World Ranger Day is on 31st July 

Around the world there are many people who are willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect endangered animals and habitats.

The International Ranger Foundation (IRF) is the official body representing rangers around the world.  It was established on 31st July 1992, after a year spent setting up and planning for the establishment and development of the organisation.  The aim now is to drive through this development so that there is a professional body of rangers around the world.  It's based in Australia.  International Ranger Foundation UK is here. 
 

Rangers vs Poachers: The Fight to Save Africa's Elephants
 Guardians, BBC Earth
Please take a look at the other videos about rangers on BBC Earth's You Tube Channel
and see the trailer to the series "Guardians" here.

Mokala National Park observing World Ranger Day, South Africa
This shows how dangerous the job of being a ranger can be
and gives you an insight into the life of a ranger.
THANK YOU to rangers, everywhere. 

2023 was the first year of the newly set biodiversity framework, with lots of targets to hit.  One target was particularly important, that of 30% of the world having effectively managed areas by 2030. 

To achieve this, it will be vital to have a professional body of rangers around the world and their numbers  will need to increase from 286,000 today to 1.5 million.  Wildlife and biodiversity will benefit - as will people, with the economic and social services outcomes that result from such a development.  

So the theme for World Ranger Day 2025 is 30 x 30, reflecting target three and the 30 x 30 goal.

Rangers, Powering Transformative Conservation

This theme is in close alignment with the 2025 IUCN World Conservation Congress. 

Visit the Thin Green Line Foundation here.

Visit Working for the Wild  (UK) here.

Please support World Ranger Day on social media with hashtags:

#WorldRangerDay2025
#WorldRangerDay
#WildlifeRangers
#RangersDeserveMore
#IStandWithRangers
#IAmARanger

The International Ranger Federation has a toolkit on online that we can use, sharing with the hashtags above.  There is a lot of information about rangers on their website, so please explore their website.   It works with The Thin Green Line to promote the initiative of World Ranger Day. 

Take a look at the "I am a ranger" video on You Tube here from the IRF
It introduces rangers from different parts of the world.

World Ranger Day is a chance for all of us to show our appreciation for the work that wildlife rangers and guardians do and offer our support in whatever way we can and to remember those who have died or been injured doing this vital work and to think of the families they leave behind. 

The Thin Green Line Foundation says that often rangers' families are left behind without any support.  Donations and support give a gift of hope and an urgent lifeline to families left behind.  

And it’s good to know that there is something you can do to help wildlife and locals in their communities at the same time, and we thought we’d do a roundup of charities and organisations working to help in this way.  Sometimes wildlife rangers are called wildlife guardians.

 Celebrating our Rangers 
Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association

Let us thank the rangers everywhere who are protecting 
wildlife and habitats, and let us thank their families too.

Visit 2025 World Ranger Day's website here.

The Wildlife Ranger Challenge on 20th September 2025

This is a chance to show just how diverse the work rangers do really is!  This 21km half marathon is on 20th September 2025 and it's in its sixth year.  Over 100 ranger teams who span the varied, diverse terrains of the protected areas in Africa, will take part and compete in a 21km race across their respective landscapes.  They will carry kit (22kg of kit (men) and 10kg (women).  The event will really raise awreness of why rangers matter, the challenges they face, and to raise funds for frontline conservation efforts.  It also helps unite those taking part across Africa.  #ForWildlifeRangers

Find out more by watching this short video, and visiting the event's website - please give the event your support! 

African Parks
African Parks have a fundraiser called Back the Ranger, Beat the Snares.   In 2024, their rangers removed an incredible 34,000 snares from 23 protected areas managed by African Parks.  Every snare removed gives wildlife a better chance of survival - $10 covers one snare.  Find out more and please donate here.

Fauna and Flora International
FFI have an urgent appeal to save the Eastern Lowland Gorilla in the Maiko National Park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Donations could help provide the equipment park rangers need and also build a vital new network of ranger stations.  Find out more and donate here.

The Thin Green Line Foundation

The Foundation works with ranger groups, ranger associations and conservation partners in over 60 countries.  They say it’s estimated that over 1,000 park rangers have been killed in the line of duty over the past 10 years. They are dedicated to providing Rangers worldwide with the assistance they deserve and need.  

In the UK, they are now called Working for the Wild and you can visit their website here.

Other organisations supporting wildlife rangers

Ol Pejeta
Ol Pejeta Conservancy is a 90,000 acre wildlife conservancy in Kenya.  They have 150 rangers who are dedicated to protecting the wildlife there and neighbouring communities.  They also have a K9 unit, whose dogs work hard also to protect wildlife. 

