Big Life Foundation USA

Wildlife security:big Life Foundation USA funds programs that seek to prevent the poaching of all wildlife within our area of operation across kenya and tanzania. Among other things, we fund one of the largest employers of local maasai in the amboseli-tsavo-kilimanjaro ecosystem, whose rangers are expertly trained and well-equipped to tackle a variety of wildlife crimes spanning approximately two million acres of wilderness. When necessary, the rangers track and apprehend poachers and collaborate with local prosecutors to ensure that they are punished to the fullest extent of the law. (continued on schedule o - supplemental information)in 2023, we funded 32 permanent outposts and 11 mobile units in kenya, and we supported the salaries, training, and equipment of 572 total field staff in kenya, including 380 trained rangers. Rangers in kenya patrolled 604,939 km by vehicle, 182,262 km on foot, and 30,912 km by plane. 321 suspects were arrested in 167 incidents in kenya. Hundreds of poaching tools and related items were confiscated, along with 1,482 kg of ivory. We also supported the legal monitoring of court cases throughout the year.

Education & scholarships:fighting wildlife crime helps the ecosystem today, but winning the hearts and minds of the community and providing a mutual benefit through conservation is the only way to protect wildlife and wild lands far into the future. Big Life Foundation USA invests in the future of participating communities by funding teachers' salaries and providing educational scholarship funds for hundreds of local maasai students in kenya. These salaries and scholarships are distributed to Big Life kenya who also selects the recipients. When the entire community benefits from conservation efforts and recognizes the value of protecting the ecosystem, enforcement becomes self-policing. (continued on schedule o - supplemental information)in 2023, Big Life Foundation USA provided financial assistance for 774 students at varying levels of education and paid the salaries of 7 teachers. Multiple conservation-oriented student and community meetings and field trips were also held in 2023.

Habitat conservation:the amboseli ecosystem is one of our planet's surviving natural treasures. It is also home to almost 200,000 people. Big Life is working with local communities to protect land that is strategically important either as wildlife movement corridors or dispersal areas but is also valuable to the local livestock economy as a grazing resource. This protection can be achieved through land-use planning and the establishment of conservancies, including the legal and management systems necessary for their effective functioning, and assisting to develop income-generating opportunities such as tourism. (continued on schedule o - supplemental information)big Life believes that land belongs best in the hands of its traditional owners, but widespread land sales because of subdivision have the potential to destroy large areas of natural habitat, and result in landless communities. Conservation land lease agreements are a way of ensuring continued local ownership and generating the financial returns that those landowners need. These lease agreements are willingly entered into by both parties, the terms of which restrict land conversion and fencing in exchange for annual lease payments. In 2023, Big Life Foundation USA supported conservation land leases to 3,290 maasai landowners covering 87,967 acres for a total of $1,537,927.00 usd.

Human-wildlife conflict:big Life Foundation USA funds collaborative programs to help mitigate the negative impact of human-wildlife interaction, such as mitigating crop-raiding by hungry elephants, both for the people and the animals through the construction of wildlife exclusion fences to keep elephants out of crops. In 2023, 66 crop raids were prevented. We also fund a predator compensation fund via grants to Big Life limited (Big Life kenya), a related organization. For maasai herders, their cattle are their livelihood. When livestock falls prey to predators, the herders are financially disadvantaged and justifiably frustrated. To prevent losses that lead to herders retaliating with spears or poisoned carcasses, Big Life Foundation USA funds programs to encourage improved fencing and husbandry practices. In the event that an animal is lost to a predator, the herder is compensated for a percentage of the market value of the animal, using funds from the predator compensation fund. This small consolation is significant to the maasai, and as a result, retaliatory killings have been reduced significantly.in 2023, we funded the successful intervention by rangers against 3 attempted retaliatory lion hunts, and our grants to the predator compensation fund were used to reimburse participating community members a total of $129,036 for 1,912 verified deaths by predation of livestock.