It’s been a week since the live final of Global Canvas 2024! With 1,828 entries from 71 countries, this year’s competition was the biggest yet. If you entered, you can pat yourself on the back for your incredible passion for wildlife and helping us raise awareness about the threats to endangered species. The Barometer of Life For this year’s competition, our theme was ‘The Barometer of Life’, based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, which is known by the same name. A barometer measures atmospheric pressure to help us prepare for bad weather. The ‘Red List ..read more

1984. No, not George Orwell’s dystopian and cautionary novel – the actual year. It was BIG. There was Band Aid. The miner’s strike. The Financial Times introduced its stock exchange index of the top 100 companies. Virgin Atlantic made its inaugural flight. Ghostbusters, Gremlins, and The Terminator took cinema box offices by storm whilst ‘Footloose’, ‘What’s Love Got to do With It’, and ‘When Doves Cry’ dominated the charts. And on April 25, a small charity was registered and founded by one of the world’s leading wildlife artists, David Shepherd CBE. What would become David Shepherd Wildlife F ..read more

Today, April 22, is Earth Day. It’s an annual reminder of the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability, encouraging people around the world to come together and act for a healthier planet and a brighter future. This year’s theme is ‘Planet vs Plastics’ – raising awareness of the ‘60×40’ campaign – to reduce plastic waste and consumption by 60% by 2040. Earth Day has been observed every year on this day since its inception in 1974. In fact, today, it mobilizes over a billion people every year in a united cause. So, it’s not just an awareness day – but a movement! But with ove ..read more

A battleground of change The climate crisis is already affecting all DSWF projects in Asia and Africa, and our beloved core species. In Namibia, although the population of desert black rhinos are well adapted to arid conditions, a particularly severe drought in southern Africa, has made it increasingly difficult for rhinos, especially cows with young calves, to find enough food and water – which reduced their chances of breeding successfully. The drought is nearing to be a decade long, and is in no sign of ending soon. Rhino showing some immaciation, trying to forage. Image Credit: Save t ..read more

You could be forgiven for thinking David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) focuses just on our eight core species as a conservation charity – but in fact, our scope goes far beyond them, because of the incredible impact they have on their environment. All but one are considered keystone species – animals that have a disproportionately large effect on the ecosystems they inhabit, relative to their abundance. Pangolins aren’t specifically considered a keystone species, yet still play a vital role as voracious insectivores – and their absence would soon tip the environmental balance of their ho ..read more

Snow leopards are one of our core species here at David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF). And if you’ve followed us for any amount of time, you may know that our snow leopard ambassador, Dagina, is not just our resident super mum – but also probably the best studied snow leopard in the world, thanks to DSWF funding. We work with our project partners, the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT), in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia to monitor populations of this enigmatic big cat, and to engage the local communities living alongside them. In fact, DSWF is the only UK-based conservation charity directly supporting an ..read more

Snow leopards are one of our core species here at David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF). And if you’ve followed us for any amount of time, you may know that our snow leopard ambassador, Dagina, is not just our resident super mum – but also probably the best studied snow leopard in the world, thanks to DSWF funding. We work with our project partners, the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT), in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia to monitor populations of this enigmatic big cat, and to engage the local communities living alongside them. In fact, DSWF is the only UK-based conservation charity directly supporting an ..read more

This World Wildlife Day, we acknowledge the essential role that communities on the ground play in protecting and maintaining our fragile ecosystem.    Today, it has never been more important, as experts believe we’re already in a sixth mass extinction. As one species becomes extinct, many other species are affected, putting numerous ecosystems in danger of collapsing through a waterfall effect.   DSWF’s comprehensive approach to conservation puts people at the heart of our work; through this method, we can ensure conservation success and long-term environmental sustain ..read more

From a bona fide ‘super mum’ to orphan elephants bonding with surrogate human ‘mothers’, wild parental figures are an integral part of the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) family. We know this can be a sensitive subject for some, and we plan to provide the option to opt out of similar communications soon. But, if you’d like to know more about our wildlife mums, or maybe need a last-minute, conservation themed present for the motherly figure in your life – read on.  A BIG job: Stepping up to be an elephant’s surrogate mother If you follow our social channels, you’ll have seen the ..read more

In April this year, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) will be celebrating its 40th anniversary. We’re planning to acknowledge this landmark date with an entire year of events and celebrations to showcase four decades of artivism and species-saving work in conservation. Our anniversary logo For 2024, we’re giving our beloved logo a new look to mark this historic year. Whilst keeping things familiar enough to still be recognised, you’re among the first to see it ‘out in the wild’. We know that sometimes it can be a little ‘meh’ when an organisation celebrates an anniversary, and that ..read more