Safari West Wildlife Foundation
  • ABOUT
    • OUR MISSION
    • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
    • WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
  • THE ACADEMY
    • Lessson Plans
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
  • SAFARI WEST
  • |
  • DONATE
  • ABOUT
    • OUR MISSION
    • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
    • WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
  • THE ACADEMY
    • Lessson Plans
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
  • SAFARI WEST
  • |
  • DONATE
January 23, 2018  |  By Jared Paddock In Children, Conservation

Desmond and Foxy

Conservation Heroes!

Our mission, here at Safari West, is to introduce our guests to the wonders of wildlife. We want to entertain the curious crowds that come through our gates, but more than that, we want to educate them. It is our fervent hope that our work will help inspire and nurture a new generation of conservation advocates.

Some months back, we welcomed the Road Scholars to our wildlife preserve. We’ve worked with this amazing program for years and every summer we host groups of grandparents and grandchildren who come to stay a while and explore our world. This last summer, the group included an an inspiring young man named Desmond.

Desmond and the Fennec Fox

During the walking portion of our safari tours, we inevitably encounter the fennec fox. Fennecs are incredible creatures; the smallest of canids, a desert animal that thrives throughout the Sahara region. Tiny, and sporting enormous ears, these foxes inspire coos of adoration from all who see them. As it turns out, they worked their magic on Desmond as well.

Following his time with us, Desmond returned home and began to teach his friends, family members, and classmates about the desert foxes he’d met as Safari West. His toy fennec fox (appropriately named Foxy) became the class mascot. And when the Tubbs fire broke out and forced the evacuation of Safari West, Desmond became our unofficial representative, scouring our newsfeeds and keeping his class up to date with the latest.

Conservation Initiative

Desmond’s turned his fascination into action a short time later when a class assignment had him designing a poster for an event. Desmond wanted his work to help us and our animals recover from the fire. He created a poster outlining the status of Safari West and including an envelope for collecting donations.

From there, his work went viral. He collected $12 from his caring classmates before his teacher had the notion of pushing the campaign in the class newsletter. At the same time, Desmond’s family started an email campaign and helped him set up a Fundly page to encourage digital donations as well.

A HUGE Thank you to Desmond

By the time Desmond’s family got in contact with us, he had raised over $500!  This incredible and generous donation was humbly accepted by the Safari West Wildlife Foundation. As the Foundation’s mission centers entirely on youth education and wildlife conservation, they couldn’t be more excited to learn about Desmond.

This world needs people like Desmond more than ever. Our animals’ wild counterparts deal with a drastically changing environment and more humans every year. As we move into the future, it’s profoundly inspiring to know that we have people like Desmond growing up to become the leaders we’ll need.

Thank you for getting 2018 off to an inspiring start Desmond. We cannot wait to see you again.

Previous StoryAll About Ostrich
Next StoryPalm Oil: Making Halloween Really Scary…

Related Articles

  • Fruit of palm tree
    Palm Oil: Making Halloween Really Scary...
  • Photo of ostrich
    All About Ostrich

Latest Posts

  • Fruit of palm tree
    Palm Oil: Making Halloween Really Scary… Thursday, 4, Oct
  • Desmond and Foxy Tuesday, 23, Jan
  • Photo of ostrich
    All About Ostrich Tuesday, 19, Dec
  • Firefighters at Safari West
    Conservation Corner: Fire on the Mountain Sunday, 26, Nov
  • Plastic bottles, lots of them
    Conservation Corner: A Disaster in Plastic Friday, 15, Sep

Categories

Tags

African Penguin AZA Beaver Bioengineering Biofilter Biomimicry Black and White Ruffed Lemur Bottled Water Burmese Pythons Butterfly Ethiopia Flamingo Giraffe Greater Kudu Grey Fox Ground Squirrel Invasive Species IUCN Javan Rhinoceros Kesem Kebena Project Lionfish Migration Monarch Butterly Monterey Bay Aquarium National Parks Northern White Rhinoceros Orangutan Overconsumption Palm Oil Pepperwood Preserve Plastic Plastic Pollution Pollinator Prescribed Burn Rhinoceros River Otter Sahara Conservation Fund Scimitar Horned Oryx Seafood Watch Sumatran Rhinoceros Taxonomy Trophy Hunting Turkey Vulture Wildebeest Zebra

Archives

  • October 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015

WHO WE ARE

  • OUR MISSION
  • BOARD OF DIRECTORS
  • THE ACADEMY
  • CONTACT

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

* indicates required

CONNECT WITH US ON

Facebook

en English
zh-CN 简体中文en Englishes Español