Wildlife Conservation Stories

By the end of December, it will be illegal to sell or buy elephant ivory in China. But will the new and critical ban succeed in a country that’s home to the largest legal ivory market in the world?

Pavel Fomenko is a man of the wilderness and tiger protector with WWF-Russia. Here is his story.

Bhutan now has a great means for bringing that commitment to life—long-term funding to ensure its protected areas, which cover half of the country, are properly managed forever. It is the first initiative of its kind in Asia and one of only a few in the world.

A new great ape species—the Tapanuli orangutan—was officially announced by an international team of scientists today. With 800 or fewer individuals, the Tapanuli orangutan is the rarest of all great apes.

For perhaps the first time ever, a snow leopard was captured by a camera trap in a remote forest in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Arunachal Pradesh remains largely unexplored, making this photographic evidence of snow leopards especially significant. 

In the Upper Gulf of California, scientists and fishermen work to protect the habitat of the world's smallest porpoise.

Perhaps most rewarding part of Brandon Davis' career as an animal trainer and conservation ambassador has been educating people about animals and getting them excited about wildlife conservation.

Even as so many species faced both new and ongoing challenges, WWF tackled those threats head-on

Captured after close encounters with humans, Uporny the tiger was rehabilitated and released, offering researchers an unprecedented look into the wild life of an elusive big cat.

A baby rhino spotted alongside its mother in Manas National Park, located in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, is an encouraging new sign that the rhino population in the protected area is on the upswing.

Camera traps in Thailand's Mae Wong and Klong Lan National Parks reveal 16 new tigers— 6 cubs and 10 adults. 

On September 8^th, 2017, the Republic of Kazakhstan announced their plans to bring wild tigers back to their historical range in the Ili-Balkhash region, and signed a memorandum with WWF to implement a joint tiger reintroduction plan. These iconic cats will finally return to Kazakhstan, 70 years after going extinct there.

Wildlife roam large areas and do not recognize human-imposed boundaries. They need help doing things like crossing busy roads. This incredible elephant encounter emphasized how important movement corridors are for wildlife. 

Amid a dire poaching crisis, wild Asian elephants in Myanmar received swift and essential aid from thousands of WWF supporters committed to protecting this iconic species. More than 3,000 people donated $263,211 in less than four weeks to fund an emergency action plan to train rangers and get boots on the ground to fight wildlife crime.

Singye Wangmo exudes a natural passion for wildlife. One of the few female forestry officers working on the ground in Bhutan, she spends her days protecting the tigers of Royal Manas National Park from poachers.

WWF and Tiger Beer US are engaging in a campaign to fundraise to support rangers around the world, including those in tiger range countries to reduce the threat of poaching to this species. Tiger Beer will match up to $25,000 of consumer donations from July 1 through August 31, 2017 to support WWF's Back a Ranger Program.

In mid-October of 2016, a Continental tiger was seen in the Russian city of Vladivostok. Despite efforts to capture him, he proved elusive, and gained international attention. On October 20th, he was finally captured and taken to a rehabilitation center. After being rehabilitated, he was released into his new home, Bikin National Park. 

The government of Mexico announces a permanent ban on gillnets in the Upper Gulf of California - a fantastic and encouraging step forward in the path to saving the vaquita.

In a disturbing and growing new trend, Asian elephants of all ages are being slaughtered in Myanmar for their skin and other body parts. WWF is launching an emergency action plan to train, equip, and deploy 10 anti-poaching teams to the most vulnerable areas, and implementing a thorough plan to stop the slaughter. 

A snow leopard was successfully collared in Kangchenjunga Conservation Area on May 8, 2017 making it the fourth one to be collared in Nepal’s eastern snow leopard conservation complex.

With an estimated 30 or fewer remaining individuals, the vaquita are the focus of WWF’s new report calling for immediate, collective action to save the species from extinction. Prepared for WWF by Dalberg, Vanishing vaquita: saving the world’s most endangered marine mammal comes just before the two-year ban is due to expire at the end of May. 

Human-wildlife conflict is a major issue for many poor people who live near forests in rural areas of Nepal. That’s one of the reasons why WWF and other partners in conservation launched the Hariyo Ban (Green Forest) program to find lasting solutions that protect people’s lives, livestock and crops and prevent the retaliatory killing of wildlife. 

Learn more about this little porpoise, and what you can do to help save the vaquita. 

On April 29^th, Filippa the Amur tigress was successfully released back into the wild. She was rescued and rehabilitated at the Rehabilitation Center in Alekseevka after being found in December of 2015, as an exhausted, starving, five-month-old tiger cub.