Where's the Justice? Ohio Animal Frenzy Leads to Hapless Killing

Over the past 48 hours, nearly fifty wild animals have been killed in Ohio after being released by their owner, Terry Thompson, who subsequently took his own life.

Through harrowing tales by Ohio residents and police officers, the online community has been seized with terror, imagining panic at encountering a lion, tiger or bear within a residential community.

Read More
Namibia's Re-Wilding Efforts Give Hope to Orphaned Cheetahs

A goat has gone missing, the fifth in a month's time. A farmer locates its half-eaten carcass several days later and blames the wild cheetah he's seen darting across his property during early sun-drenched mornings. He can't afford to lose another of his livestock, so he gathers his workers and the live-trap from the barn, careful to arrange it in front of a low-leaning acacia tree, one bearing a series of jagged claw marks. He places a slab of goat meat in the trap.

Read More
Visiting Sossusvlei: a Conservation Trip through the Namib Desert

For the first time in three weeks I am alone, driving from Windhoek toward the Namib Desert beneath a ubiquitous blue sky, its presence above the savannah creating the illusion of a flat, wide Earth. Traffic quiets as the landscape shifts, from dramatic rock piles that converge incongruously to the Naukluft Mountains, a sort of highway toward the dunes.

Read More
Wild Voluntourism: One Story of Working with Big Cats in Namibia

It was pitch-black as I walked to my cabin after my first day of volunteering at a big cat sanctuary in Namibia. Reflecting on my day as I navigated the contours of the dirt path, I recalled grueling work in the bush. Morning devoted to cutting raw horsemeat in preparation for afternoon feedings, outings to which I was not invited, relegated to cleaning a vast aviary where I shoveled dirt and bird feces for several hours, their stains imprinted on my clothes for days to come.

Read More
Pearl Jam: A Culinary and Urban Redevelopment Project in San Antonio

Bundled in their warmest winter attire, more than ten thousand San Antonians gathered at the Pearl Brewery Complex last December for its first annual Tamale Festival, a colorful celebration of a unique holiday tradition: tamales for Christmas. Friends and families shared bites of tamales and empanadas, pulled meat tacos, and sugar-drenched buñeulos while exploring the complex’s grassy public spaces and industrial, eco-friendly buildings. Mariachi bands sang in unison on several makeshift stages while live cooking demonstrations beguiled epicureans of every age.

Read More