Wildlife photographs on sale to fund conservation, badly hit by pandemic – NatGeo stars and others donate fine art prints

The pandemic has halted tourism, and without money coming in to fund conservation, poaching is on the increase

Wildlife photographers have donated fine art photos for sale, with proceeds going to Conservation International. Their prices start rising after Black Friday

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An orphaned reticulated giraffe nuzzles Sarara Camp wildlife keeper Lekupania. This giraffe was rehabilitated and returned to the wild. The image is among those being sold to raise money for Conservation International to help wildlife parks and those who depend on them for work survive the pandemic. Photo: Prints For Nature/Ami Vitale

Published: 3:45am, 27 Nov 2020Updated: 7:34pm, 27 Nov 2020

In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, heartwarming tales were told about wildlife venturing into cities. With no tourists visiting the parks, animals were able to roam freely.

It sounded as though wildlife was getting a much-needed break from humanity, and thriving – but it didn’t last.

“Tourists have funded major conservation projects around the world, helping to protect wildlife, respect habitats and create awareness. So, when tourism crashed, so did all of that much-needed protection for animals and ecosystems,” says National Geographic Magazine photographer Ami Vitale.

Contrary to popular perception, empty national parks are not a good thing for wildlife, because not only do they fund conservation and hire rangers to protect wildlife, but having tourists in the parks is a major deterrent to poachers.

Rajan was an Asian elephant brought to the Andaman Islands in the 1950s to help extract timber from the jungles. He was the last of the group to survive. Photo: Prints For Nature/Jody MacDonald

The cracks started showing towards the end of April, says Vitale. She has been working in a number of communities in northern Kenya for the past decade and when she visited a couple of months ago heard first-hand about the impact of the pandemic.

“People’s livelihoods come out of tourism, they value wildlife when they are able to make a living out of tourism and the wildlife, but when the tourism stops it’s not just the poachers who come out, all these people who were making a living out of tourism start seeking other jobs, so we are losing the best people in this space,” Vitale says.