ABOUT US
Tigers4Ever was established in 2010 by by Corinne and David Taylor-Smith. We raise awareness of the wild tigers’ plight; and try to inspire people to support our conservation efforts. In 2015, Tigers4Ever established a first of its kind Buffer Zone poaching patrol to address the fact that 90-95% of all wild tiger deaths due to poaching or poisoning occur in the buffer forests. Since establishing the Buffer Zone Poaching Patrols there has been a 97% reduction in wild tiger deaths due to poaching or poisoning in Bandhavgarh (compared to 22 tiger deaths in the previous 2.5 years).
Since Tigers4Ever was established it has made a significant difference to the communities which live with the threat of wild tigers in and around Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, India. We have provided educational resources for 2200 children living in 25 villages around Bandhavgarh enabling each child to attend school for at least 1 year. We have also provided over 1600 pieces of vital equipment for anti-poaching patrols protecting wild tigers, including bicycles, waterproof clothing, first aid kits, treated mosquito nets, waterproof high quality head-torches and batteries, snake rescue, capture and release kits.
We ensure that all of our Tiger Conservation Projects are community focused so that those who live with the threat of wild tigers can benefit from the tiger’s long term survival. We achieve this through engaging local suppliers to make and supply the equipment for the anti-poaching patrols and education packs, thereby creating local employment and supporting local businesses. Tigers4Ever employs local workers, from the villages around Bandhavgarh, as Buffer Zone Poaching Patrollers which again creates local employment and ensures that villagers can be approached without fear in the event of incidents. Tigers4Ever is also using local labour and suppliers in the construction of permanent wildlife water-holes which again supports the local economy.
TRUSTEES
Tigers4Ever Trustees are unpaid volunteers who work tirelessly to ensure that Tigers4Ever is well run in accordance with Charity Commission of England and Wales regulations and to ensure that Tigers4Ever can meet its objective of ensuring that wild tigers will have a wild future.
Corinne has been passionate about tigers from the age of 7, inspired by Indira Gandhi's Project Tiger. Corinne was determined to follow in Indira's footsteps. She fulfilled her dream in 2007, seeing first-hand the pressures that tigers & those who live with them face daily. This made her determined to do everything that she could to save wild tigers for future generations.Corinne is a scientist, wildlife conservationist & photographer, she obtained her PhD from the University of Liverpool in 2012. Corinne has formed firm bonds with India’s tiger conservation community & the tigers of Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
DR CORINNE TAYLOR-SMITH
FOUNDER TRUSTEE & CHAIR
David is a wildlife conservationist & photographer who has been seduced by the mystique of the tiger. He has made a number of trips to different national parks in India, with his wife, Corinne, to understand & photograph the most majestic elusive Tigers. David has also formed firm bonds with the tiger conservation community in India & the tigers of Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh.David is a qualified accountant & Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy as well as a Pension Fund Trustee. David is a keen cyclist and has raised thousands of pounds cycling for Tigers4Ever.
DAVID TAYLOR-SMITH
FOUNDER TRUSTEE & TREASURER
Naomi has two children aged 25 & 21. She is visually impaired, but that doesn't stop her getting involved in projects that she believes in. Naomi’s first memory of endangered species was back in the early 70's, when as a child, she visited London zoo, saw a panda called 'Chi-Chi' and was inspired to help save wild pandas and bought a mug which she still has and subsequently joined WWF to help them continue their work. Now Naomi is trying to do her bit to save endangered tigers with Tigers4Ever.Naomi is also a Trustee for the Bradbury Fields Services for Blind & Partially Sighted People Charity.
NAOMI DITCHFIELD
FOUNDER TRUSTEE
Ben became a Trustee in September 2017. Ben is passionate about using his marketing expertise to help good causes, he is currently working for an outdoor education charity and has been involved in various volunteer activities.
He has over 10 years of experience in marketing, and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Ben has a keen interest in wildlife and travel and therefore his work with Tigers4Ever is a great way of combining many of his interests within one project. Ben will help Tigers4Ever to develop its marketing strategy to help us face our future challenges.BEN W WORTH
TRUSTEE
Jamie became a Trustee in April 2020 & has worked as an international wildlife conservation professional for over 20 years. His particular focus is on capacity development for conservation, working with governments & non-government conservation organisations around the world to identify & develop the internal, individual skills they need to do their most effective species conservation work. Jamie worked for the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust for 17 years before moving to the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist group as Director of Training.
