Whilst reading again about current projects supported by the David Shepherd Wildlife foundation I came across a reference to ACAP. It's in the section on What Do We Do? and then go to the page on "When The Buying Stops, The Killing Can Too".

I followed their link to this page which is something we can all do and takes only moments of our time.

http://www.wildaid.org/globalpledge/index.asp

The pledge reads:
<i>We, the undersigned, call upon the leaders of all the world?s nations to ensure the conservation and protection of our World's wildlife.

We call upon world leaders to act, immediately, to eliminate the illegal trade in wildlife and devote far greater efforts to ensure the protection of wilderness areas.

We most strongly and urgently urge the leaders of all developed nations to provide greatly increased financial assistance to poorer nations to aid them in their conservation priorities.

We personally pledge never to knowingly purchase or consume illegal wildlife parts or products.

We say to our leaders: if we all come together we can ensure the children of future generations can experience the beauty and benefits of our natural world ? when we all come together, we can do anything.
</i>

From what I have read, wildaid looks like a great, very effective organization. I believe they have some big donors who have agreed to pay their admin and overhead, so that donations from the public go directly to programs (at least that is what they were promising a year or so ago). This is a BIG plus, because it means that donations don't go to pay for a big office building and lots of &quot;support&quot; salaries in Washington or NYC. (and one hopes that the big donors have more leverage for managing those extravagances...)

I believe they are one of the groups that receive funding from the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (which is who I'm raising money for - see other thread).

They do look like another of the good guys, effective, lean on administration costs, dedicated, experienced.

A year or two ago I saw a special by National Geographic on the Wild Aid bunch. They are a tough, focused devoted group of people. A couple of the guys they followed around on the special were ex-New Zealand (I believe)special forces. It was a &quot;one for the good guys&quot; type of show.

They take a &quot;no excuses, kick butt&quot; attitude toward poaching, logging, etc.

Kavey, I believe your saying...&quot;when the buying stops, the killing will too&quot; came from WildAid.

A great all around conservation org.

Of course, you knew that Kavey, re: the first post on this thread...Next time I'll open my eyes when I read!!

You're forgiven. And not just because you bought one of my charity prints in aid of these very guys. But that helps!

Thank you, photog extradordinaire!