Zhou '19 Leads Conservation Effort To ‘Save the Wild’ in East Africa

Excited to experience his first African safari while visiting his father’s Ugandan mining business in 2014, Cody Zhou ‘19 imagined a “vast land … removed from urbanization and untouched by man.” What he found instead was an ecosystem in danger, in which habitats were shrinking due to human activity and many animals were “struggling to keep up.”

Wanting to do his part to make a difference, Zhou founded a new conservation effort, the Save the Wild Fund (SWF). He invited high school and college students from China and Uganda to join his team, and in 2017, the group became the first local conservation organization to be qualified by the Ugandan government to accept donations.

Last June, the Save the Wild Fund received its first major donation: $15,000—the joint effort of seven local mining companies. SWF used the gift to purchase 10,000 tree saplings for the Lake Victoria Region Local Authorities Cooperation (LVRLAC) to plant along the banks of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest reservoir.

Zhou says reforesting the area around Lake Victoria will provide not only shelter for local animals, but also fruit for people in local communities. “We have already made a change for the people of Uganda,” he says. “It may not be a huge change, but it is a small change and that is more than enough for us. It is more meaningful than anything I have done.”

SWF is focusing now on funding care for injured and sick animals at the Uganda Wildlife Education Center, where Zhou has spent his past few summers. The team has established a sponsorship club, where patrons who “adopt” animals receive naming rights and are connected through postcards and video streams. Two birds and an elephant have already been adopted.

In recognition of his work, Zhou has been named an LVRLAC Ambassador. He has also been named a representative of the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and been invited to speak at annual United Nations conservation conventions on behalf of SWF and WCS.

In late January, in an effort to expand awareness and partner with other interested citizens and companies worldwide, Zhou launched a new website: SavetheWildFund.org.

From his dorm room at Indian Springs, Zhou manages the new site and his growing organization. He spends several hours a week Skyping with members of his team, creating promotional materials, contacting sponsors, and planning future projects, including a documentary on endangered animals, which he plans to film in East Africa this summer.

“We all know that reversing the course of climate change will not be easy, but the tools are in our hands—if we apply them before it is too late,” says Zhou. “We, as a whole community, should consider ourselves the guardians of our [planet]. Across any religious or political tie, we are together bound to protect our home!”
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