Each year, the Wildlife Conservation Expo gives us a chance to bring the excitement and adventure of wildlife conservation fieldwork directly to you. Our Expos give wildlife enthusiasts and supporters a chance to connect with conservationists and learn firsthand about the challenges and rewards they face while working in the field. This year, we held our 15th Expo—on October 8th in San Francisco—and we were overwhelmed with pride at how much we’ve grown, both in our capacity to make a larger impact in wildlife conservation worldwide, and in our reach to communities within California and beyond. With over 1,000 attendees, 70 exhibitors, 17 network partners, and 2 guest speakers, Expo day was stronger than ever, proving once again that our most imperiled species can be saved if we all continue to work together.
Some highlights from the day include:
- Introducing our three new partners and giving them a platform to talk about their lifesaving, ground-breaking work protecting spectacled bears, penguins, sharks and rays.
- Informing our supporters that we’ve now expanded into the marine space and are thereby able to increase our impact, both species-wide and geographically.
- Holding our first ever climate change panel and giving world renowned conservationists the floor to share their experiences of how climate change has universally affected wildlife around the world, from polar bears and penguins to saiga antelopes and cotton-top tamarins.
- Live streaming the Expo presentations on Facebook and YouTube for the first time, and being able to reach a larger audience, both within the U.S. and internationally.
- Connecting with all of our partners and celebrating their recent milestones, and getting a deeper understanding of the challenges they continue to face. From our first Expo to our 15th, these partners continue to inspire and hold us in awe. While we now think of them as old friends and an integral part of the WCN family, they are, first and foremost, our conservation heroes, and we are proud to be able to support them in their efforts to save our planet's most endangered species.
To watch the presentations, click on the links below:
Welcome by Charles Knowles (WCN)
Welcome by Dr. Jean-Gael Collomb (WCN)
Shivani Bhalla & Jeneria Lekilelei (Ewaso Lions)
Dr. Pablo Borboroglu (Global Penguin Society)
Climate Change Panel – Dr. Steven Amstrup (Polar Bear International), Dr. Pablo Borboroglu (Global Penguin Society), Elena Bykova (Saiga Conservation Alliance), and Rosamira Guillen (Proyecto Tití)
The presentation begins at 3 minutes and 39 seconds
Peter Blinston (Painted Dog Conservation)
Belinda Low Mackey (Grevy’s Zebra Trust)
Rocio Palacios (Andean Cat Alliance)
Dr. Colleen Begg (Niassa Lion Project)
Dr. Rachel Graham (MarAlliance)
Dr. Alasdair Harris (Blue Ventures)
Rebecca Klein (Cheetah Conservation Botswana)
Robyn Appleton (Spectacled Bear Society)
Dr. Steven Amstrup (Polar Bear International)
Dr. Claudio Sillero (Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Project)