EMMY® Award-Winner Debra Messing, OSCAR® Nominee Djimon Hounsou and more Round out the Program for Endangered Rangers

December 3, 2020 – Endangered Rangers, a virtual fundraiser benefitting the rangers on the front lines of wildlife conservation, announced today the addition of Emmy Award-Winner Debra Messing, two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou, iconic actress Loretta Swit, Grammy nominated Reggae artist Chronixx, Sheikh Abdul Aziz known as the “Green Sheikh”, British fine art photographer David Yarrow, Chief Jim Ogimaa, and eleven-year old animal advocate, Kate Gilman Williams to the highly anticipated event.

“Ranger jobs are being cut due to the economic downturn in tourism while poaching has exploded, becoming a pandemic in and of itself,” said host, Josh Duhamel. “I’ve spent time in Africa with these peacekeepers seeing firsthand how the responsibility of securing the future of endangered species rests heavily on their shoulders. When you add in the suffering and loss we are all feeling across our communities combined with the inability to earn a livelihood, the burden is enormous.”

WHAT:   Endangered Rangers
WHEN:   Sunday, December 13, 2020 at 3pm PT
WHERE: will air live on KNEKT TV available on Roku and Apple TV as well as streamed on Facebook, YouTube, and EndangeredRangers.com

The recent additions to the programming will join Josh Duhamel as he hosts the 90-minute event featuring voices from boots-on-the-ground rangers in Africa and from a community of passionate celebrities already announced, such as Daymond John, Carolyn Hennesy, Patrick Warburton, Quinton Aaron, Andrew Keegan, former lead guitarist of The Eagles Don Felder, Goodwill Ambassador for the United Republic of Tanzania Doug Pitt. Multi-platinum recording artist and former American Idol winner Jordin Sparks will be performing a song from her new album, “Cider & Hennessy.”

Helping the rangers during the pandemic means saving the lives of thousands of endangered species as COVID-19 has accelerated the already ominous threats to their preservation. Endangered Rangers: A Virtual Fundraiser for African Wildlife & Their Human Protectors is the united effort of two game-changing conservation organizations who immediately shifted their efforts toward mitigating the economic hardships faced by the conservation community and restoring support for wildlife protection operations.

The loss of conservation revenue, up to 90% in Eastern and Southern Africa, is crippling ranger livelihoods and creating security issues. The reduction in ranger patrols and visitors draws out brazen poachers putting more animals at risk, accelerating already unbelievable timelines for the eradication of key species, and derailing the considerable progress made in wildlife conservation. There has been an exponential increase in reports of poaching incidents, bushmeat seizures, and wire snares.

In an effort to counteract the domino effect COVID-19 has triggered, proceeds from the event will go towards forward-looking organizations developing innovative, scalable, and effective anti-poaching initiatives - the African Community & Conservation Foundation in partnership with the Grumeti Fund and The Malilangwe Trust, and Zambezi Partners in partnership with Wild is Life. They were brought together through their shared mission to preserve African wildlife through the eradication of poaching using transformative community programs and advanced technologies.

In addition to critical ranger support, this fundraiser supports initiatives which inform the development of anti-poaching hardware and software solutions such as AI cameras, predictive analytic platforms, event visualization tools, animal trackers, and secure communication networks. The field testing and data collected from the beneficiaries of Endangered Rangers will be shared with the wider conservation community to help advance innovation across the broader ecosystem.to making solutions more inclusive of the variances among the over 7,800 protected areas in Africa.

“The beneficiaries of Endangered Rangers represent African reserves at varying stages of technology deployment,” said Jenna Seiden, co-founder of Zambezi Partners. “Ranger intelligence is vital in the evolution of these anti-poaching solutions, which is why their health and safety is our first priority.

The Endangered Rangers virtual fundraiser will spotlight the specific challenges the coronavirus has added to anti-poaching operations in light of the fact that keystone species like the African elephant and lion are already being threatened with extinction within decades. And while the stories we will share highlight the severity of the situation on the ground in Africa, the event is meant to inspire hope and show a path forward.

“We are harnessing our relationships here at home to provide for the people in Africa who provide for the animals. We have so many success stories in the making, such as our rhino relocation program, that we cannot let the pandemic set us back,” said Brady Forseth, CEO of the African Community & Conservation Foundation. “Our rangers are the heart of operations and the eyes and ears for the wildlife. We are simply overjoyed with the response.”

Josh Duhamel

Jordin Sparks

Debra Messing

Loretta Swit

Djimon Hounsou

Carolyn Hennesy

Don Felder

Doug Pitt

Daymond John

David Yarrow

Kate Gilman Williams

Chronixx

Andrew Keegan

About ACCF
Launched in November 2018, the African Community & Conservation Foundation is an independent non-profit charitable organization with the overarching goal of fueling sustainable and transformative human impact and conservation in Africa.  The Foundation focuses on building funding for the long-term protection of African wilderness areas and support for the surrounding communities.

About Zambezi Partners
Zambezi has one goal - zero poaching in our lifetime through technology and investment. Zambezi is both a triple-bottom line fund investing in sub-Saharan Africa's high growth sectors while driving impact through jobs and youth employment in a sustainable way, and curators of the most advanced anti-poaching technologies as well as the architect of a predictive AI-IoT anti-poaching prevention-as-a-service platform.

About KNEKT
KNEKT.tv is a Los Angeles based live production company producing world class live and pre-recorded HD broadcasts from exclusive evens, concerts, performances, charity galas, fundraisers, and red carpet shows. Clients and partners include top charting recording artists to Fortune 500 companies and charities. KNEKT provides HD live broadcasting services as well as non-broadcast recorded content, feature film, and television production services as well creating branded entertainment content, on-premises activations, and in-video stream advertising during live and pre-recorded television events.