The thrilling story of the conservationist who pioneered the use of dogs in combating poachers in South Africa’s game reserves.

One of Conraad’s first brushes with the reality of life at the frontline of conservation was when he shot the leader of a poaching gang in Windy Ridge game reserve in his teens. Much of Con’s work involving dogs is a continuous struggle against industrial-scale bushmeat poachers, an even greater threat to wildlife than rhino horn poachers as the overburdened courts seem interested only in endangered species. He also works to catch poachers of critically endangered pangolins, the most trafficked animal in the world. Con decided to use his almost telepathic rapport with dogs to tackle the poaching crisis sweeping South Africa.

His first anti-poaching dog, a Weimaraner named Zingela, became an inseparable companion. Zingela saved Conraad’s life on numerous occasions – once when Conraad was about to be assassinated by two fellow rangers hired by poachers.

Con’s story is an epic of modern-day African wildlife conservation, spiced with adventure, courage and romance.

Barely out of his teens, one of Conraad’s first brushes with the reality of life at the frontline of conservation was when he shot the leader of a poaching gang during an ambush in Windy Ridge game reserve. The family of the dead man vowed to kill Conraad and so, for his own safety, he was moved off the reserve. His later work at Bongani Mountain Lodge led to his discovering a hundred new pieces of San rock art on the reserve. Much of Con’s work involving dogs is a continuous struggle against industrial scale bushmeat poachers, who strangle game in snares, an even greater threat to wildlife than rhino horn poachers as the over-burdened courts seem interested only in endangered species. He also works to catch poachers of critically endangered pangolins, the most trafficked animal in the world. Con decided to use his almost telepathic rapport with dogs to tackle the poaching crisis sweeping South Africa. His first anti-poaching dog, a Weimaraner named Zingela, became an inseparable companion. Zingela saved Conraad’s life on numerous occasions – once when Conraad was about to be assassinated by two fellow rangers hired by poachers; on another, by killing a puff adder just as Conraad was about to step on it. Zingela was tragically killed when hit by a car while Conraad was away in a nearby town. The only meagre consolation was that Con had kept Landa, one of the nine puppies that Zingela had sired. Landa followed his father’s footsteps as the alpha male of the canine anti-poaching team that is still operating today. Con’s story is an epic of modern-day African wildlife conservation, spiced with adventure, courage and romance.

Looking at their photo of railroad tracks, a group of pre-teen students in South Central Los Angeles see either a way out of the ghetto, or a dirty, bad environment. Such are the impressions expressed in the poignant We Live in the Shadow: Inner-City Kids Tell Their Stories through Photographs. In Elaine Bell Kaplan's perceptive book, at-risk youth were given five-dollar cameras to tell stories about their world. Their photos and stories show us their response to negative inner-city teen images. We follow them into their schools, and we hear about their creative coping strategies. While these kids see South Central as dangerous, they also see themselves as confident enough not to let the inner-city take them down. They refuse to be labelled as ghetto thugs, as outsiders sometimes do. These outsiders include police, teachers, and other groups representing the institutional voices governing their daily lives.

For the African-American community the image of the teenage mother is especially troublesome: all the problems of the welfare systsem seem to spotlight the black teenage mom. This text dispels common percetions of these young women. The author's interviews with the women themselves, and with their mothers and grandmothers, provide a picture of their lives caught in the intersection of race, class and gender. Kaplan challenges the assumption conveyed in the popular media that the African-American community condones teen pregnancy, single parenting, and reliance on welfare. Especially telling are the feelings of frustration, anger and disappointment expressed by the mothers and grandmothers interviewed. And in listening to teenage mothers discuss their problems, Kaplan hears first hand of their relationships with men, and their difficulties with the education system - all factors bear heavily on their status as young parents. Kaplan's own personal experience as an African-American teenage mother adds a personal dimesion to this book, and she offers proposals for rethinking and assessing the class factors, gender relations, and racism that influence black teenagers to become mothers.