Robin's Nest from American Humane - Global Humane Regional Director for Africa, Taryn Gillson

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

Join us for the latest episode of Robin’s Nest, hosted by American Humane President and CEO, Dr. Robin Ganzert.We’re coming back to you from South Africa, where Robin speaks with Taryn Gillson, the Global Humane Regional Director for Africa. In this action-packed 30-minute episode, you'll hear the touching story of a cheetah who received critical care from Global Humane, with a surprising and adorable twist along the way. The discussion also dives into some of the inhumane practices affecting elephants and lions, while highlighting the relentless efforts of Global Humane to protect all wildlife across Africa.Tune in to explore our vital work in South Africa and get a closer look at how we're making a difference.

Welcome to Robin's Nest. So many of us have a deep connection with the animals around us and want to protect them from the pets in our homes to endangered species in the wild. That's why I joined American Humane. As one of the oldest and most effective animal protection groups, we help billions of animals around the world. Join us as we explore how we can build a more humane world together. Hi, welcome to this episode of Robin's Nest. I'm Dr. Robin Ganzert, and I'm here with our

new incredible leader of the Global Humane Conservation Fund of Africa, Taryn Gilson. Taryn, welcome. Thank you, Robin. A pleasure to be here. Well, we're so proud to have you in Robin's Nest. And where are we today in this beautiful Eastern Cape? Well, we're at Newelsea Wildlife Reserve, the new central park of Nelson Mandela Bay and a Biodiversity and Conservation Center of Excellence, which we have been involved in. That's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. It's beautiful. We've got a

little bit of wind, so our hair is blowing everywhere, but it's all good. It makes it fun for this episode. So just excuse all the hair blowing. It's quite a windy day here on the Eastern Cape. Taryn, you have like created this incredible new entity, which is a program of Global Humane. And I would love for our listeners to Robin's Nest actually to hear your vision for how we can make a meaningful impact in the space of conservation. Thank you, Robin, and thank you for the opportunity. It's such an honor to be involved with Global Humane and to have been a big part of developing our new conservation fund in Africa. And this is a really important fund because there's a lot of work to be achieved in Africa.

It's been really fun working with the American Humane Team, the global humane team, and putting together the vision for what we want to achieve in Africa. We've workshopped a lot of things and we've got our three main pillars. We've got the space for species because it's all very well doing the exciting things like translocating elephants and rhinos and collaring lions and cheetahs but the big question is where are we putting these animals? We need space that is well protected and well managed and safe for these animals where all their welfare needs are taken care of. So that's our first primary pillar. And then we have our

wildlife and biodiversity pillar and this is where we work with species at the individual and population level at various protected areas and one of our examples is right here at Newarcy Wildlife Reserve, the home to our cheetah rewilding project. This is where we received a female cheetah who was bred and raised in captivity. And we welcomed her here last year at the age of four years old. And she successfully rewilded and she's now had four cubs. So she's contributing to... She's a great mom.

She is a great mom, actually, yes. And so now she's contributing directly to the future of her species because she's carrying very important genetics. And then we've got our third and final pillar, and by no means the last, it's very, we are involving communities on a meaningful level where they are participating in and benefiting from conservation and ecotourism. So that wraps up our three primary pillars. Well, I just have to go back to the cheetahs for a little bit because I know there's an incredible cheetah story and there's an incredible cheetah champion. So can you share with us a little bit about this precious, precious cat? Yes, certainly. I will have photos too for all of our ones who can tune in.

So her name is Nkaniso, which means light because she was the first cheetah to enroll in our cheetah rewilding program. So she is lighting the way for future cheetahs to rewild in her rewilding tracks. And she was four years old when she arrived, and between three to four years of age is when we would begin the process of rewilding a cat out of captivity. She arrived here at North Sea Wildlife Reserve and she spent two months in our rewilding enclosure. This gave us an opportunity to get her used to a wild diet. We fed her antelope carcasses and eventually full carcasses so that she got used to actually tearing open the hide and ingesting the meat that way. So her whole jaw structure actually changed. It's been really fascinating to see. You know, she looked different after the rewilding process because she was actually using her jaws the way she's meant to.

