365 True Things: 340/Wildlife

Today is UN World Wildlife Day. The theme: "The future of wildlife is in our hands."

One way to help is to donate to some of the hundreds of groups that support the biodiversity of this miraculous planet. For example:

Save the Elephants
Amboseli Trust
WildlifeDirect
International Fund for Animal Welfare
Big Life Foundation
Yellowstone Park Foundation
Yosemite Conservancy
Center for Whale Research
Center for Biological Diversity
Cheetah Conservation Fund
Sea Turtle Conservancy

If you have a favorite animal, find out if there's an organization that champions it. Most likely, there is.

If you like to travel, there are organizations that can use your help conducting important research. For example, the British-based Frontier has projects in such farflung places as Madagascar, Fiji, Belize, Tanzania, and Costa Rica. Or try Earthwatch Institute, which helps to protect twenty-one endangered species and supports research on every continent.

Closer to home, there's no doubt a nature preserve or special animal that you can help through volunteer work. Where I live, for example, volunteers are the lifeblood of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Point Lobos State Natural Reserve, through its Foundation, interpreting local natural history for visitors.

If you're a reader, you might enjoy the new book by Carl Safina, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel—or any other of his books about this earth. (I stole the above list of organizations from a post of his on Facebook, so I'm paying back.)

The more we know, the better able we are to make this a healthy place for all of us to live and thrive.

There's no shortage of things you can do to help support wildlife. Please do!