Global Anti-Poaching Experts to Speak at NRA Show in Indy

Poaching may be the single greatest threat to hunting worldwide. If you’re a hunter and headed to the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits, Apr. 26-28, or you just want information straight from the front lines on the global poaching crisis, set your sights on the NRA’s free show seminar “Fighting Poaching: How the Hunting Community Can Stem the Tide” at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis on Sat., Apr. 27, Room 234, from 1-3 p.m. Presented by the NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum website, NRAHLF.org, and set for live-streaming on American Hunter’s Facebook page, the two-hour Q&A session will highlight valuable information on the complexity of the poaching problem.

As animal rights extremists deliberately label poaching as hunting and poachers as hunters, nationally and internationally known panelists and seminar speakers with “boots on the ground” experience in fighting the war on poaching will report on the plight of wildlife targeted by the global poaching syndicate. Learn what American hunters can do to promote the facts about hunting and how hunters’ dollars help to fund anti-poaching units. Understand how hunters can use increased support for anti-poaching operations to change global perceptions about hunters and hunting. Learn what anti-poaching units do to investigate and ultimately prosecute poachers. Hear what hunters can do to assist with anti-poaching efforts in America and abroad, and more.  

Valuable assets in efforts to combat poaching and in addressing the illegal trade of elephant ivory and rhino horn, the lineup includes:

BILLY BIRDZELL
A U.S. Marine Corps infantry officer, U.S. Special Operations team leader and author, Birdzell now specializes in training anti-poaching units in Africa and getting America’s Special Operations veterans to assist with anti-poaching operations.

JOHN BORKOVICH
An occasional contributor to the NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum website, NRAHLF.org, Borkovich is an award-winning, accredited wildlife conservation officer and author.

COL. CRAIG BODDINGTON, USMC Reserves, Ret.
Internationally known outdoor writer and wildlife conservationist, author of dozens of books and hundreds of articles, Boddington is an anti-poaching activist, particularly relating to African big game.

IVAN CARTER
Carter is an African professional hunter, wildlife conservationist, writer and world-renowned TV host of “Carter’s W.A.R.” on the Outdoor Channel. A native of Zimbabwe, he is on the front lines in Africa fighting poaching and promoting wildlife conservation issues continentwide.

CATHERINE SEMCER
A regular contributor to the NRA Hunters' Leadership Forum website, NRAHLF.org, Semcer is a worldwide speaker and debater on hunting issues, has vast experience in fighting poaching in Africa through work as a professional wildlife conservationist with H.O.P.E. (Humanitarian Operations Protecting Elephants) and as a research fellow with the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC).

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear from these A-list speakers as they take questions from the moderators and the crowd. Moderated by Ward “Trig” French, co-chair of the NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum (alongside NRA First Vice President Richard Childress) who serves in leadership roles for multiple hunting-related organizations, and Karen Mehall Phillips, editor of NRAHLF.org, founding editor of America’s First Freedom and Woman’s Outlook, and senior editor of American Hunter, the seminar is set to engage the audience and provide several takeaways.

In the words of co-moderator Ward French, “If successful, the audience will recognize the complexity of the problem, the inability to apply a fix-all solution and that the collective hunting community has an obligation to apply ... all available methods to stem the scourge of poaching.”

Follow NRA Hunters' Leadership Forum on Twitter @HuntersLead.