Jamie has a Zoology degree from Glasgow University, a Masters in Anthropology & the Ecology of Development from UCL, & various management qualifications. He currently lives in Cornwall, close to the beach, with his wife, 3 kids & far too many animals.JAMIE COPSEY
TRUSTEE
Sean became a Tigers4Ever Trustee in March 2018. Sean has had a lifelong passion for the natural world, wildlife and in particular, tigers. He sponsors tiger projects in India and Nepal; and brings a broad background in science and technology, corporate affairs and sustainability to the Tigers4Ever team. He has previously been a chair of the Board of Trustees for a faith-based charity.On joining Tigers4Ever, Sean said: “I am excited and delighted to have been invited to join the Board of Trustees of Tigers4Ever. My aim is to use my personal and business skills to help the team drive forward the future strategy of the charity, and enable us to make a real impact on the protection and long-term future of the tiger”.
DR SEAN A AXON
TRUSTEE
Barry Page became a Tigers4Ever Trustee on 2 February 2019, & has regularly spent periods of time working in India since 1996, living there during 2017-18. Over the years his time in India has enabled him to combine his professional career with a passion for wildlife & wildlife conservation. He also supports the running and development of a school in the south of India, visiting 3-5 time per year, is a Trustee of a UK based charity which supports families with young children & is the Editor of a birdwatching magazine.During his 34 years of experience in HR and Management roles, and brings this experience to Tigers4Ever to particularly support the charity’s education, skills assessment, training & development objectives.
BARRY PAGE
TRUSTEE
Laura became a Trustee in March 2020. She's passionate about Art & Tigers. In December 2019, she used her Graphic Design skills to design a new modern Tigers4Ever logo which works across all platforms. Her artwork is also on T-Shirts in our online store. Volunteering gave her a taste for wild Tiger Conservation & adesire be a Trustee. She is developing educational resources for our younger followers in a hope they'll be the next generation of conservationists. She has a 1st Class BSc (Hons) in Forensic Science with Psychology & a lifelong passion for art. She's a keen photographer using her photos to inspire for her art. Laura says: “I'm willing to take on any challenge I'm set & will always finish it to the best of my ability & beyond if that's what is necessary. I don't give up. I'm ready to take on a challenge. The question is, are you willing to give me 1?” We said yes.LAURA LUPTON
TRUSTEE
Dan Joined Tigers4Ever as a Trustee in May 2020.
Dan is an experienced Category Manager, skilled in Market Analysis, Market Research and Project Management. He is an alumni of Coventry University with a degree in Economics where he developed a valuable foundation of business and statistical skills.Driven by a desire to make a change for the better, Dan has joined Tigers4Ever to help the charity to grow and so that we can work together to make a positive change to the wild tiger population.
Daniel Moldovan
TRUSTEE
Lyndon became a Tigers4Ever Trustee in May 2020 following his passion for wildlife conservation and, in particular, big cats. His background in his working life is focused on diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and has worked in the sport and third sector for the last 10 years. Lyndon has dedicated his professional career to all forms of social inclusion, working for governing bodies and professional leagues, in addition to running his own business supporting professional clubs and sporting bodies across the UK with inclusive marketing, social media, HR and compliance.Lyndon Roberts
TRUSTEE
OUR PATRONS
Martin Clowes became a Patron of Tigers4Ever on 04 March 2013. Lauren Maddox became Tigers4Ever’s second patron on 28 February 2017; Susan Fisher-Kaufman became Tigers4Ever's third Patron when she joined us on 14 August 2017. Martin Urch became our most recently appointed and fourth Patron when he joined us on 06 May 2020. You can discover more about about them all below.
Martin Clowes became a Tigers4Ever Patron in March 2013. Martin has worked in Animal welfare, conservation & rescue for the past 20 years. He is the founder of Jemima’s Place Animal Trust, which rescues & re-homes all manner of domestic, wild & large animals in the UK & Europe. He has a Degree in Raptor rescue, conservation & rehabilitation. In 2016, Martin launched the French & Pug Dog Foundation (FAPDF). The foundation rescues & re-homes Ex-breeding French bulldogs & Pug dogs, & dogs which have been imported illegally into the UK. Martin has a passion for big cats & their conservation. He has traveled regularly to Tsavo National Park in Kenya. Martin actively campaigns to stop the use of lions & tigers in “live shows” & circuses.
