About the Wildlife Ranger Challenge: 

COVID-19 has brought tourism revenue to a halt across Africa, threatening the important work and livelihoods of the rangers who protect iconic African wildlife such as elephants, pangolins, rhinos, lions, and more. Ranger teams are now uniting around the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, a running race with one goal: to raise money to support thousands of their fellow rangers. Now is the time to go the extra mile—it’s time to race to support our rangers. Every dollar donated will be matched by the Scheinberg Relief Fund, doubling your generous contribution.

Your contribution will help support 259 rangers and an estimated 1036 livelihoods in and around Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda.

The role of rangers:

Rangers serve as core team members who serve on the frontline, protecting the integrity of the park, its neighboring communities and industry. They are responsible for assisting with park management operations including law enforcement, community conservation, intelligence gathering, research, and wildlife monitoring. Rangers were operating at 50% capacity with very meager resources before the pandemic and the situation is now far worse.

How your donation will help:

Additional funds would help pay for rangers’ food, fuel and vehicles needed for patrol, better communications support and funds for rapid response and vet teams.

Effects of the pandemic:

The park’s operational budget was 95% paid for by tourism, which has now disappeared—the pandemic stopped all international tourism and the lockdown stopped all domestic tourism. Subsistence farmers were unable to trade basic products for essential foods, and

local communities, now under extreme pressure from the impacts of the lockdown, are laying snares in extremely high numbers. Professional poaching operations have been active as well, and require daily snare sweeps in large areas of the park, a considerable use of resources.

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Tusk is registered with JustGiving in the UK (or GoFundMe.com in the USA). Our online fundraising sites allow you to create a sponsorship form with easy access for your supporters, knowing their money is going directly to Tusk. UK tax-paying donors can enhance their contribution by agreeing to Gift Aid their sponsorship (for every £10 you raise, Tusk will receive another £2.50 from the Government provided you are a UK taxpayer). US supporters wishing to make a tax deductible donation can do so via GoFundMe.com.