After those first two months, well, I'll take a step back because what we did as well during those first two months is we fitted her with a GPS tracking collar. So you knew where she was. Yes. We needed to keep close tabs on her because obviously when we were rewilding an animal, it can be very stressful for the animal. It's their first time taking her first steps of freedom, basically. But, you know, it was a process for her to learn how to hunt and become self-sufficient. So we monitored her just about 24-7 to make sure that she was doing okay out in the wild. And we were so ecstatic when she made her first kill on her first full day.

Oh, my goodness. Of being a wild cheetah. And when we noticed that she hadn't been able to feed herself within a three day period, we would go out and provide food for her. So we basically hold her paw along every step of the journey and within three months she was actually 100% self-sufficient. That's remarkable. See I think a lot of people, we talk about wanting to rewild these incredible animals

and bring them back to their natural habitats, but it's challenging. It's challenging for genetics reasons. It's challenging for disease states. It's challenging for how to retrain an incredible animal that might have been raised in human care. So there's a lot to this, am I right? Yes, yes. It's not as simple as just taking an animal out of captivity and dumping them in the wild.

That would be irresponsible. We've got to be very considerate. Absolutely. And, you know, last month, Inkani actually broke her leg, and we suspect this was in a hunting attempt chasing down prey and because she is so obituated to people the advantage of that was that she actually approached one of our safari vehicles at Nyosi and pretty much asked for help and showed the Ranger that we are actually like I've got a

broken foot and I need some help and then the most remarkable story unfolded because three days later we managed to borrow a portable x-ray machine and while the vet was x-raying her he realized she's lactating. And lactating means she's got babies. Pretty much. So as exciting as that was it was very stressful for the team on the ground because they had a dilemma and they didn't know where these cubs were. And kudos to the team on the ground because they actually managed to track down these cubs in the bush and the light was fading. And they found four healthy cubs in the dark and they rescued them. This is one of the most heartwarming stories. You know when you're in the animal protection and rescue space you hear some of the worst stories

and the most unimaginable cases of cruelty and neglect and then just horrible situations. In this case it's such a story of hope, a commitment by these Rangers to track down this incredible these incredible babies. The Ranger who actually saw this beautiful cheetah and brought her to the hospital for surgery all of this was just a whole story of miracles am i right just amazing yeah absolutely you know and we couldn't do these kinds of projects without the collaboration of our partners as well you know so Nyorse is our partner in providing the

site and the day-to-day monitoring and management of the project yes and then we also partner with the metapopulation initiative and these guys actually monitor the cheetah metapopulation so that's all the cheetahs on on the managed reserves throughout southern Africa and beyond actually and they coordinate which cheetahs go where in terms of their genetics and the genders. So they monitor all of that. And then we work with We Wild Africa who are rewilding specialists. So it was very important that we undertook this project in partnership with organizations who have done this before and could also guide us and we could take a very scientific approach.

So important to have the science as your base to do any of this very complicated and very important work. Well Taryn, I know that this is an incredible victory for this cheetah and her babies, and I know we'll have photos for everyone in Robin's Nest to see these precious babies. And she's recovering well, right? Yes, she is. She's being monitored regularly by the vets. And she's doing well. That's wonderful.

And these babies are doing well as well. Yes, they've got very full bellies. Well, I know you and I are going to get in a game vehicle just in a few minutes to go check on these incredible cheetahs. Mom and the four cubs. We can't wait to go see them. And Taryn, we'll go right back into the studio after we have this little game drive. Does that sound good? That sounds amazing. Wonderful. We have much more to hear and to learn from Taryn regarding her incredible work with the Global Humane Conservation Fund of Africa. We'll be right back and we'll be back after we check on the mom cheetah and the babies.

We'll be right back, and we'll be back after we check on the mom cheetah and the babies. Well, welcome back to Robin's Nest with Taryn Gilson. You know, we were at Niosi just a few short minutes ago, and now we're back at Founders Lodge in the Eastern Cape in the gorgeous country of South Africa. Taryn is our leader of our new Global Humane Conservation Fund of Africa, and we were chatting with her about cheetahs. We were chatting with her about the pillars of this great organization's work, which is part of Global Humane.