Martin uses his role as patron to Fundraise & promote Tigers4Ever through the highly successful “Pugfest” which he runs, all around the UK, with his son Robert Clowes; making many tv and radio appearances in that capacity. He’s looking forward to his first trip to India, in his role as patron, to see the work done by Tigers4Ever, himself.
www.laurenmaddox.co.uk
Lauren Maddox became Tigers4Ever’s second Patron on 28 February 2017.
Lauren has been an animal activist for over 10 years & first became a vegetarian when she was little, becoming a raw vegan about 13 years ago. She is the presenter of the documentary currently in production, called ‘Bearing Witness’, being filmed in Toronto, Canada, England, Europe & across the U.S. as well as Asia. Lauren is actively involved with the Save Movement whose groups have spread all across Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe with vigils to pay respect for the lives of thousands of farmed animals, such as pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits & fish, who are on their way to slaughter houses across the World. Lauren says “As you read these very words, genocide is taking place on a mass scale to so many species”. Lauren believes that we have to stand up for the innocent sentient beings who don’t have a voice & raising awareness on this as well as in relation to animals that are about to become killed, so as to become extinct, is what she is dedicating her life to.
Lauren uses film as a medium to help raise consciousness on the planet & so that everyone realises that all animals have a soul & must be treated the same as any other being. Lauren says “We are all one & must be treated that way, if there is ever to be peace in this world”. She will be acting in films such as ‘A Tiger’s Cry’, co-produced by Susan Fisher-Kaufman (which she is currently helping to raise investment funds for) & also writing, creating documentaries concerning animals who don’t have compassion shown to them & to draw light on those being killed or whom are being treated inhumanely. She will also do a documentary in 2019 about Cetaceans, Dolphins, Whales, Sea lions & turtles in the ocean & how they’re ill treated & get caught in nets – for her work as an Ambassador for Sea Shepherd, U.S.A.
Lauren is proud to have been chosen as a Patron for Tigers4Ever & hopes to create a documentary about our much needed aid & work to stop Tigers from being killed in Bandhavgarh, India. Poaching is bringing tiger numbers dangerously low & if it continues, they will become extinct. Lauren is looking forward to going out to India with Tigers4Ever in 2018 or 2019 to see the villages and to film their hard work.
Susan owns the copyright and is the Producer of a new film “A Tiger’s Cry” which documents the lives of a couple struggling to save wild tigers and their diminishing habitat spanning a period of over 70 years.
Susan is an entrepreneur who has results oriented experience in both corporate entities & film production in both the USA & globally.
Susan is also a long time campaigner for animal & human welfare, & has promoted her interests in these areas through a series of campaigns & fundraising initiatives.
Susan, like Tigers4Ever, believes that wild tigers deserve to have a wild future & has been interested in our wild tiger conservation efforts for some time. Susan will, through her role as Tigers4Ever Patron, promote the work being done by us to give wild tigers wild futures and raise awareness of the day to day threats facing wild tiger survival.
As a digital industry Executive with a global role, Martin visited Asia several times a year throughout the last decade. He knows people around India and has enjoyed opportunities to experience its culture within several States. In 2018, with a yearning to devote all of his time to fine-art photography and digital publishing, Martin resigned his job from a global corporation to found Martin Urch Photography — A philanthropist with a mission to document the natural world from new perspectives, showing life as an incredible journey.
Martin became involved with Tigers4Ever in December 2019 while researching a story about the people behind wild tiger conservation. He said “we often hear the stories about the poachers and the tigers which are killed, but we don’t really know what it is like for those who spend their lives keeping wild tigers safe”. Martin wanted to restore the balance. From that moment onwards, Martin’s passion for wild tigers and the work done to keep them safe in the wild grew.
In February 2020 Martin met our Bandhavgarh based project co-ordinators and representatives: Deepak Talan, Vidya Singh and three of our off duty anti-poaching patrollers. He also met some of the remarkable wild tigers which Tigers4Ever fights hard to keep safe, and had the opportunity to see some of our Bandhavgarh Forest projects — Notably our permanent wildlife waterholes.
Martin is passionate about photography and writing; he spends his days finding the balance between his commercial work and supporting environmental conservation. He lives by the sea in Hampshire, England, and is a Marine Ambassador to Secrets Of The Solent (SOTS). He is also a volunteer Warden and associate photographer for Wildgrounds Nature Reserve, which is a Hampshire designated site of Special Scientific Interest in recognition of its incredible natural importance.
