Excerpts From the Fall 2004 WHWF Newsletter

William Holden Wildlife Foundation Newsletter - Page 2

DEAR FRIENDS:

This September I returned to the States after six weeks in Kenya. My stay was very busy and rewarding. The day after I arrived I was called on the radio by the Game Ranch/Wildlife Conservancy manager, Bunge. "We have a new baby," the voice said. I jumped in my car and met Bunge at the entrance to the paddocks where the bongos from the States are housed. This is the second birth from this group of bongos and a very happy event. Don and Iris Hunt, the principal owners of the Game Ranch now turned Wildlife Conservancy, are calling the new baby "Hope" and indeed she is the hope of the future.

The Education Center is extremely busy with students, seminars and the Bongo Awareness Program. The Awareness Program will be conducted by Francis Maina, who will take the news of the repatriation of the bongo to Mt. Kenya, to the five districts surrounding the Mt. Kenya National Park. These five districts contain the people whose cooperation in years to come will be crucial to the success of this project.

Our seminar this year was a bit of an experiment based on the theme "Does Conservation Make Good Business Sense?" We combined a group of business students with a conservation club and had a very interesting weekend. We will definitely develop this idea further.

We are completely redesigning our Web site, which should be operating by the time you receive this newsletter - so have a look and tell us what you think, please! Our Newsletter's "new look" has received rave reviews, and it has also raised questions. I want to assure you that even though our newsletter is more colorful, and I hope more interesting, we are still using recycled paper and soy based biodegradable ink, so rest easy!

I have recently expanded my conservation work outside the WHWF. For a few years I have been discussing conservation efforts with Jaguar Motor Co. of North America. I was appointed as their conservation consultant and have authored the Jaguar Conservation Trust. This year the JCT began by giving small grants to groups in Belize and Guatemala to preserve and protect jaguars. I will bring you more on the JCT in our next newsletter, and we will have a link on our Web site. Meanwhile...

Regards,

Stefanie Powers

William Holden Wildlife Foundation Newsletter - Page 3

UPDATE ON CHUCKY

While driving across the Game Ranch in March, Stefanie spotted a warthog piglet on its own. She stopped the car and carefully looked around for the mother. Finding the baby abandoned, she grabbed it after a romp in the bush. She examined the baby to find it was covered with lice and somewhat unstable on its feet, which may have been the reason it was abandoned. She put the baby on her lap and drove straight to the Animal Orphanage, where Iris Hunt met her. Iris has raised many orphans in peril, and her trusty staff and she have nursed him to health. He is growing rapidly and doing fine, amusing everyone who comes to visit by rolling over to have his belly scratched!