So Taryn, we're back now in Robin's Nest, inside, away from the wind and all the other things. Tell us a little bit more. We were talking about cheetahs before we had to end last time. Tell us about those cheetahs and that precious mom. Yeah it was really special to to go visit Inka Niso and her four cubs that day. You know as we spoke about she had been to the vet that morning because we had a little concern and we just wanted to x-ray her and make sure she was fine. And you know I was very excited to actually go up and visit her and and see her up close and see that she was doing all right.

And, you know, as we got there, she actually moved into her safe zone. And whenever she moves into that safe zone, that's almost like her den. And the guides and the staff at New Orsi Wildlife Reserve know that she's not in the mood for any company. that she's not in the mood for any company. And for me, what was actually the most special thing about that day was that our guide stopped the vehicle and we did not encroach any closer. We respected her space. And I just sat there thinking that really epitomizes what a humane certified facility stands for,

is that we are respecting the animals first. You know, you said it so beautifully, but we did. We actually did stop the vehicle, the guide. And I was sitting back just to see what would happen, right? Knowing that they're certified, knowing what proper protocol is. And he executed beautifully on that and held back for the sake of the beautiful mama cheetah and her babies. And she's doing well, right? Yeah, she's doing very well. She's been eating very, very well. She's got a lot of cups she's taken care of. Cubs are happy, full bellies, getting all their milk in. I love it. I love it. It was such a great story of rescue, a great story of rewilding, and a great story of doing what's right for the

animals. So thank you, and thank you for being such a special part of it. You know, we've been talking about so much about the space of biodiversity, the biodiversity quarters. We've been talking a lot about our work in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Tell us a little bit about why the space is so important for megafauna, for rewilding, for conservation in general around the world. Why is the Eastern Cape so important to you? Yeah, the Eastern Cape is a very, very special province of South Africa. It's sort of the melting pot of most of the biomes of South Africa. So seven of the nine terrestrial biomes come together over here. And then we've got this beautiful marine stretch as well. And there's four more marine protected areas there. So this is one of

the most biodiverse regions in the whole of Africa. And that's what really allows us to pour energy into the place and rewild animals and restore the region back to its former state of, you know, the full complement of biodiversity. And there's so many opportunities to do that with megafauna as well. And, you know, one of our pillars that we spoke about last time is space for species. And, you know, as I always like to say, it's all very well doing the exciting things like translocating elephants. But the big question is, where are we putting them? You know, because in certain regions, elephants are overpopulated, while in other countries, they've gone extinct. So in certain regions elephants are overpopulated while in other countries they've gone extinct so in the regions where they are overpopulated we need to come up

with with solutions and one of the best solutions is creating new space for species and it's got to be space that is well managed and it's protected and it's safe for those animals and there's economic opportunities coming from that in some way, shape or form for the local communities that provide that social layer of protection. So it's a very complex and holistic approach that we take, but we want to make sure we get it right. Well, see, that's the whole point is getting it right. And first of all, let's back up just a little bit. There's a lot of myths out there. There's a lot of myths in the space of conservation. Number one, there's a myth that a little bit. There's a lot of myths out there. There's a lot of myths in the space of conservation. Number one, there's a myth that you just put the animals back into nature and everyone will be fine.

There's myths that there's a lot of nature left to begin with. And I think there's myths about the fact that some of these animals don't need any help or care at all, especially as they're being reintroduced. Tell us your thoughts about that, all those myths. Yeah. So I think there is a misperception in the general public at large that if you want to rewild a place, you just leave it alone. And technically it will reach a balance, but that balance might not include elephants, that balance might not include 50% of the plant species that are meant to occur there, or you know, and we could apply that to any of the species. So you know, where man has had an

influence before, you know, we can facilitate that land and those ecosystems to bounce back. And you know, in South Africa, a lot of the reserves are fenced. And it's unrealistic to think we can fence an area off and just think it's going to magically return to its former glory. So we have to manage that land. You know, we're restricting the movements of the animals in and out of those areas. You know, before humans came along,

