Tersia Jooste started her career as a field guide in the Addo Elephant Park. Her passion and experience has grown over the last 20 years. For the last five years, she has devoted her time and resources in the NPO conservation sector with the founding of Rhino Connect. The Rhino Connect NPO focusses on the protection and conservation of rhinos within the private sector in South Africa. This is achieved through assisting private rhino owners with emergency veterinary care, wildlife helicopters, anti-poaching and K9 assistance.
Helen Lunn wears a number of hats that center around her four loves – research, writing, art, and music. She has worked at both UCT and Wits, coordinated parties and TV work for Oprah, written TV scripts, reconstructed and edited DRUM magazine from its seminal decade of the fifties for Jim Bailey, and has written extensively for the popular press. She has a Ph.D. in Musicology and co-authored The Dance of the Dung Beetles in 2019. She is delighted to be able to use her love of writing for a cause she believes in. Knowing how successful Ian Player was in bringing rhinos back from the brink, she believes that despite the odds the species can once again be saved.
David Zeffertt practiced as an advocate in Johannesburg for the first fifteen years of his professional life and until 1963. He then became a full time academic and was made Professor of Law at the University of Witwatersrand and held the office of Dean of its Faculty of Law and Chairman of the Government Committee of the School of Law.
After his retirement he was appointed Emeritus Professor of Law. He is co-author for South African standard text of the Law of Evidence and written exclusively on that and other legal subjects. He has worked as an advisor for a number of different South African companies.
With more than 20 years of experience in the care and conservation of wild animals, Petronel is totally devoted to the care and rehabilitation of African wild animals. She ran the first comprehensive game and capture school in South Africa offering courses that focused on the theoretical and practical aspects of all forms of wildlife capture and care. Petronel formed Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary NPC dedicated for the care, hand rearing, management and capture of infant, injured and/or orphaned animals. She is also one of a few who has specialized in the care of orphaned and injured rhino.
Matthew Grossman is the Chief Executive Officer and Manager of ALG Investment Management, LLC, which manages the assets of ALG Fund, LLC, a family office investment fund. Matt graduated from Columbia University in 1998 with a B.A. in Economics. He is a Trustee of Deerfield Academy, and he was a member of the Columbia College Board of Visitors. Matt and Aryn Grossman are the parents of 3 boys: Ace (age 9) and Leo and Grey (age 6).
Dr Johan Marais is the veterinarian, photographer and CEO of Saving the Survivors. He grew up in Etosha, Namibia and on the Highveld of South Africa, and became a qualified veterinary surgeon in 1991. From then, Johan spent years in equine racing, before being a senior lecturer, then later head of the Equine Clinic in Pretoria. Johan has been the president for both the South African Equine Veterinary Association and the South African Veterinary Association and acquired a BVSc Honours degree in 2001, and an MSc degree in wildlife in 2007. Although he has spent much of his life as an equine surgeon, Saving the Survivors soon became his calling and in 2012, his vision became reality. Dr Marais and his new team of experts began to tackle the poaching crisis from a veterinary perspective. The countless animals saved has given Johan Marais the worldwide recognition he deserves, as one of South Africa’s true national treasures.
Dr Johan has performed some world firsts in the field of wildlife surgery. He and his team have successfully treated numerous rhino poaching survivors that had their horns and part of their facial bones removed. One
such special rhino was Hope. Hope’s surgeries played a critical role in developing and improving facial wound treatment in poached rhino survivors. In providing a combination of clinical expertise and research, Saving the Survivors NPC is leaving a huge footprint and making a direct impact on rhino and wildlife conservation.
Pavla is a zoologist who has worked for 24 years combatting the illegal trade in endangered species. She leads the special unit of the Czech Environmental Inspectorate dealing with the fight against wildlife crime and trafficking. The unit has been involved in successful investigations of illegal trade in rhino horns. Routes of illegal rhino horns, ivory, tiger products and other goods from endangered species go through the Czech Republic and Europe and lead mostly to Asia. Pavla is a member of the Interpol Expert Group for Wildlife Crime and is also a forensic expert in the field of nature conservation.
Pauline Verheij is specialized in the investigation and prosecution of transnational wildlife crimes. Since 2000 she has worked to combat environmental and wildlife crime in a variety of positions. She worked as a legal advisor with the Dutch police, a policy advisor with the Dutch public prosecutors’ office, and tiger trade manager with TRAFFIC International, based in Malaysia. Between 2012 and 2015 she ran her own consultancy, EcoJust where she advised international NGOs and intergovernmental organisations on wildlife crime issues. In that capacity she was involved in the design and establishment of the Wildlife Justice Commission based in The Hague, and is currently employed as their Senior Legal Investigator.
As a consultant Pauline has conducted a wide variety of studies on topics ranging from wildlife cybercrime, wildlife trafficking, ivory and rhino horn trafficking, and the interaction between wildlife crime and insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa. Between 2018 and 2019 Pauline worked with IFAW as their Senior Program Manager for Wildlife Crime, where she coordinated IFAW’s wildlife crime program and served as their interim Program Director for a year. Pauline is an advisory board member of the Elephant Action League and Jane Goodall Foundation Netherlands, a board member of the Moroccan Primate Conservation foundation and an advisor to WildLeaks, the first secure platform for wildlife crime whistleblowers.
San Diego native Georgeanne “George” Irvine has devoted more than four decades of her career to raising awareness about animals and wildlife conservation. She is director of corporate publishing for San Diego Zoo Global, where she has worked for 40 years. She has also held positions in the public relations and fundraising departments.
A journalism degree from San Diego State University paved the way for George’s writing career. She is the author of more than two dozen children’s books about animals, including the San Diego Zoo’s new Hope and Inspiration series, which features true tales about specific animals that have overcome challenges in their lives. She has also written hundreds of magazine, newspaper and web articles, many of which are illustrated with her photos.
George’s passions are conservation, travel, photography, storytelling, Broadway musicals, and, of course, wildlife. Her worldwide adventures have taken her to some of the wildest places on Earth—from the jungles of Borneo and South America to the wetlands of northeastern India—where greater one-horned rhinos reign—to the mountains of China as well as the savannas of Africa and the Outback of Australia.
