On October 5, WCN held our fall Wildlife Conservation Expo, an annual October gathering of conservationists from around the world and our incredible community of supporters who help them make a lasting difference for endangered wildlife. We always look forward to these reunions, not just to hear about the latest updates from the field, but to celebrate all we’ve achieved together, reconnect with old friends, and make new ones. If you weren’t able to attend, or you simply wish to relive the best highlights from Expo, look no further!
- This fall Expo’s was at San Francisco’s Mission Bay Conference Center, a lovely venue where we welcomed over 400 attendees to step into the wild and mingle with the visiting conservationists. We last held Expo here in 2019, so it was great to return to this large event space and see everyone fill its halls again to view engaging presentations, browse our international marketplace, and chat with fellow wildlife advocates.
- Over 60 conservationists came to Expo from Botswana, Ecuador, Malaysia, and everywhere in between to share their work and inspire us all to support and be hopeful about the future of wildlife. Conservation is an incredibly difficult career to devote your life to, with many challenges to overcome in order to have a positive impact. But the conservationists in our Network make it look easy thanks to their tireless diligence and expertise, and we were honored to welcome them and learn more about how we can help them continue protecting wildlife.
Magellanic penguins
- The leaders of WCN’s Wildlife Funds gave an informative presentation on the successful strategies that each employ to protect their target species and their habitats. By focusing on protecting the entire range of lions, pangolins, elephants, rhinos, pumas, and all wildlife that share their ecosystems, our Wildlife Funds are having a substantial, collective influence on making wild landscapes safer for some of our planet’s most iconic wildlife.
- Speaking of Wildlife Funds, we briefly announced the creation of our latest Fund at Expo—the Painted Dog Fund. WCN and the Painted Wolf Foundation have partnered to create the Painted Dog Fund, the only fund in existence completely focused on the conservation of this species, with the goal of doubling the number of Africa’s painted dogs by 2055. Visit the Painted Dog Fund webpage to learn more.
Painted dog
- Expo also featured the first glimpse of our new Amazonia Program, part of WCN’s Rising Wildlife Leaders strategy. The Amazonia Program supports new generations of local conservationists based in the Amazon Basin, one of our planet’s most important ecosystems and home to some of the most unique species known. By giving these rising wildlife leaders the resources and training opportunities they need to build their leadership skills and grow their expertise, the Amazonia Program enables them to have long and successful conservation careers.
- We were pleased to welcome our conservation friends from Yunkawasi to the Expo stage to share their fascinating work protecting the yellow-tailed woolly monkey, one of the rarest primates in the world. Found only in the Peruvian Andes, this monkey is in danger of vanishing due to rapid loss of its forest habitat. Yunkawasi protects yellow-tailed woolly monkeys and their forests by working with local communities, so they were right at home here at Expo!
Yellow-tailed woolly monkey
As always, Expo is about more than just the wildlife we love. It’s about you—the people who help WCN and all these amazing conservationists do what we do on behalf of wildlife. Without your support and your dedication to helping wildlife and the local communities who live alongside them, none of what we do would be possible. Together, we’ve made remarkable and lasting differences for wildlife around the world for over 20 years. Expo is our opportunity to see many of you face to face and thank you in person, as well as give you the chance to speak directly with the conservationists that you support and reinforce those connections that lead to so many positive impacts. We’re continuously grateful for your passion and your support, and we’re so glad we got to spend this beautiful Saturday with you.
You can watch playlists with all of the presentations from each Expo stage here and here; the full playlist of individual presentation videos will be released early next week. Relive your favorites, catch the ones you missed, or share them with friends and family who weren’t able to attend. Thank you for making this Expo such a memorable and engaging experience, and for being such an important member of our wonderful community. We hope you’ll join us in 2025 at our next Wildlife Conservation Expo!
WCN is incredibly grateful to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Whittier Trust for sponsoring this fall’s Expo.
Support Wildlife Conservation Network