Leela Hazzah

Last updated

Leela Hazzah is an Egyptian conservation biologist who works in Kenya and Tanzania. Hazzah grew up in Egypt, and completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees in the United States. In 2007, Hazzah founded Lion Guardians, which works to protect lions in East Africa along with the indigenous Maasai people. [1] In 2014, Hazzah was named one of CNN's "Top ten heroes" of 2014. [1]

Contents

Childhood and education

Hazzah grew up in Egypt. As a child, her family members told her stories of listening to roaring lions from the roof of their house, something that was no longer possible because lions were extinct in Egypt. [2] Hazzah states that hearing this story inspired her to pursue lion conservation as a career. [2] She earned her bachelor's degree in Biology from Denison University in Granville, Ohio in the US, graduating in 2002. [3] While earning her master's degree in conservation Biology, Hazzah carried out research in Kenya, where she witnessed the difficulties of lion conservation. [2] She earned her degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she went on to earn a doctorate as well. [3] Her research focused on the reasons behind the then-recent increases in lion killings. [4]

Lion Guardians

Hazzah lived with the indigenous Mbirikani Maasai for a year, studying their relationship with lions, [2] [5] while working for the group Living with Lions. [6] Hazzah lived in the region adjacent to the Chyulu Hills National Park, and participated in the daily life of the Maasai community. [7] Killing a lion is a rite of passage for young Maasai men. The Maasai have a complex relationship with lions; the lions kill the Maasai's livestock, yet the Maasai appreciate the lions for their beauty. [2] [8] Lions are threatened all over their East African habitat, particularly in Amboseli National Park, where Hazzah did a lot of her work. [8] [5] In 2007, [5] Hazzah decided to attempt to persuade and teach the Maasai of the potential benefits of lion conservation, [2] and her lessons proved to be popular among the Maasai. [3] The idea that the hunters themselves were best placed to protect the lions originally came from a group of hunters that Hazzah had worked with. [8]

This effort became the non-profit organization Lion Guardians. [2] The organization hires Maasai warriors as full-time lion protectors. It also gives them field training, sometimes in addition to teaching them how to read and write. Hazzah stated that she had "never imagined when we first started Lion Guardians that we could transform these killers to the point where they would risk their own lives to stop other people from killing lions." [2] The program grew rapidly, going from five lion guardians in 2007 to 40 in 2013. [5] The organization has contributed to reducing human-animal conflict in Kenya and Tanzania, [3] and the lion population in the region is showing many signs of recovery. [8] Hazzah stated that part of her success was due to co-opting the traditional values that the Maasai men associated with killing lions, and turning them towards protecting the lions instead. [5] The organization is a part of the network "Living with Lions." [9] In addition to tracking and monitoring lion populations, it also tracks herds of cattle, which often fall prey to lions, which are then killed by the herders. [9]

Awards and recognitions

In 2014, Hazzah was named one of CNN's "Top ten heroes" of the year. [1] She was awarded the "Young Women Conservation Biology Award" from the Society for Conservation Biology, and has also received several other awards and fellowships. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maasai Mara</span> National Reserve in Narok County, Kenya

Maasai Mara, also sometimes spelled Masai Mara and locally known simply as The Mara, is a large national game reserve in Narok, Kenya, contiguous with the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. It is named in honour of the Maasai people, the ancestral inhabitants of the area, who migrated to the area from the Nile Basin. Their description of the area when looked at from afar: "Mara" means "spotted" in the local Maasai language, because of the short bushy trees which dot the landscape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maasai people</span> Ethnic group located in Kenya and Tanzania

The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, near the African Great Lakes region. The Maasai speak the Maa language, a member of the Nilotic language family that is related to the Dinka, Kalenjin and Nuer languages. Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili and English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serengeti</span> Geographical region in Tanzania

The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa, spanning the Mara and Arusha Regions of Tanzania. The protected area within the region includes approximately 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi) of land, including the Serengeti National Park and several game reserves. The Serengeti hosts the world's most massive land animal migration, which helps secure it as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serengeti National Park</span> National park in Mara and Simiyu Regions, Tanzania

The Serengeti National Park is a large national park in northern Tanzania that stretches over 14,763 km2 (5,700 sq mi). It is located in eastern Mara Region and northeastern Simiyu Region and contains over 1,500,000 ha of virgin savanna. The park was established in 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nairobi National Park</span> First national park in Kenya, Africa

Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya that was established in 1946 about 7 km (4.3 mi) south of Nairobi. It is fenced on three sides, whereas the open southern boundary allows migrating wildlife to move between the park and the adjacent Kitengela plains. Herbivores gather in the park during the dry season. Nairobi National Park is negatively affected by increasing human and livestock populations, changing land use and poaching of wildlife. Despite its proximity to the city and its relative small size, it boasts a large and varied wildlife population, and is one of Kenya's most successful rhinoceros sanctuaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trophy hunting</span> Hunting of wild animals for trophies

Trophy hunting is a form of hunting for sport in which parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. The animal being targeted, known as the "game", is typically a mature male specimen from a popular species of collectable interests, usually of large sizes, holding impressive horns, antlers, furs, or manes. Most trophies consist of only select parts of the animal, which are prepared for display by a taxidermist. The parts most commonly kept vary by species but often include the head, hide, tusks, horns, or antlers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Fund for Animal Welfare</span> Non-profit US organization

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is one of the largest animal welfare and conservation charities in the world. The organization works to rescue individual animals, safeguard populations, preserve habitat, and advocate for greater protections. Brian Davies founded IFAW. IFAW was instrumental in ending the commercial seal hunt in Canada. In 1983 Europe banned all whitecoat harp seals products. This ban helped save over 1 million seals. IFAW operates in over 40 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Scott (zoologist)</span>

Jonathan Scott is an English zoologist, wildlife photographer and television presenter specializing in African wildlife.

