 A young white rhino that was poached on a game reserve in South Africa. Male white rhinos have existed in the African continent for more than a million years and play a huge role in the ecosystem of our continent. The conservation of the white rhino is essential to Wild and Free Foundation. The "Why" that drives what we do is a personal reason, and we all have one. In this interview, Matt Bracken, an ex-anti-poaching volunteer, chats about his personal reasons why he chose to protect the African rhino and wildlife. Matt Bracken is the Co-Founder of Wild and Free Foundation and the first American to have successfully completed the Protrack anti-poaching ranger training in August of 2011. Matt was interviewed by Rohan Nel about; Why we should to save Africa’s Rhinos? This interview took place in Hoedspruit, South Africa. “I have a dream, of Nature thriving wild and free among humans, and humans being healthier and happier because of it.” Matt Bracken The question is why? Why do I do this? I love doing this. Why do I want to save the rhinos? The story, it's a book! Why do I want to save the rhinos? I feel that there's an injustice, I guess. I want to save the rhinos because it's more than a want, it's me, it's how my body feels. I just think it's a no-brainer that nature does need saving from humans.  In this image is a white rhino mother and calf. My mother is my role model, I sometimes copy her actions and always respond to her behavior. Like a human child, I learn from her as I develop. Nature is perfect the way it is. But now it needs saving from my species because we're making everything go extinct. So, my why is... if we kill everything, nothing will be left of this beautiful, wonderful life that we have. I'm sad for the grass, I'm sad for the sand, I'm sad for every single thing that we manipulate and dominate and eventually destroy. So I guess I'm doing it a bit out of anger, frustration, and even because I'm not even sure how to live in the circle of life. I'm not sure how to best do what we do. I think humans as a species, we are very young.  The white rhino is also known as the ‘square-lipped rhino’. The shape of their mouth is adapted for the type of food they eat, which is short and long grass. They are as large as 2,000 kilograms as adults, this means that they need to eat a substantial amount of food and need water every 2-4 days to remain healthy. Everything seems to live instinctually, animals, trees, plants, a rose does what roses do, a zebra does what zebras do, and they live in a way that benefits. That's the circle of life; they benefit. Even though the zebra eats the grass, it benefits the grasslands as a whole by the way that it eats, and that's how the circle of life works. Sometimes it's brutal, but in the long run it helps and improves the earth, the ecosystems, and nature, whatever you call it. The way things live and are, improves things.  Matt Bracken is questioning whether we can really become part of and benefit from the circle of life? So, I’ve always wondered since I was young, why are humans so different? Why do we do everything we do pretty much exactly the opposite of what instinctual animals do? Everything we do, when you really look at it, is exactly the opposite of what's beneficial for the earth. Most every single thing we do, even time, jobs, everything that we've created, man-made, from the time you wake up and look at the clock, you're looking at a man-made world. From the time you send a text to your email, and that's only new things, everything that we've created... first of all, it makes us not happy. All this busyness, I don't think we're happy. But in the long run, what we've created as a species isn't that great, and not only that, it's killing everything. Every single thing we're killing!  A young white rhino that was poached on a game reserve in South Africa. There are two subspecies of white rhino: The Southern and Northern white rhinos. The southern white rhino can be found in South Africa. They have hair on their ears, tail tips, and on their eyelashes. As opposed to other species, they have a distinct hump on their back end, and typically keep their heads down unless something has alarmed them. So, I want to save the rhinos. But saving the rhinos is saving a pillar of the circle of life, but not only that, it's saving everything. So, while we're saving the rhinos, we're saving everything. We call it saving the rhinos, but it's really saving nature, and I am trying to figure it out by asking myself these questions and then hopefully trying to show the world through our thought process and what's happening. How do we fit into the circle of life? So I guess.. my why is, and it's not even something to figure out, we just have to be! How can we not even learn to be just how we can be? And I think life would be so much more fun and a lot less stressful if we found or accepted and became a part of... the circle of life. Instead of crushing it or trying to make it into a square.  Matt’s opinion about what could happen if we don’t start changing our human behavior towards wildlife and nature. So, for me it's everything. It's a frustration of seeing that we're just killing everything, and not really liking where that's leading us... to extinction of ourselves. So, I'm trying to save the world! Wild and Free Foundation believes that by teaching the world about rhino poaching and recording the rhinoceros' survival or extinction using true short narratives, we can raise awareness about rhino poaching, what passionate individuals go through, and how to protect African wildlife. With your help we can inspire a movement to save rhinos and save nature.  Matt Bracken being interviewed by Rohan Nel about; Why we should save Africa’s Rhinos? This interview took place in Hoedspruit, South Africa in 2016. Comments are closed.
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