Last chance to get my new book at pre-order rate…

If you haven’t yet ordered your signed copy of my new book Underdogs at the special pre-publication rate, be sure to join me at the Natural History Museum in London on the 13th of December. My free Nature Live talk about the endangered African wild dog will be the last chance to pick up a copy of Underdogs for just £25 (as opposed to the sales price of £32.50).

This event will also be a chance to learn about the ecology of this remarkable predator, the reasons behind the species’ persistent decline in numbers and the conservation efforts being made to secure a future for the wild dog in a developing Africa. It will also be a chance to have your questions answered and get your book signed. So join me on the 13th at the Natural History Museum or, if you can’t make it, order your signed copy today to make sure you don’t miss out on this offer. And remember, a donation from sales will be made towards African wild dog conservation efforts.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

13 December 2011 – Natural History Museum

Join me at London’s Natural History Museum on Tuesday the 13th of December 2011 where I will be giving a free Nature Live talk about the endangered African wild dog. Discover what makes this fascinating carnivore such an efficient predator, learn why it has been wiped out from 25 of the 39 countries it once called home and hear how conservation bodies are working to arrest the decline in numbers and secure its future.

This short talk will be followed by an opportunity for you to ask questions about these charismatic canids and my work following and photographing them. I will be illustrating my talk with images from my new book Underdogs, which will also be available to buy following the talk. Visit the Natural History Museum website to find out more details.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Underdogs is here…

I’m really excited to announce that I am now taking pre-publication orders for my African wild dog book Underdogs. Place your order now and you will receive a signed copy with a 23% discount off the cover price in time for Christmas. What’s more, a percentage of all sales will be donated to valuable African wild dog conservation work.

This book has been three years in the making. I have written and photographed it and the foreword is supplied by Professor Peter Neville. The photography has won a host of awards already, including a highly commended in the international Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and a place in an ILCP exhibition in the United States of America.

Many of the animals that I followed closely over the life of this project have been killed, making me more determined to do justice to my time spent with them. Stellar, the iconic alpha female and subject of my Wildlife Photographer of the Year image Survivor, was killed earlier this year by poachers along with her alpha mate.

The species is endangered and it is estimated that there are little more than 3,000 left in the wild with numbers still falling. I hope to raise enough money to make a significant donation towards the research and protection of these beautifully charismatic creatures. I will be posting updates on my blog over the coming months so you can keep track of how your contribution is making a difference.

If you want to learn more about African wild dogs or get a book signed in person, why not join me as I return to the Natural History Museum in London on the 13th of December. I will be delivering a Nature Live talk all about these charismatic canids and taking your questions.

Order your copy now at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Underdogs is coming…

…help choose the cover photo.

My African wild dog book Underdogs will soon be available to order but first I want your help to choose a cover photo. Look at the four photographs below and then vote for your favourite in the poll.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Fighting for her legacy…

I was always sobered by the experience of finding dead wild dogs while photographing for my book Underdogs. These are endangered creatures that I have dedicated the last three years of my career to and so I would like to think that my reaction is understandable. That said, nothing could have prepared me for the news that came through from South Africa that Stellar, the iconic alpha female of my Wildlife Photographer of the Year photograph Survivor, was dead.

Stellar’s life was characterised by tragic events. She had lost alpha mates and litters during her stressful and luckless existence on both Madikwe Game Reserve and Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve. When she was translocated to KwaZulu-Natal’s Mkhuze Game Reserve in 2010 she had the chance of a fresh start and to put the troubles of the past behind her. For almost a year it seemed that she had done just that in raising a litter of four pups through their most challenging period in life. Sadly, Stellar, her alpha mate and one of their pups were recently found to be the victims of snares.

It is a difficult balance to strike for conservationists but the dropping of fences between protected reserves to create larger conservation areas often opens up land to poaching and the threat of disease. The death of Stellar and her family at the same time as other deaths in South Africa’s fragile wild dog population highlights the fight that conservation authorities, game rangers and anti-poaching scouts still have on their hands if the species is to be saved.