the animals had their migratory roots and their movement patterns. And they were able to leave an area if there was a drought, if there was a fire moving through, if there were flooding. So there's a lot of reasons that they would have moved around and this would have been a natural process. So when we fence the area off, you know, those animals need to be managed and that land needs to be managed and and it's our duty of care to to look after those animals ensure that their welfare is being seen to so it's not just about putting the animals back in the wild which I say in inverted commas it's about making sure their needs are taken care of from providing water to making sure the

habitat is well managed. Because if the plants and the habitat and the vegetation are all well managed, that means the herbivores are happy. That means the carnivores are happy. That means the scavengers are happy. And that means all the microbiomes in the soil are happy in turn. So it's this massive cycle that needs, that thing is getting taken care of. It is that true circle of life, you know, as we've learned. And it is a whole encompassing ecosystem that we have to bring back. And it's very, very complex. And the decisions being made to get an ecosystem balanced have to be done properly. And you certainly are leading the way in this. So you've talked about a lot of incredible biomes here that exist in the Eastern

Cape. A lot of people, when they talk about their trips to Africa, they don't, they mention Kruger, they mention Serengeti, they are not yet mentioning the Eastern Cape and they need to, right? It should be, I think, stop number one on anyone's African journey just to see how it's done so beautifully and how beautiful the terrain is, how beautiful the land is as it's being brought back to a rewild estate, how gorgeous it is to see the Big Five here. But importantly, all the other creatures that exist in these ecosystems. Share with our incredible listeners in Robbins Nest why Eastern Cape should be one of their first places to stop in an African journey. Well, I mean, I moved down here in 2008 and I haven't left. I've made it my home. It's my base. And, you know, I just fell in love with the province. And it's really, it's one of

the first places where I experienced viewing an elephant on the land and in the distance was the ocean. It was just such a special experience, you know, and you don't get that in very many places. So we've got these beautiful terrestrial and marine biomes over here. And it's just so beautiful. It's a very easy province to visit as well. The hospitality here is certainly great. And one of the big things about the Eastern Cape is that it's family friendly

because it's malaria free as well. So you don't have to worry about that. And for those who've been on malaria medicine before, it's quite rough on your system. So I love coming to the Eastern Cape where I don't have to take that meds. That's really great. It is so beautiful and it is such a special spot. And I want to pivot to another point of the special spot is how we're working to create a new biodiversity corridor and a land where we can actually rewild farms and take fences down. This is one of our newest initiatives that we're doing in the incredible

fund you're leading, the Global Humane Conservation Fund of Africa, a program of global humane. Tell us a little bit about these incredible biodiversity corridor, incredible spots on earth, and how we are planning to take fences down and allow animals to move freely. So I was first introduced to the Biodiversity Corridor Initiative a couple of years ago. This was in connection with the Wilderness Foundation Africa, and more recently the implementing partner Conservation Landscapes Institute and I just fell in love with the concept so the part of the corridor which forms part of a much bigger vision that we are specifically getting involved in now is the Bushman's River corridor and that's basically linking protected areas on each side of this river through farms coming into the corridor and participating, whether

that's through acquisition to form part of it or long-term leases. So there's various models depending on each of the farms. But essentially, we're going to be forming this long corridor and the fences are going to come down. Hopefully our fence will be coming down soon. Yes. And what that will allow is for megafauna, first and foremost, to be reintroduced. Yes. And they'll start shaping the ecosystem a bit better. So, you know, in certain areas I've mentioned, there's an overpopulation of the African elephants.

Yes. And what do we do with these excess elephants? And these sorts of projects provide the perfect solution for that challenge. Plus those elephants are ecosystem engineers being a keystone species. So they will actually improve the ecosystem and other species will follow them if we think about the dung beetles, for example. And then we've got the beautiful challenge with the rhinos as well, especially the black rhinos. We need to find space for them. But particularly the black rhinos are really suffering with the threat of extinction.

Yes, yes. There's only about 6,000 black rhinos left, so they are high on our priority list to preserve for the future generations. And so we will be bringing those back into the corridor as well together with our partners. And so we will be bringing those back into the corridor as well, together with our partners. And that to me is very exciting as well, because this biome is a stronghold originally for black rhinos. This is where they really thrive and do their best. And same with the elephants. A lot of people don't realise that the African elephant is a flagship species of the thicket biome,

which is the most dominant biome here in the Eastern Cape. We all maybe associate the elephants with Kruger or the Serengeti. Sedanas, yes. Exactly. But this is actually where they used to thrive. People don't know that. Yeah. There were more elephants here than anywhere else in Africa. And at one point, probably more elephants than people.

