Born Free

Welcome to the Born Free Ethiopia blog!

My name is James Young.  Join me as I help create a new Wildlife Centre from scratch!

Many people have the impression that Ethiopia is nothing but desert with endless famine and right now Ethiopia is in the news again because the lack of rains last year meant less grain was harvested and now there are food shortages in some rural areas. However, most of Ethiopia is actually much greener than your might expect and most years it rains solidly for three months! This year, the rains have just started with torrential downpours most days.

You may also be surprised to learn there’s a great variety of wildlife here including elephant, lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena and over 800 species of birds. Several species are only found in Ethiopia including the Ethiopian Wolf, the Mountain Nyala and the world’s only grazing primate, the Gelada baboon.

As more people learn just how special Ethiopia is, every year more and more visitors come from all over the world to see the wildlife and ancient rock-hewn churches, experience life in an ethnic village, horse ride or walk in the beautiful countryside, and enjoy meeting some of the friendliest people in the world. Many visitors are surprised by the modern buildings in the bustling capital of Addis Abeba and the delicious macchiato and espresso coffee available in the hundreds of cafes.

The country’s protected areas and wildlife are managed by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority, but their resources are very limited. In almost every National Park and protected area there are people living with their cattle and goats, and illegal hunting and trading of wildlife is common.

It’s not just the wild animals that need help. There are 20 lions being kept in small cages in the Addis Abeba Zoo that get prodded with sticks to roar for photographs.

For the last seven months I have been setting up the Ethiopia office of Born Free. You would not believe the number of hours of meetings and the seemingly endless number of forms I needed to fill out and get stamped, but in February 2008 Born Free Ethiopia was given permission to start work in the country.
In partnership with the Wildlife Authority, Born Free is setting up a Wildlife Rescue, Conservation and Education Centre 25 kilometres (15 ½ miles) outside the capital city. The President of Ethiopia has helped us find a wonderful 80 hectare (197 ½ acre) piece of land and I hope we will sign the leasehold agreement in just a few weeks time. A priority will be to build large enclosures for the first lions. Imagine how good they will feel to live in a grassy enclosure with trees rather than the cement floor they have now.

The new Wildlife Centre will support the Wildlife Authority by caring for orphaned or injured wildlife as well as taking in wildlife confiscated from animal traders. Where possible the animals will be released back into a protected area when they are healthy and old enough to survive in the wild. We will also begin several scientific studies to learn more about Ethiopian wildlife so we can plan ways to conserve the existing Ethiopian wildlife.

I hope you will visit this site regularly and share with me the step-by-step creation of this Centre that is so badly needed.

In my next blog I will introduce you to two orphaned lion cubs that are first in line for a new home.
If you’d like to help Born Free raise funds for the new Centre please donate now through Wildlife Direct or visit www.bornfree.org.uk stating you’d like the funds to go to the WRCEC.

More news in a few days,

James