by tens of thousands of acres,” Carter says, adding: “It was an immediate win”.
There’s no way he could have predicted this happy outcome. “Secretly one hopes for that, but there is no way you can expect that kind of success,” he says.
Not every initiative involves large-scale logistics of relocation. The alliance also supports efforts such as a chimpanzee sanctuary in equatorial Africa, which had no running water or a refrigerator for a decade.
“With our support they now have decent facilities and reliable vehicles and are able to rescue the chimpanzees more effectively... and are able to start the conversation about when and where we release some of these chimpanzees. This wasn’t possible while they were worrying about where their next mouthful of food,” Carter says.
“Are these not the heroes most deserving of our support. When you can create an episode designed to entertain first in the hope that 1% of the people who watch it will step up and get in contact and try to make a difference, you realise that it is a success and it can have lasting change”.
In the midst of planning a move of West African giraffes in Niger to national parks, Carter finds it unthinkable that giraffes, currently extinct in seven African countries, should disappear without the world realising it. “But they do know,” I say. “They do now,” he says. He’s not taking credit for all of it, but every second of TV time goes a long way. – Janine Stein
Published on ContentAsia's eNewsletter, 9-22 October 2017