Ethiopia is a country full of animals that can’t be found anywhere else in the world—and other amazing animals as well. But many of those animals could easily disappear forever. Majestic black lion populations, for example, have declined almost 90%, with only small populations clinging to life in pockets of Ethiopian wilderness. One conservationist who studies them says, “It’s not just the lions that are under pressure, it’s biodiversity in general.”
Open Hearts Big Dreams wants to help the work of dedicated Ethiopians who are trying to save the country’s animals. For example, the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, a world leader in the field of carnivore conservation, notes that “Ethiopian wolves are one of the most endangered carnivorous species” on the earth. Each year, EWCP works diligently to breed these rare animals for the next generations. Have you read the Ready Set Go book about Ethiopian wolves? Dr. Bruktawit Abdi is saving white-winged flufftail birds; she trains local children in one region of Ethiopia to keep their animals from stepping on precious nests. Have you read the book she wrote for Ready Set Go Books about the flufftails that migrate to Ethiopia every year and what’s being done to help them survive? Have you read Only in Ethiopia and tried the quiz in Who Am I? What about Dr. Worku’s Letter to a Plow Nation that describes how to revive the land and water of Ethiopia?
You can be part of conservation efforts, too. You can read and share and fund distribution of books about animals that live only in Ethiopia, about bees, about the storks and painted lady butterflies that fly from Europe to Ethiopia in their migration patterns, about giant leopard tortoises, crocodiles and black lions and elephants and other species that share the earth with humans. Open Hearts Big Dreams has also published books that teach all of us more about some of Ethiopia’s national parks. Books like We Love Animals and Giraffe and Me have simple texts to help children learn to read while also helping them know and love the animals of their world.
In 2023, Jane Kurtz, creative director of OHBD Ready Set Go Books, initiated a conservation project in memory of her husband, Leonard Goering, who loved his many visits to Ethiopia and his Ethiopian-American daughter-in-law and grandchildren—and who was a longtime member of conservation organizations such as the Sierra Club. Reach out if you are interested in helping or learning more.
