Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation
Mongabay.com: With a target on their bellies, can California’s sturgeon survive?
California’s green sturgeon and white sturgeon face numerous threats from dams, harmful algal blooms and overfishing. White sturgeon are highly prized for their eggs, which are made into caviar. Their numbers have dropped so precipitously that they’re now being considered for protection under the California Endangered Species Act. The state banned commercial sturgeon fishing in…
Read MoreThe Revelator: Giraffes for Peace
In a world that feels increasingly at odds, Kenya’s Baringo giraffes showcase how a common cause can unite communities. BY LAUREL NEME PUBLISHED March 26, 2025– On the shores of Lake Baringo in Kenya’s Rift Valley, an unusual common denominator has helped bring peace to two warring communities after generations of fighting: the love of…
Read MoreMongabay.com: Life and new limbs: Creative thinking, 3D printers save injured wildlife
Beauty the eagle before and after the prosthetic beak. Image courtesy of Janie Veltkamp. Life and new limbs: Creative thinking, 3D printers save injured wildlife BY LAUREL NEME ON 5 MAY 2021 Prosthetics for injured animals are becoming increasingly possible and accessible thanks to 3D printing. Historically, artificial devices for wildlife have been expensive and very…
Read MoreMongabay.com: Taylor and Tate: Canine-human teams rescue Australia’s fire-ravaged koalas
Ryan Tate and his English springer spaniel Taylor take a break from searching. Photo courtesy of Ryan Tate. Taylor and Tate: Canine-human teams rescue Australia’s fire-ravaged koalas BY LAUREL NEME ON 28 MAY 2020 Specially-trained koala detection dogs joined rescue teams during and after the catastrophic Australian bushfires to help find the injured marsupials quickly and increase…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Rescued Circus Lions Airlifted to Safety in Africa
First posted on 2016-06-27 Wildlife Watch Rescued Circus Lions Airlifted to Safety in Africa Lions rescued from circuses in Peru and Colombia are set to arrive back home in Africa. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED April 28, 2016 This lion and 23 others removed from circuses in Peru are being airlifted to South Africa, where a…
Read MoreHuffington Post: Orangutan Rescue in Indonesia’s Leuser Ecosystem
By Laurel Neme Author and freelance journalist Medical check of orangutan. Photo courtesty of Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) The adolescent orangutan was on his way to becoming the illegal pet of a police lieutenant in Jakarta in 2004 when a team from the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) and the Ministry of Forestry’s Conservation…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Abused Circus Tiger Gets Fairy-Tale Ending
His name is Hoover, and this big cat is about to enjoy a new life in Florida. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED April 21, 2016 Photograph by Animal Defenders International Alongside crates of asparagus, Hoover the tiger will be airlifted Friday from Peru to Florida, where he’ll settle into a new home in Tampa after…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Remembering the Woman Who Helped Bears in Distress
Bears smile just like we do, said Else Poulsen, who understood what makes them tick. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED April 20, 2016 Few people know bears as intimately as author and bear behavioralist Else Poulsen, who died on April 15 in her home in Ontario, Canada, after a battle with cancer. She was 61. If ever…
Read MoreMongabay.com: Leuser’s Legacy: how rescued orangutans help assure species survival
30th March 2016 / Laurel A. Neme Mongabay.com Meet two blind orangutans: Leuser and Gober, their offspring, and the people of the SOCP rescue group. Together they’re creating a future for Indonesian orangutans. Agribusiness is rapidly razing the prime forest habitat of Sumatra’s 14,600 remaining orangutans; replacing it with vast stretches of oil palm plantation. The species’…
Read MoreHuffington Post: For Pangolins, A Long Hard Road to Freedom
03/18/2016 by Laurel Neme Freelance Journalist and Author This pangolin was recently rehabilitated and released in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife. Pangolins are scaly anteaters about the size of a house cat. They’re presumed to be the world’s most trafficked mammal, with an estimated 100,000 plucked from the wild every year in Africa and…
Read MoreNational Geographic: Happy Ending for Smuggled Pangolins
Wildlife Watch 16 rare scaly anteaters are back in the wild after being rescued from Vietnam’s illegal wildlife trade. By Laurel Neme PUBLISHED March 15, 2016 This story was updated to reflect that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today issued a preliminary finding to a scientific petition submitted by conservation groups, saying that Endangered Species Act…
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