<i>Panthera leo melanochaita</i> Lion subspecies

Panthera leo melanochaita is a lion subspecies in Southern and East Africa. In this part of Africa, lion populations are regionally extinct in Lesotho, Djibouti and Eritrea, and are threatened by loss of habitat and prey base, killing by local people in retaliation for loss of livestock, and in several countries also by trophy hunting. Since the turn of the 21st century, lion populations in intensively managed protected areas in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have increased, but declined in East African range countries. In 2005, a Lion Conservation Strategy was developed for East and Southern Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lion hunting</span>

Lion hunting is the act of hunting lions. Lions have been hunted since antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kakenya Ntaiya</span> Kenyan feminist, educator, and academic

Kakenya Ntaiya is a Kenyan educator, feminist and social activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human–lion conflict</span>

Human–lion conflict refers to the pattern of problematic interactions between native people and lions. Conflict with humans is a major contributor of the decline in lion populations in Africa. Habitat loss and fragmentation due to conversion of land for agriculture has forced lions to live in closer proximity to human settlements. As a result, conflict is often characterized by lions preying upon livestock, known as livestock depredation. When depredation events take place, farmers suffer financial losses and lions face threats of retaliatory killing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Cecil the lion</span> Lion that lived in the Hwange National Park

Cecil was a male African lion who lived primarily in the Hwange National Park in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. He was being studied and tracked by a research team of the University of Oxford as part of a long-term study.

Umra Omar is a Kenyan humanitarian and community conservation strategist. She is the founder of Safari Doctors, an organization that delivers primary medical care and health education by boat, air, and land to Bajuni and Aweer communities in Lamu, Kenya. In 2016, Umra Omar was named a Top 10 CNN Hero, and in 2017, she was named the UN in Kenya Person of the Year along with the rest of the Safari Doctors team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Kahumbu</span> Wildlife conservationist

Paula Kahumbu is a wildlife conservationist and chief executive officer of WildlifeDirect. She is best known as a campaigner for elephants and wildlife, spearheading the Hands Off Our Elephants Campaign, which was launched in 2014 with Kenyan First Lady Margaret Kenyatta. She has recently in 2022 been appointed as the first National Geographical Explorer as a board of Trustees member at the National Geographic Society.

The Big Life Foundation is a non-profit conservation organization created to preserve the wildlife and habitats of the Amboseli-Tsavo-Kilimanjaro ecosystem of East Africa through community-based and collaborative strategies.

Resson Kantai Duff is Kenyan conservationist and the deputy director at Ewaso Lions.

The Maasai Cricket Warriors (MCW) is a Kenyan men's cricket team formed in 2007 by semi-nomadic people from Laikipia County. Consisting of 25 players and a counterpart women's team, it participates in semi-professional tournaments aboard, including in London primarily focused on raising funds and awareness through charity cricket and uses its athletic fame for the promotion of women's rights, campaign against female genital mutilation, child marriage, substance abuse, and Environmental Conservation In Kenya in Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winnie Kiiru</span> Kenyan biologist

Winnie Kiiru is a Kenyan biologist, elephant conservationist, and the chairperson of the Wildlife Research Institute in Naivasha. She is currently the chairperson of Friends of Karura Forest, a Community-Based Organization (CBO) that helps manage Karura forests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortress conservation</span> Conservation model

Fortress conservation is a conservation model based on the belief that biodiversity protection is best achieved by creating protected areas where ecosystems can function in isolation from human disturbance.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Anderson Cooper reveals the Top 10 CNN Heroes". CNN.com. April 21, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Transforming lion killers into 'Lion Guardians'". CNN . Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Leela Hazzah '02 nominated as CNN Hero". Denison University. Denison.edu. July 24, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Lion Killings Spur Fears of Regional Extinction in Kenya". National Geographic . October 28, 2010. Archived from the original on June 29, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Ham, Anthony (March 12, 2013). "How long will the lions roar?". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  6. ↑ Alex Chadwick (March 11, 2009). "Protecting African Lions: Hunters Turned Guardians". NPR. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Member Spotlight: A conservation biologist turns to social science to protect carnivores in Kenya". Conbio.org. July 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Proving the Exception: Coexistence between human and lions is possible". Society for Conservation Biology. Voices.nationalgeographic.com. December 17, 2015. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Leibach, Julie (January 31, 2011). "Open Source Wildlife Conservation: Tracking Lions (and Cows)". Audubon. Retrieved April 6, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.