The Endangered Wildlife Trust

Every report on African wild dogs opens with the same statistic. The Endangered Wildlife Trust needed people outside conservation to feel it. So we spent a day with the field officer whose job that number depends on.

THE ORGANISATION

The Endangered Wildlife Trust protects species and habitats across southern Africa.

Their wild dog work runs across the Greater Kruger, where the packs move between protected land and farmland, and survival depends on the relationships as much as the rescues.

THE CHALLENGE

Make people care about a number they've already forgotten.

There are roughly 650 African wild dogs left in South Africa. It's in every report, every fact sheet, every appeal. Statistics tell people there's a problem, but they don't make anyone act, and almost none of the daily work of protecting the packs reaches an audience outside conservation.

WHAT WE DID

Opened on a person, not a statistic.

We followed Ronja, a field officer in the Greater Kruger, through the actual job. Cutting wire out of an animal's flesh. Getting a vet on the phone fast enough to matter. Sitting with farmers between rescues, because coexistence is the real work.

Shot documentary style, on location, with no script. The film lets her explain it rather than narrating over her.