Feb 24, 2021
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This week on the show we’re
talking to the founder of the International Anti-Poaching
Foundation, Damien Mander. Damien is a former Special Operations
sniper who traveled to Africa in 2009, after leaving the military,
in search of a new adventure. Instead he discovered “a purpose
amongst chaos” when he saw the body of an enormous bull elephant
that had been brutally killed for his tusks. In that moment,
Damien’s life changed forever and our movement gained a powerful,
passionate and highly skilled animal advocate. In this interview
Damien talks to Robbie and Evy about his vegan journey, founding
the IAPF and about Akashinga, Africa’s first armed, plant-based,
all-women anti-poaching unit.
We conducted this interview
while Damien was at one of the IAPF reserves in Kenya. The sounds
you can hear in the background of our conversation are the
authentic noises of the Kenyan wildlife at night!
Also in this episode…
- Damien identifies going vegan as the single
most important thing he’s done with his life.
- In pursuit of adventure, Damien talks about his
initial motivation to visit Africa, having heard about the
anti-poaching world years earlier.
- “These guys are defending the heart and lungs
of the planet.” - Damien talks about seeing the work of rangers for
the first time, and how it made him see past his ego to reevaluate
his life and the kind of person he wanted to be.
- “Having hunted [animals] before Iraq, I never
hunted after Iraq because I knew what it was like to be hunted” -
Damien talks about how his perspective on animals was radically
shifted by his experiences serving twelve tours in
Iraq.
- How the world of anti-poaching gave Damien a
purpose that had previously eluded him.
- Damien shares how he repurposed his skills as a
sniper in the army to set up the International Anti-Poaching
Foundation.
- We learn about Akashinga, Africa’s first
plant-based all-female anti-poaching unit and Damien shares why he
believes women are innately predisposed to be able to protect
wildlife and de-escalate conflict.
- “The women are survivors of sexual assault,
domestic violence, AIDs orphans, single mothers, abandoned wives
and when we set this up we thought, ‘lets give an opportunity to
some of the most marginalized women, in the toughest positions’ -
what we didn’t realise is we were getting the hardest women there
were” - on the all female Akashinga rangers.
- “There’s two types of conservationists. Vegans…
and those that don’t like to take their work home” - Damien pulls
no punches when talking about his stance on veganism as a
conservationist.
- Damien has a fresh definition of the alpha
male.
Links:
International Anti-Poaching
Foundation
Damien’s Modern Warrior TEDtalk
Phillip Wollen: Animals Should Be Off the
Menu
Akashinga: The Brave Ones
The Game Changers
Chef Cola’s Instagram
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