As I put the finishing touches to my book Underdogs, the fight on my hands is to do justice to the time that Stellar allowed me into her world. I am hoping that the book will not only raise greater awareness of these charismatic canids and the threats to their survival but that it will help to raise funds for greater protection and invaluable research. Keep an eye on my blog or website and follow me on twitter or facebook to find out when Underdogs is available and how you can help the African wild dog.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

The translocation of Rory – an update

A while ago I blogged on the darting and translocation of Rory, a young African wild dog, from South Africa’s Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve to his new home in KwaZulu-Natal. After some rather downbeat posts recently on the trade in wild dogs and on their endangered status, I thought I would give you an update on how Rory is doing as well as the video of his translocation that I shot earlier this year.

As an outsider joining an established alpha pair, Rory couldn’t have fitted in to his new pack and surroundings any better. The alpha female gave birth to eight pups this year and Rory has been the main babysitter and provider of food after hunts, regurgitating meat for the mother and for her litter. His care and responsibility towards them has ensured that all eight pups have made it through their first six months alive and well.

But it’s not all been hard work and responsibility…Charl Senekal, the reserve manager at Hlambanyathi Game Reserve where Rory was moved to, has noticed that the pack has taken to regularly chasing leopards up trees – a curious and dangerous game given the violent death of most of Rory’s family at the hands of predators.

The video shows the lengthy darting and translocation process that took place earlier this year to move Rory to KwaZulu-Natal. Four of the five darts fired made contact but, as is the case with such darting procedures, things don’t always go to plan. Two of the darts were ineffective and it was the fifth and final dart that had the desired effect. It is never ideal to have to intervene to such an extent in the lives of wild animals but with so precious few African wild dogs left and with their plight on our watch, it is sometimes a sensible and necessary decision. And in this case, with Rory playing his part in the survival of eight young dogs at Hlambanyathi, there can be little doubt that decision has been justified.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year

My image ‘Survivor‘ has been announced as part of the winning portfolio of the coveted international Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. This image of an alert and vulnerable alpha female African wild dog was chosen as one of the top shots in the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife. You can see the photograph and the stunning exhibition of all the winning photographs at the traveling exhibition in more than 70 cities worldwide, as well as the 20th portfolio book of winning images.

Being a part of the launch and celebration at London’s Natural History Museum during the international year of biodiversity has been something special and the messages from this portfolio have been perhaps more poignant than ever, not just from within this category highlighting the plight of endangered species, but with the advent of the new Wildlife Photojournalist of the Year category as well.

I will be giving a talk about this photograph and elements of my Underdogs project at the Natural History Museum at 14.30pm on Saturday 23 October in the Attenborough Centre as part of the Nature Live series of events.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Remember to sign the Wild Dog CITES petition

There is still time to add your name to the petition to list African wild dogs on CITES. The African Wild Dog SOS Fund and the Zimbabwean Painted Dog Conservation project are lobbying to have this endangered and declining species recognised by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora at the 2011 meeting of the CITES Animal Committee. Please add your name.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Sign your name to get wild dogs listed on CITES

Somehow, despite there being a mere 3,000 left in the wild today (that’s potentially less than that great symbol of conservation, the tiger), the African wild dog (or painted dog) is not listed on CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

This absence is because there is a misconception that no trade exists in these charismatic and endangered canids. However, this video has blown the lid on a major trade with the Far East and shows how wild dogs have been taken from the wild and dumped in horrendous conditions in zoos for many years now.

Please sign this petition to support Painted Dog Conservation’s drive to get wild dogs listed. If you have any doubts or would like to understand the situation more, follow the links and watch the entire movie. Today, there are as many African wild dogs in zoos in China as there are in the wild in South Africa. If the species is going to survive, this can’t continue.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com

Underdogs on show at Mountainfilm Festival

A portfolio of twelve shots from my African Wild Dog project Underdogs has been selected to be shown at the annual Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colorado on the weekend of the 29th of May. The selection of photographs was chosen by the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) to appear at the event alongside work by other conservation photographers. All work featured at ILCP’s 12Shots Reception at The Bubble Lounge encompasses the theme of ‘extinction’.

It’s hugely inspiring to have this body of work chosen under the banner of the ILCP, a non-profit organisation that works to further environmental and cultural conservation through ethical photography, especially at a time when I’m working hard at the back end of the Underdogs project to achieve its potential and justify the thousands of images taken, miles travelled and countless hours in front of my computer.

Visit my main website at www.conservationphotojournalism.com