Yes, a long time ago. Isn't that incredible? I love that. You know, I love that we're working on this project. It's going to make a significant difference and be a stakeholder here at the Eastern Cape. I want to talk to you about another. We've talked a lot about rhinos in some recent episodes of Robyn's Pot and future episodes of Robyn's Nest. But one thing I want to talk to you about are the lions.

episodes of Robin's Nest. But one thing I want to talk to you about are the lions. The lions here are facing huge, huge challenges from the lion's bread for canned hunting and, of course, the lion bone trade. Can you share with us what is the situation with lions in South Africa? Yeah, so it's a bit of a depressing topic, but we've got about 3,000 wild lions. Again, I'm using wild in inverted commas. I'm talking about managed protected areas, give or take 3,000 lions in those situations. And then, depending on who you speak to, you hear a different figure, but the consensus is between 8,000 to 12,000 lions in captivity. 8,000 to 12,000 lions in captivity? Yeah.

And one of the biggest issues about this is why they're in captivity and the conditions in which they're being captive in. So this is all part of what we call the canned lion hunting industry. And what happens is these lions are basically bred for the bullet. We've got hunters who will basically go through a catalogue and choose that particular lion and they're going to come to Africa and they guarantee that they're going to be able to shoot that particular lion and take that trophy home.

And this line is pretty much born and raised in captivity and doesn't stand a chance. He associates people with that's where my food comes from, you know, so it's completely immoral and unethical. He's bred to die. And he's in a catalog, a catalog of death. It's really what that catalog is, a catalog of death. Yeah, pretty much. And, you know. Makes me sick. But keep going. People need to hear this. We don't know this back at home. We just don't know it. Yeah. So then the hunters will come out to South Africa and pretty much have a guaranteed shot at that lion. You know, it doesn't have a big amount of space to roam free and it doesn't have the

opportunity to escape or hide or, you know. Or do what naturally a lion would do to defend itself. It has no hope. It has no hope. It's bred to be killed for money and for sport. And sport also, in the quotation marks like you have said. Please keep going, because I don't think people understand. And they're not only bred for that, but they're also bred to be killed for their bones. Yes. So in the East, there was always traditionally a demand for tiger bones. And there are very few tigers left. So now the focus has shifted onto lions. And so many of those lions are just bred for the bones. And if you see the conditions that these lions are in, you know, they don't get fed

properly as long as they, you know, as long as they produce a carcass full of bones at the end of the day, the lion breeders are happy. So those to me are some of the worst kept lions in these breeding centres. And this has been a legal business in the country of South Africa, am I right? Yes, yes. It's been a legal thing. And very important is that for the first time in wildlife breeding history, this is now being made illegal. There are wonderful conservationists working towards making this illegal. We've got government on board.

So that is all in process at the moment. One of the other revenue streams in this canned lion hunting industry is through volunteerism. So the cubs are removed from the mothers at a very young age, and well-meaning volunteers from overseas are sold this idea that they are coming to Africa to help hand-raise these lions for release back into the wild one day. It's a scam.

It's complete nonsense. And so if you think about it, these lions at every stage of their life cycle are being exploited for money. I just don't think we understand that in the States. I don't think we know the reality of this horrible, horrible industry. I am so grateful that there were some very bold conservationists here in this country standing up to make this industry illegal. I hope that all continues to happen.

this country standing up to make this industry illegal. I hope that all continues to happen. And if it becomes illegal tomorrow, officially, there's still 8,000 to 12,000 lions that are in these horrible, horrible conditions. There's no place for them to go. There's no safe haven for them. What's going to happen to these 8,000 to 12,000 lions that have been bred in a horrible situation? This is the big question hanging over our country's head in South Africa. What are we going to do with 8,000 to 12,000 lions? You know, we've already, there's not enough space in the wild already. You know, most of the private game reserves are at capacity in terms of lion populations. Rewilding lions is a very complicated topic as well.

