From their home in Contra Costa County, Peter and Corie Knights have made it their mission to help animals. What makes it unusual is those animals live more than 8,000 miles away.
The Knights founded the nonprofit organization Wild Africa, which works on protecting animals in Africa by raising awareness through mini-documentaries, news stories, music concerts and public service ads.
“Really the only place with large mammals left anywhere on the planet is Africa,” said Peter Knights, sitting at the dining room table in a friend’s San Francisco apartment. “So this our last chance for the mammals.”
Africa’s animal populations, from elephants to rhinos, giraffes to pangolins, are in peril from a number of directions: elephant ivory and rhino horn poaching, habitat loss, climate change, and the black market bush meat trade. British-born Peter Knights first saw it working as an environmental investigator who later founded Wild Aid to address the illegal ivory, rhino horn and shark fin markets. Through its work, the group was able to reduce shark fin consumption by 85% and rhino horn consumption by two-thirds in Asia.
But even as far back as 1989, Peter was sounding the alarm about Africa’s elephants.
“Half the African elephant population had disappeared in the previous 15 years,” he said. “I thought if people knew that, they would be pretty damned shocked and want to do something about it.”
So the strategy for Wild Africa turned to getting the information about the threats to animals before the public and the leaders who make decisions.
“Ultimately, whether the wildlife survives will be up to the local people and the local governments,” Peter said. “They have to decide whether they’re going to protect it.”
Peter’s wife Corie grew up in the Bay Area with a soft spot for animals. Something about their vulnerability and how they couldn’t speak up for themselves moved her. At one point in her 20s, she volunteered with Marin County’s Marine Mammal Center, rising before dawn to feed harbor seals herring milkshakes. After connecting with Peter, they worked together on Wild Aid before going on to start Wild Africa.
“We both realized after multiple trips to Africa that Africa was really where our heart is,” Corie said. “We have spent so much time there. We probably have been 100 times between us.”
Wild Africa’s roadmap for protecting animals involves harnessing mass media to raise awareness through social media, news broadcasts and newspapers. They’ve teamed up with religious and government leaders, sports icons, celebrities, and musicians to promote their messages of conservation. One of the group’s biggest promotions is called Musicians for Wildlife — a concert series where some 130 musicians in Africa perform shows where they relay the message about the plight of Africa’s creatures.
“That’s part of what we’re doing is showing, whether it’s musicians or athletes, out seeing the world,” Peter said. “So people are like, ’Maybe that’s something I’d like to do some day.’”
While in many cases the Knights deliver their messages to the public, they’ve also worked extensively to bring people to the animals by leading African safaris. Their guests are often stunned to see lions lounging mere feet from their jeep, or massive African bull elephants wandering over to inspect the visitors. Peter reasoned that animal tourism is a powerful incentive for conservation.
“If you want to support conservation, one of the ways of doing it is by going on safari because that generates jobs, it generates money within the economy,” Peter said.
Among the stars of Wild Africa’s media outreach is Nigerian veterinarian Dr. Mark Ofua, who hosts a children’s show where he teaches young people about animals, including snakes, crocodiles and the lesser known pangolin, sometimes referred to as scaly anteaters. Ofua said many of the young people he encounters don’t even know which species of animals are found in Africa.
“So this show now is focused on animals that we have in Africa to get kids to learn about them, to know about them, to love them,” Ofua said during a visit to San Francisco. “And then to join the movement to be able to do something to preserve and conserve the animals we have in Africa.”
The Knights currently have 85 media partners across 10 countries, including television networks, radio stations and newspapers, which they supply with footage for stories on animals in exchange for free media placement.
“They all are keen on covering it,” Peter said. “They just don’t have the resources to cover it, so that’s where we come in.”
While many people might wring their hands at an issue so far from home, the Knights have embraced it. Corie said the couple splits its time between the two continents, but even back in the Bay Area, Africa is never far from the mind.
“Honestly it’s breathtaking,” Corie said. “Peter and I always say we feel like it’s our church. We’re humbled in the presence of these animals.”
