John Hare and the Wild Camel Protection Foundation
In 1997, John Hare with Kathryn Rae founded the Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF), a UK registered charity‚ with Dr. Jane Goodall DBE as its Life Patron together with an additional distinguished group of Foundation Patrons.
In 2004 the WCPF established the Hunter Hall Captive Wild Camel Breeding Centre at Zakhyn Us in Mongolia on 150 acres provided by the Mongolian government and stocked it with twelve wild camels, which had been captured by Mongolian herdsmen. In 2021 the wild camel population had increased to 45.
This sequence shows a critically endangered wild camel which has just given birth to a calf. The calf is under 24 hours old and it is the only sequence ever photographed of such a young baby camel and its mother in the wild.
My admiration for and interest in the camel started when I first used them for transport south of Lake Chad on the Nigerian/Cameroon border. Unlike African porters, who had head-carried my kit from one place to another, my camels didn't complain about the distance or their pay. They didn't get roaring drunk on pay days, seduce the chief's daughter or need their feet dusting every day with DDT to prevent jiggers from laying eggs under their toe-nails.
In 1998 John Hare was awarded an Environmental Award from the State Environment Protection Agency of China for great contribution to saving the critically endangered wild camel from extinction.
In 2004 John Hare was awarded the Ness Award by the Royal Geographical Society for raising awareness about wild camels.