I’m Juliette Strange and an advocate for conservation and saving our planet. I have trained and gained qualifications in a variety of topics including drama, criminology and forensic science, personal training, music and editing and proofreading, to name a few, but the underlying constant has been my passion for animals and my dismay at the rate of their disappearance and exploitation by humans.
I have long believed that humans are not superior to other species and, in fact, one could argue that humans are inferior; for what other species do you see destroying the very things they need to survive? I describe myself as an empath, particularly of things that happen in the world, so I am tired of being upset by deforestation, plastic in our oceans, trophy hunting, illegal wildlife trafficking, over-fishing, pollution of our air and the list goes on. When I say ‘our’ I speak for all the species on the planet who I have so much love for. I don’t understand how humans, who have so much knowledge and are aware of not only the issues at hand but how to fix them, can still choose money, power and greed over the health of our planet and everything in it. Unfortunately, that greed and capitalism transcend even into those projects that are trying to stop the problem i.e. charging volunteers thousands of pounds. There are many fantastic organisations doing great work but not enough and one wonders where all the money goes if the problems haven’t at least been improved.
So, I say enough is enough. I have advocated for years on social media to spread awareness of all these issues and that which I am particularly passionate about – stopping the illegal wildlife trade and protecting endangered species. I have volunteered doing behavioural research of elephants in South Africa, moved countries and volunteered to help set up anti-poaching teams in Zimbabwe and a gamete cryofreezing project in South Africa and I assist Earth Safari and the Senegambia Wildlife Foundation with their content and decision making towards conservation. I hope I will have many more opportunities in the future to do my little bit for the planet.