Save A Horny Friend ~Rhino&Elephant

"Why Care?"  Because there are few times in life when we truly do something special with our time and money - for both you and me this is one of them.  

Executive Summary of Solutions!
This Campaign is about helping prevent rhinos and elephants from being poached to extinction through two projects:
1) A cause-adventure memoir and screenplay, and
2) To establish the nonprofit, Save A Horny Friend Foundation — a serious mission with a fun approach to saving rhinos and elephants through drone and mobile technology, education in the US and Africa and creative media! 

The Poaching Crisis: 1900-2015
Both rhinoceros and elephant populations are both at only 4% of what they were in 1900 - thanks to humans wanting their "horn" for folk medicine and social status decorations. Neither of them actually have horns. Neither of their sought-after body parts cure any ailments or are proof of status or wealth. Rather they are misguided symbols pushing these last largest land animals towards extinction for the second time in 30 years, while ruining ecosystems and economically-sound ecotourism businesses, as well as fueling the largest and most feared international terrorist groups.


Imagine... what if you could speak up to advocate for these animals that you loved as a child and still fulfill your dream of seeing them on safari one day?   Fortunately, you do still have the chance. Here's how...

My Activism in this Cause: 1990-2014
I started raising money to protect rhinos who were being poached towards extinction in the 1990's when I lived in Africa as a teenager using the slogan "Save A Horny Friend", then wrote research papers about elephant conservation in university.  

Two years ago, I hosted a "Save A Horny Friend" fundraiser in San Diego, and prior to starting this crowdfunding campaign spent last year in the capital of the anti-poaching effort in Tanzania (Arusha) and Kenya (Nairobi and Mombasa) independently investigating and coming up with solutions to the ever-worsening elephant and rhino poaching crisis that is decimating their populations again, now more than twenty years after I first started. 
Global March for Elephants, Arusha 2013
Global March for Elephants and Rhinos, LA 2014

Besides hosting several small-scale fundraisers and educational events for their conservation over the last 23 years using the fun but ever serious slogan, "Save of Horny Friend," I've now spent 20 months of my own time, money, sweat, and ingenuity working on finding innovative solutions to this international poaching crisis, ...and have come up with two mammoth projects that are creative and time-appropriate solutions:

1. The Adventure Memoir of Researching Poaching: I have more than 100,000 words of a book I started writing while in East Africa last year about both my adventure and my struggle in coming up with creative solutions to put this poaching crisis to bed once and for all.  The last seven months I have been back in the US, I have been a student again attending the best nonfiction, memoir and screenwriting classes Los Angeles has to offer, while studying the craft on my own as well.  Also, I have recruited serious interest from two mainstream film production houses to option my book into a screenplay - they are just waiting for it to be a complete work...  

That's where you come in... to help me cover the costs of finishing the book:
a) registration for the nationally-attended Southern
     California Writers' Conference mid-February to...
b) find and hire an editor, and ...
c) promote this adventure-cause-travel-female-
     empowerment-make-the-world-a-better-place
     story to publicists and agents.

The inspiration to write a book and movie came about in the middle of my trip in Tanzania and has been remarkably praised, especially if you like John Wayne and the Serengeti.  Contact me immediately if you know the reference... or wait to read about it in the book!


2. Save A Horny Friend Foundation:  Since 1991, growing up in Zambia and regularly visiting beautiful Zimbabwe, which was then one of the most wildlife-responsible countries in the world, I heard people commonly use the phrase, "Save A Horny Friend" in reference to protecting the very last of the black rhinos in their countries. Unfortunately, like in Zambia, despite our efforts, Zimbabwe's populations were subsequently poached to non-viable levels.  Thus, in an effort to prevent the inevitable, I used that same saying to raise funds on Earth Day in my high school, and donated the money back to conservation researchers trying to save the last of the rhino where I lived.  

Flash-forward to 2013 - Two months before I left on my spontaneous trip to East Africa, I hosted a "Save A Horny Friend" fundraiser for Valentine's Day in San Diego, and saw that the response by those who didn't know the severity of the poaching crisis was emotionally overwhelming to not only them, but to me and my team as well. This sparked another fire in my gut to seek out a real solution, rather than stand idly by in the US - the country that is the second largest importer of ivory, as well as imports rhino horn.

Thus, I am at the beginning stages of creating Save A Horny Friend Foundation as a California nonprofit to address two of the most urgent issues surrounding rhino and elephant poaching: 1) The import and sale of ivory and rhino horn in the US (mostly into CA), and 2) the need for funding the vetted, non-governmental anti-poaching teams in Africa to be trained and supplied to combat the ever-armed poachers who use automatic weapons and poison watering holes to obtain the animal parts that are now worth more than gold. One of the best solutions on the horizon now is to use small to medium-sized drones to find poachers and track the animals. Hurray for techonology!


That's where you come in... These endeavors require more funding and my own bank account, friends, family and strangers have all been very generous thus far in supporting my endeavors for the last 20 months, and now I need your support to keep this ball rolling over the next two months!

Who is Leading This Charge?
My name is Valerie Kosheleff and I'm an evolutionary biologist, primatologist, sustainability expert, entrepreneur, innovator, problem solver, and nature photographer, and have been active in wildlife research and conservation since I was a teenager.

At the March for Elephants in Arusha 2013

How I Will Use Donations in the Coming Months
~ $600: Attend the Southern California Writers' Conference in February, have the book pre-read, to identify and employ editors, publishers and agents, and to continue to build marketing connections. 
~ $2100: Incorporate SAHFF in California, register for 501(c)3 status, register trademarks, and council on CA law and nonprofit governance.
~ $3000: Miscellaneous costs incurred during building the SAHFF Team and Board, initial ivory and horn distribution research costs, initial drone and app research costs, video production.
~ $2400: 150 thank you gift T-shirts that say "I Helped Save A Horny Friend" for donors.
~ $1000:  Expenses for February 10 "Friendraiser" at South African restaurant in Southern California

You are all encouraged to be a part of this solution, as it cannot succeed without you!

 See the "Thank You For Being A Friend" Gifts 
http://valeriekosheleff.com/sahf-friends/
Email me your specific gift selections or questions through this site.

Please read more about me, the cause and the Foundation on my website:
http://www.ValerieKosheleff.com

And join the Facebook Page:
http://www.Facebook.com/SaveAHornyFriend


Thank you for being a Friend of Rhinos and Elephants!