Wild Combat: Saving Animals From Poachers

Park rangers in Africa are facing a crisis as they encounter increasingly dangerous armed poachers. A nonprofit offers them backup from a group of people with skills honed on a different kind of battleground.

In 2013, Ryan Tate founded Vetpaw, which pairs U.S. military veterans with park rangers in wildlife-rich areas in Africa to teach combat skills and to help spot and stop poachers. His inspiration: a documentary on the killing of African elephants and rhinoceroses.

The documentary featured a female rhino whose face had been mutilated by poachers hoping to sell her tusks. “When I saw that, I cried like a baby. I said, ‘Well, this is an injustice,’ ” Tate recalls.

At the time, Tate was working in diplomatic security at the State Department. He’d never been to Africa, but he thought he could help. It was the same way he felt after 9/11: “I wanted to take a stance for those that can’t defend themselves.”

Veterans are selected for Vetpaw’s volunteer and paid positions after completing a rigorous course involving land and night navigation, medical training, local laws, social-media skills, and more. After a three-month probationary period, veterans can opt to stay with Vetpaw for up to a year.

The work helps veterans who miss the feeling of contributing to a larger mission as part of a military team. “When you get out and you don’t have that outlet for that anymore, it drives depression and PTSD,” Tate says. Giving veterans the opportunity to defend wildlife can fill that void, he says. “Out here, it’s good for the soul.”