LEIGH-ANN WOOLLEY

Leigh Anne Woolley has a passion for savannas and the conservation management of diverse communities of flora and fauna

I’m a wildlife ecologist and discovered my love for nature while growing up in the African bush. I remember my grandparents taking me to the Kruger National Park when I was four years old and from that moment on I was hooked on wild animals. From the largest land mammal, the African elephant, to the smallest native rodents in northern Australia, I have dedicated my life to solving conservation problems to help protect these animals and the complex landscapes they live in.

I’m now based in the spectacular Kimberley and managing WWF’s Western Australian species team where we’re partnering with Indigenous rangers to find innovative solutions to the threats faced by the unique wildlife of this special wilderness region. Unless we change the way we care for our environment and look for sustainable solutions by integrating both Traditional and Western science, we’ll continue to lose a lot more of our world’s extraordinary biodiversity. We depend on a healthy natural world for our own health, well-being, resources, wisdom, inspiration and so much more, and we all have a collective duty to do whatever we can to protect our precious global natural heritage.