Project Ranger

Project Ranger supports a range of patrols such as horse patrols, foot patrols, motorbike, aerial, truck and K9 patrols.  In doing so it protects a number of species in national parks, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, conserved land and wildnerness areas.  There are plenty of ways to support their work so visit their website to find out more!

The World Land Trust

The World Land Trust has a Keepers of the Wild initiative.  The rangers are working on the front line of conservation, safeguarding some of the world’s most threatened animals and the crucial habitats in which they live.  They protect reserves from poaching and logging, and importantly, link to local communities, building trust, helping to change attitudes and find practical solutions to problems.  You can support Keepers of the Wild by making a donation.

David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation

The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation works to support rangers in both Asia and Africa. You can support wildlife rangers here and help them conserve nature.  Their work includes carrying out anti-poaching and anti-trafficking patrols across national parks, finding and removing wildlife snares and collecting essential data on endangered speices and their habitats.   They also work with communities to raise awareness and mitigate wildlife conflict. 

The Global Conservation Force

This organisation works to save wildlife from extinction through education, anti-poaching and conservation efforts.  It does this by using anti-poaching units, awareness and education and on the ground action, working on wildlife’s problems.  You can adopt a ranger (also there’s a K9 poacher tracking unit) – find out what the options are to adopt a ranger here.

Virunga 

Virunga National Park is located on the eastern edge of the Congo Basin in Africa, and it's home to over 1,000 species of mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian and a third of the world’s endangered mountain gorillas. It has 750 male and female rangers, all working hard and putting their lives on the line to protect the park and local communities. There's a canine unit as well.  Find out more

The Gorilla Organisation

The Gorilla Organisation has a supporting rangers scheme in the Democratic Republic of Congo and they act as the eyes, ears and voice of the forest. They cut snaes, save injured gorillas, combat the militias running the blood minerals trade, monitor the gorillas’ health and collect vital conservation data every day.  Find out more here.

Tigers4ever

Tigers4ever have anti-poaching patrols in Bandharvagh, India, to protect tigers.  They equip forest patrols, provide anti-poaching patrols and provide permanent solutions to water scarcity for wildlife

Help Tigers4Ever help tigers on their Global Giving pages

Orangutan Foundation

Become an Orangutan Guardian and help the Orangutan Foundation’s 60 Indonesian staff work on the frontline of conservation in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve.  Their role is to guard and patrol the forests and rivers, to rescue and monitor the orangutans and to replant and nurture tree saplings.  And crucially, they need to gain the trust and support of local communities.  Become an Orangutan Guardian!

Lewa Wildlife Conservancy

The Lewa Security Team consists of field rangers, radio operators, gatekeepers, baby rhino keepers, anti-poaching rangers and the tracker dog unit.   The Anti-Poaching Rangers and Tracker Dog Unit work day and night to protect wildlife and keep them safe, especially rhinos and elephants.  The tracker dog unit has four dogs and their handlers, the dogs act as efficient trackers, as they can pursue suspects for lengthy distances.

Save the Rhino

Save the Rhino makes sure that ranger teams have the the equipment they need to do their job as safely as possible.  It has expanded canine units across the projects it funds, which in turn helps apprehend criminals.  Find out more from Save the Rhino

Tusk

The charity Tusk give a Wildlife Ranger Award every year to give international recognition to the men and women who face danger every day to protect the wildlife and its ecosystems in Africa.  

There are also rangers in other countries such as Australia and America and the UK, working for organisations such as national parks and they are also essential to protecting the environment and keeping wildlife safe.

And a very big thank you to each and every wildlife ranger working to care for and protect our wildlife and their habitats.  And thank you to their families too.  

Please everyone show you support them too.  

The WWF Malaysia report that sadly there are only about 150 Malayan tigers left in Malaysia - there used to be 3,000 in the forests there in the 1950s. 

#KeepRoaring for the Malayan tiger.

As WWF Malaysia point, out, we all need healthy forests - and forests need tigers.  The problem is that tigers are threatened by poaching, the illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss (this is because of deforestation and fragmentation) and a lack of food for the tigers as their prey has been over-hunted.

To tackle these challenges, WWF Malaysia has been conducting patrolling in Belum-Temengor.  It monitors poaching hotspots and then sends vital information to enforcement agencies, who can then patrol more ground.  By patrolling more ground, they can discover more threats, remove snares and arrest poachers - these not only helps the tigers, but other animals too. 

#KeepRoaring to save Malayan tigers, save our forests, and save ourselves by taking action and donating if you can.

