OUR STORIES
VETPAW’S Zoltan Bathory – Interviewed by Loudwire
Original story appears here: http://loudwire.com/five-finger-death-punch-zoltan-bathory-u-s-veterans-fight-elephant-rhino-poachers-africa-exclusive-interview-photos/#photogallery-1=7 Within our lifetime, we may witness the complete extinction of the elephant species....
VETPAW in Tampa Bay Times
For Ryan Tate, a former Marine and a Plant High School graduate, a 2012 documentary on rhino poaching in Africa turned his life in a new direction.
Now, he has dedicated himself to ending the deadly trade in ivory — a pursuit often found at the nexus between organized crime groups and violent extremists.
“The documentary showed a rhino being tranquilized and they put the animal down and sawed its face off and when the animal woke up, it had no face and died a miserable death,” said Tate, 32, who graduated from Plant High School in 2003. “That for me was a turning point.”
VETPAW in RealClear – Life By Will Levith
Ryan Tate, founder of Vetpaw, runs a nonprofit that hires post-9/11 vets to combat poaching.
Ryan Tate has experienced more in 16 years than most will in an entire lifetime. Growing up in Tampa, Florida, the son of a hair stylist and pizza shop/bar owner, Tate was a self-described quiet kid, skinny and blonde, who enjoyed playing soccer and hockey and loved animals. In other words, your average teenage boy.
Ryan Tate interview on American Voices with Bill Bradley
A man quits his job in order to save animals from poachers. We’ll hear from Ryan Tate about VETPAW.
Terrorists funded by rhino and elephant poaching
Rhino horn is funding terrorism. It really is as simple as that. In a recent article by SBS Australia it revealed that the UN and Interpol warns that the poaching industry is worth $213 billion and funds armed conflicts across the globe. Just animal you say? Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Program, said that environmental crime is “a financing machine” for militias, extremist groups, and armed conflict.
Bloomberg’s Outstanding Photo Essay on Vetpaw’s Operation Rhino Shield
Vetpaw’s founder, Ryan Tate along with our team on the ground in South Africa, on the frontlines in the battle to prevent the poaching of endangered rhino as part of Operation Rhino Shield was featured on Bloomberg’s front page