Across Amboseli, threats lurk around every corner.

Poachers set snares to kill animals. Fences strangle the landscape into tiny pieces. Illegal farms gobble up once-wild land. But you can help protect Amboseli’s wildlife and wild spaces. Some of our most remarkable rangers stand on four legs — our tracker dogs — whose keen senses help find threats and track down suspects no human nose ever could.

In addition to their daily care, our dogs urgently need new kennels and a partner for our rookie tracker dog, Watson. That’s why I’m writing to you today.

It takes just $27 a day to provide food, new shelter, and vet support for a Big Life tracker dog — and an additional $7,000 would fund a second trained dog to join Watson on patrol. 

And right now, your gift will go twice as far — every donation is matched through December 31.

Here’s what your year-end donation can do: 

• $27 to be doubled to $54 to support a tracker dog for 2 days.
• $54 to be doubled to $108 to support a tracker dog for 4 days.
• $81 to be doubled to $162 to support a tracker dog for 6 days.

Right now, the decade-old kennels are not good enough for our hard-working dogs.

You can help by providing a completely rebuilt kennel with shade to keep them cool, roofing to keep them dry, comfortable raised beds, and an expanded dog run to keep them active when they’re not on patrol.  

Big Life’s former tracker dogs, Bonnie and Clyde, were a great team, but Bonnie is now retired, and we lost Clyde suddenly to cancer.

Last year, you helped us welcome and name two young pups, Holmes and Watson.

Unfortunately, Holmes is not up to the rigors of being a tracker dog. He lacks the discipline to stay on task and is easily distracted. Holmes does a great job of keeping Watson company, but with only one tracker dog ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, elephants may lose timely protection when threats arise. You can help solve this problem.

Watson is steady and disciplined. He excelled at school and is eager to join our rangers in the field. With your help, he will continue to sharpen his skills under the expert guidance of Sergeant Mutinda Ndivo — former poacher, turned protector — and save elephants’ lives.

Watson is still a young tracker dog who has a lot to learn. His skills must grow step by step, so he performs reliably without losing heart. Overworking him could cause burnout and make him lose interest, which is why a second trained dog is needed right away to help pick up the slack.

Having just one dog is also risky. If Watson gets sick or hurt, all tracking stops. A second dog means rotation, rest, and resilience — so protection never stops.

You can help secure a fully-trained and qualified tracker dog to patrol with Watson, so there is always a reliable nose on the trail.

Your gift today will support the daily care of our dogs, help upgrade kennels, bring on a second trained tracker dog to work alongside Watson, and protect Amboseli’s wildlife.

Amboseli is vast: 2 million acres of grass, bush, and lava flows. With their incredible senses of smell and hearing, tracker dogs make it more manageable.

They can find lost children in the bush. Track bushmeat poachers. Sniff out hidden illegal ivory. They can even deter crime before it happens, because news of their skills travels fast.

Your gift will keep the tracker dogs at work doing all that.

Tracker dogs are a critical tool in a ranger’s toolbox to protect elephants, including the last iconic tuskers.

Every day, these heroic dogs fight for wildlife, habitat, and people. They need friends like you to stand with them.

Without rangers and tracker dogs, Amboseli’s wildlife and the harmony between people and nature could be lost forever. But I know you care about protecting Amboseli just as much as I do, and you won’t let this happen.

If you stand with us:
You will help herds of elephants migrate safely across the savannah.
You will help giraffes journey amongst zebras and wildebeests.
You will help lions continue to coexist with the local Maasai.
You will prevent poachers from killing wildlife.
And so much more…

Thank you for entrusting and empowering our team — including those with four paws — to get the job done. I know resources are tight for many. Please don’t feel pressured to give. But if you can give, know that here in Amboseli, your support delivers results: a world where wildlife and people can thrive side by side.

On behalf of all of us at Big Life, THANK YOU.

Craig Millar
Big Life Foundation Kenya, Chief Operating Officer