Donations will help WWF-Malaysia to support wages for field assisstants to patrol and do camera-trapping so that they can see how many tigers are in an area.  It will also give daily rations to those doing the patrolling work, and buy the necessary camping equipment they need to carry out field surveys.  Of course, there are logistics and transport costs.   And successful conservation efforts need the community on board, so donations help support awareness and communication drives. 

Crucially, WWF-Malaysia is working with the Malaysian Government.  To secure a future for all the biodiversity in the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex, there's a need for long-term solutions that are sustainable, if the stunning tigers of Malaysia are to have a future.

Meantime, we can all do our bit.  WWF-Malaysia is asking us all to donate, to learn about tigers, to spread the word, and to pledge to save the Malayan tiger from extinction. 

PLEDGE FOR TIGERS HERE

(and don't forget, it's World Rangers Day on the 31st July). 

 Visit the World Rainforest Day's website

The 22^nd June is World Rainforests Day.  Rainforests are vital for life to survive on Earth.   Their loss  threatens our biodiversity and imperils earth’s health. We ignore this loss at our peril.

World Rainforest Day was founded back in 2017 by the Rainforest Partnership.  It celebrates the importance of healthy, standing rainforests for climate, biodiversity, culture and livelihoods.  Crucially, it convenes a global movement to protect them and restore them.  The Pledge programme mentioned below is launching in 2024 to drive rainforest and climate action across all sectors immediately.  

Natural climate solutions such as protecting and restoring forests could reverse global emissions by a third, according to World Rainforest Day.

This day is held to celebrate rainforests and encourage us all to protect them.  If we can all unite and become a forest of action that rains on earth, then we can make a huge difference.

In 2025, the theme is  #BreatheWithUs,

In 2025, World Rainforest Day is aiming to activate one million Planet Walkers to send a global message of human connection.   In the world's seven continents, there will be an immersive livestream of forests walks.  These will be led by Planet Walkers such as indigenous leaders, scientists, rangers, and changemakers, and they will be guiding everyone through earth's vital ecosystems.  Join the Planet Walkers here. 

#PlanetWalkers

#BreatheWithUs

#WorldRainforestDay

Be a Planet Walker - take yourself through a forest or park or trail.  Share your journey on social media.  Why not explain what nature and these forests or parks mean to you and how they benefit your wellbeing? 

The World Rainforest Day website has these things we can all do to make a positive impact on rainforests, today and every day:

Ways to help rainforests

• Volunteer for a rainforest charity!  Many charities need help not just from a practical sense but also in the "back office" with those behind-the-scenes but essential tasks.
• Vote with nature in mind!   Show leaders that you care about our natural world and want to preserve it.
• Choose local products and ask about where items are sourced.   Many rainforests are cut down for agriculture and cattle ranching.  Go meat free one day a week if you can.  
• Find out about the different fauna and flora in rainforests, such as lichen.  The British Lichen Society has this great video about it from one of Dartmoor's temperate rainforests
• Take a look at Global Forest Watch.  It is a fascinating site and it provides tools and data for monitoring forests.  For instance, you can see the alerts for forests fires 
• Discover about temperate rainforests, too!  The Woodland Trust has 8 rainforests to explore in the UK - check them out here.
• Share your discoveries and what is being done to help rainforests on social media.   We need to show people that there is a lot going on - and that people can and do make a difference.
• Find out about woodland management techniques, such as coppicing from the National Trust
• Visit Rainforest Rescue, whose mission is to give the rainforest a voice and preserve it in all its splendor.   It has petitions you can sign to give rainforests your voice, and projects it runs to protect them, thanks to donor support.  The petitions expose destructive projects and name the perpetrators, so they are important.
• There are many charities you can donate to to help rainforests such as the  World Land Trust.    £100 is one acre protected, but you don't have to give £100.  Every bit helps! They have an Action Fund which enables them to respond fast when urgent conservation action is needed - find out about that here.

 Find out more from World Rainforest Day’s website.   

#WorldRainforestDay

The programme "Pangolins - the World's Most Wanted Animal" is being shown again on BBC2 tonight, Tuesday, 11th June 2025, 2020 at 9pm.

Don't miss it!  Although it's a repeat, the programme is very timely, given that these rather amazing animals are at the centre of the coronavirus storm. 

Pangolins are the world's  most trafficked animal - their scales are wanted in Chinese medicine.  Their flesh is eaten as a delicacy. 

Sir David Attenborough narrates the storm of the pangolin and gives hope on how we can save them.

There's a list of pangolin charities here