It's a very hot topic in South Africa. We've got some people who are for it, other people who say no. Genetics are an issue. Disease are an issue. You don't know the origin of these lions that have been bred. That's a whole issue to reintroduce a population into a natural environment. You really can't. Yeah.

So, I mean, ideally we would have a genetic study to guide us on those sorts of things. But by the time such a study is concluded, you know, a lot of those lions would have reached the end of their life cycle. You know, so that is the big question at the moment. And I have attended some online webinars with conservationists who are involved with with making a difference for these lions you know and they're offering voluntary exit options for the facilities

so there's that sort of thing happening. I raised the question, is it possible for an NGO to come in and take over an existing lion breeding facility and convert it into a sanctuary and provide lifelong care for those animals in a humane way? So that is on the table for some of the sanctuaries. We would love to do that and to give these lions a second chance, a forever loving home, and make it a sanctuary where there's enrichments, there's a wonderful veterinary medicine for them. Importantly, they have good diets, exercise, and can live out the rest of the days in what we determine is humane

because they've been so betrayed by humans and innocent humans along the way. Imagine young people coming over to take care of cubs, thinking those cubs are going to be rewilded and only to learn, if they ever learn, that these animals have been bred to begin with for hunting, for sport, or for bones. The industry is terrible. If we as Global Humane can even just make a difference for a fraction of those animals, then for those animals we've made the world of difference. I don't know what it's going to mean for 8,000 to 12,000 lions.

That is something that everyone collectively has to work on and find solutions for. But at the end of the day, there's no space for them in the wild, and we need to come up with alternate solutions for them. Well, let's work on that, Taryn. That can be one of our many tasks ahead. I know you're very busy here. You're doing incredible things on the ground in South Africa

and in other countries on this gorgeous, gorgeous continent, making a huge difference for animals, for communities, and for the larger change we all wish to envision. Yeah, happy to get behind that project. That's wonderful. We're going to go into something positive now. We're going to pivot from the conditions facing lions, which makes us very, very sad, to your favorite animal, the honey badger. Tell us about honey badgers, please, because they're so adorable. Well, first of all, I wish I saw more honey badgers. It's not to say they're not around, but they're just very elusive. And, you know, i first became aware of

what a honey badger is in my teenage years and i was reading a book which also inspired my conservation career it's called cry of the kalahari by mark and delia owens and they were actually a couple from the states who came across and bought the old bashed up land cruiser in cape town and ended up in Botswana in the Kalahari Desert and they described their relationships with all the different wildlife there and one of these animals was a honey badger you know so that's where I first learned about the honey badger and you know he's known pound for pound to be the fiercest animal in the world pound for pound I love the attitude yeah He's got a lot of attitude.

It's something I refer to as the badgitude. Oh, I love it. I love it. I just thought we had catitude, but now we've got badgitude. I love it all. It's so much fun. I think the badgitude will definitely trump the catitude. I love it.

They're just such resourceful creatures. They live out in the desert. They live in the thicket. They live in the savannah. You know, so they're pretty cosmopolitan in terms of our biomes that we've been chatting about. Yes. And just a very cute, inspiring animal. And, you know, they survive snake bites and all sorts.

My goodness. And talk about snakes here. There's some dangerous snakes on the ground around here. Oh, my goodness. And talk about snakes here. There's some dangerous snakes on the ground around here. Oh my goodness. I love it. Well, you know, as I think about your honey badgers, I love those warthogs. Talk about personalities in those warthogs running around. We all remember Pumbaa from the Lion King, but these warthogs just make me laugh. Every time I see them running by, they just make me chuckle and smile. They make me happy. me laugh every time I see him running by they just make me chuckle and smile they make me happy in that fund of honey badgers make you happy they do I love it

well Taryn it's such a joy to have you here in Robins Nest you're an incredible thoughtful inspiring leader and I know you're the future face of conservation so thank you so much for what you do thank you for having me in Robins Nest and a global humane that's exactly We're going to do something for those lions, I know. Great. Thank you. Well, thanks again so much for being with us in Robin's Nest. We're so grateful that you tuned into this episode. I hope you'll join us next time with some more incredible experts in the space of animal welfare. Thank you and have a great humane week.