Martin’s involvement with Tigers4Ever has continued to grow and he was invited to become an Ambassador in March 2020, which he gladly accepted. Then when the outbreak of COVID19 left almost everyone in Bandhavgarh without an income, he knew like we did that this would increase the pressure on wildlife from poachers and others who enter the forests to plunder scarce resources for income they so desperately need. Martin wanted to become actively involved in fundraising initiatives and raising awareness of our work. With this in mind, Tigers4Ever suggested that Martin should become our fourth Patron from May 2020.
Martin will help Tigers4Ever through his communications and photography, with profits from the sales his large fine art photographs of Bandhavgarh tigers donated to support our work. Furthermore, Martin will mobilise his networks to help raise awareness of our work and the plight of the wild tiger, whilst working with the Board of Trustees to find new avenues of support and project sponsorship.
AMBASSADORS
Pietro P.J. Danby became our first Ambassador in April 2019. You can discover more about him below.
Pietro P.J. Danby is from Long Island, New York and, in April 2019, became Tigers4Ever’s first Ambassador. Pietro is narrating the story of wild tiger Shashi, son of Bamera (Alpha male) and Rajbehra, tigers from Bandhavgarh, on social media. Shashi is a young tiger, and Pietro’s telling the story of his battle to survive as a wild tiger in a forest fraught with danger from humans and older male tigers in his quest to become an Alpha and find his own territory.
Pietro was inspired to be part of Tigers4Ever after playing Luke the Tiger, a “swamp tiger” from Bangladesh, for an Actors Equity project Pietro produced, directed and acted in to help Born Free USA. Born Free USA recognized Pietro’s work as Luke the Tiger and the whole ensemble’s work as educational and entertaining, because the actors really researched their animals.
After the show Pietro started talking with Tigers4Ever on social media about Luke and the captured white tiger Mohan of India that Luke was inspired by, along with the rescue tiger cub Kylo Ren of In-Sync Exotics Sanctuary in Wylie, Texas. Luke the Tiger knew tigers should be free, and sometimes good places helped tigers, but every tiger ideally should be born wild and free. Pietro symbolically adopted the Arharia male through Tigers4Ever’s MyTigerFriend scheme and was touched and impressed by the caring and detailed reports of the daily survival challenges for the tiger and the work being done to protect them. The idea to narrate Shashi’s story is inspired by Pietro’s writing and playing Luke the Tiger, and also by P-22 Mountain Lion of Hollywood, the mountain lion (aka puma/ghost cat) that lives in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park and is the face for the #SaveLACougars campaign to build a bridge in Liberty Canyon so mountain lions can cross the freeways safely to preserve genetic diversity whilst avoiding traffic deaths. Tigers in Bandhavgarh also need to stay safe.
In addition to the project for Born Free USA, Pietro created ensemble and solo theatre work with Indie theatre company Mississippi Mud Productions for its nine year lifespan after Pietro founded it in 2009. Pietro has a BA in Drama and Acting from UT Austin, an MA in Acting, and a Ph.D. in Theatre and Acting Studies from CUNY. Acting roles include original solo shows on Farrah Fawcett, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Sharon Tate (now a character in “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood,” starring Leo DiCaprio) that played in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. It earned the LA rave “a wonderful first-person trip down celluloid memory lane” and helped the four-star charity sanctuary Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida. In Pietro’s SAG-AFTRA New Media film projects that followed, “Sharon Tate in Heaven Super 8,” and “Sharon Talks,” a dog (in actuality) and a mountain lion (in spirit) are part of it.
As American Blond, and with the newly launched Purple Thor to make art, help animals, and help rock the vote in America, Pietro is working on a new solo project about another blond who loved animals, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. It will be a comedy with a serious side, honouring the integrity of Kurt’s music and life, and will help pumas and tigers. Kurt, like Pietro, started out as a drummer and Beatles fan who would learn their songs on guitar, so it blends music and acting as well as love for pumas and tigers. Pietro’s pronouns are He/They. Pietro’s drawings of baby and teen Shashi were made into limited edition T-Shirts and Hoodies by Tigers4Ever as part of the Global Tiger Day 2019 Celebrations and are available here. Pietro’s also a Thor and Captain America Marvel Geek and believes in the power of superhero love for animals. www.American-Blond.com.
Pietro produced “A day in the life of Shashi the Tiger” especially for Tigers4Ever to bring his story to the world on Global Tiger Day (29 July 2019). It can still be viewed here.
Over the next few months Pietro is producing a series of podcasts following Shashi the wild Tiger’s life and challenges for Tigers4Ever; the first of these was launched for Giving Tuesday (2019) and the lead up to Christmas. You can also listen to these podcasts on Anchor, Apple and Spotify.