Wild Tomorrow Fund
Who is Wild Tomorrow Fund?
Wild Tomorrow Fund is a wildlife conservation non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of threatened and endangered species and the habitats they depend on for survival. Wild Tomorrow Fund was founded in 2015 and is a registered public charity in both the United States and South Africa.
Wild Tomorrow Fund’s major project is focused on saving and restoring habitat in KwaZulu-Natal to create a wildlife corridor that reconnects 880,000 acres of wild space, linking together two large wildlife reserves including a UNESCO World Heritage Wetland Park. The corridor will expand and reconnect habitat for many threatened species from elephants to black rhinos, giraffes, rare birds and over 1400 amazing species that find refuge at our wildlife reserve.
Wild Tomorrow Fund works together with the local community to ensure that wildlife conservation work brings tangible benefits to the people who live alongside the wildlife corridor. This includes creating jobs for our 9 rangers, our 14 all-woman "Green Mambas" team who are the muscle behind our restoration work and addressing food insecurity by supporting two local kindergartens with a daily school lunch program.
Where is WTF located?
Wild Tomorrow Fund’s founders, John & Wendy Steward, are based in New York city, running operations, outreach and fundraising. Our wildlife corridor and the Wild Tomorrow Fund South Africa team are located in north-eastern South Africa, in an area called “the elephant coast”, located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
What is WTF doing in regards to rhinos?
South Africa is home to nearly 80% of Africa’s last rhinos, numbering just over 20,000 individuals. 18,400 of these are white rhinos and 1,890 are the critically endangered black rhino. The incredible people we work with directly, on the ground in South Africa from vets to rangers, conservation managers, ecologists, helicopter pilots and volunteers, have been giving their all to save Africa’s last rhinos in the face of relentless poaching pressure.
We help rhinos by:
Equipping rhino rangers. We equip and train rangers with the tools to protect rhinos, and we ensure they have safe, reliable, and functional uniforms, boots and equipment to do this in.
Funding rhino dehorning. Sadly, what makes a rhino so special – it’s horn – is also what places it in so much danger. Poachers kill a rhino to brutally remove the horn, killing the rhino to do so. Its horn is then trafficked as part of the illegal wildlife trade, destined for end-markets in China and Vietnam. Dehorning is an additive strategy to the many existing layers of rhino protection, removing the incentive to kill the rhino for its horn. It’s a last resort to keep rhinos safe, and it is working.
Supporting orphaned rhinos. The most innocent victims of the rhino poaching crisis are the calves. As young rhinos stay with their mothers until the age of 3, often their mothers are killed before they are old enough to be alone in the wild. We support two local rhino orphanages in our region, purchasing milk, feed and supporting security costs.
Expanding wild space for rhinos. Our wildlife corridor, The Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve, will also as a longer-term intervention, provide additional protected habitat for rhinos in South Africa, to help their population recover.
Why has WTF parnered up with CRS?
We believe that the protection of rhinos is a global responsibility. How can we imagine a world without rhinos? How would we explain to the children of the future that we let rhinos go extinct, lost forever, known only on the page of story books? That’s why we are so excited to be a partner of SAFARI WRLD. Saving rhinos from extinction will take all of us, from diverse communities, all around the world and in the metaverse – if we are to succeed in saving rhinos from extinction.
Wild Tomorrow Fund is truly excited about the growth of crypto-philanthropy and believes that blockchain, NFTs, the metaverse and other digital innovations in cyberspace have the potential to connect new audiences to conservation, changing how we join together as a global community to protect our planet and its wildlife, including endangered rhinos.
We partnered up with CRS as we believe it is a truly impactful NFT initiative to raise awareness and funding for rhinos, while making it a fun for audiences who might not otherwise have known about their plight. We are excited by the interconnection between our two worlds – conservation meets the metaverse - with NFT rhinos crossing the digital divide to help the world’s last rhinos on the ground in Africa.
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