Tatzoo – The coolest conservation project on the planet!

Last week, I got up at a rather alien 0400hrs. This is a rare occurrence nowadays! There was of course a valid and very exciting reason for this. Once I had woken up (slightly at least) and had a strong coffee I was going to speak to Molly Tsongas and her team of Tatzoo boot camp fellows.

So what is Tatzoo? Tatzoo is perhaps the most exciting and powerful conservation project I have been lucky enough to hear about. Taken directly from their website, here is a brief explanation of what Tatzoo is all about:

In our lifetimes, one third of all animals and plants could be gone forever. We think that’s messed up, heartbreaking, and dangerous. Our generation has the power to tackle this crisis right now by unleashing our fresh ideas, fearless attitudes, and social connectivity.

Do you feel that power? I do! Boom!

© Tatzoo

Tatzoo focuses on threatened species in the California Bay area. They train people to become leaders and ambassadors for endangered species. They do this by teaching them the skills to manage habitats, launch powerful and innovative conservation projects. They also teach fellows how to use media, social media and how to fund-raise. This is a project with huge depth; one that will ensure that each fellow leaves the training course with the skills, passion & excitement to have the best opportunity to protect their chosen endangered species.  What is more, on completion of the Tatzoo training course they get an awesome tattoo of that species. That tattoo will be something that they will be so proud of. The tattoo will act as a positive reminder to them to keep working to protect, even when things get difficult.

Inspired! I am anyway!

There is clearly some serendipity between my ‘Giving my right arm‘ project and Tatzoo; so it was only a matter of time until our paths crossed! I was delighted when the founder and director of the Tatzoo project Molly Tsongas asked me if I would join her and her fellows for a Skype date!

So it was 0430 hrs in the morning I was a bit blurry eyed, but excited! It was great to meet Molly and her boot camp fellows. It was great to see people with so much energy and passion for wildlife conservation. I enjoyed telling them why I was getting both my arms & hands tattooed to to help raise fund’s for Doğa Derneği and raise awareness to the biodiversity tragedy currently ongoing in Turkey. It was great that they asked me a lot of questions (though I may have answered some of them better if I’d had more sleep . These guys really inspired me, a nice reminder that my project is so worthwhile!

As the title of this post intimates; Tatzoo is the coolest conservation project on the planet. However it is so much more as well! The only additional wish I would have for this innovative project is that it would go global!