Who are the people behind SAVE? Most of you probably know our team. Equally important are our sponsors and patrons that believe in SAVE and support our projects. And for that, they deserve our special thanks. Here we would like to introduce these special people in no particular order. We begin with the “caretaker of the hyenas”.

“They have a bite that we humans can only dream of”, says Franz Weiß, dental technician and managing director of the Society for Tooth Health, Functionality and Aesthetics (Gesellschaft für Zahngesundheit, Funktion und Ästhetik - GZFA).

To Franz Weiß it’s almost unbelievable that some people may find hyenas ugly or scary. “I've always been fascinated by animals, their complex social behaviour and their very strong urge to survive. While I was travelling with my wife and sons in Africa, I was impressed by the striking call of the animals at sundown.”

Therefore, he was delighted to take over the patronage of the SAVE programme. He followed with great interest the reports on field research conducted by a young biologist Torsten Bohm, which is actively supported by the foundation's founder Lars Gorschlüter.

Torsten has begun his studies in Gabon and has expanded his scientific research on spotted hyenas to the Congo. Awareness-raising among local communities is an important component of the project, because only then can biodiversity be maintained. The latest pictures of spotted hyenas from the camera trap that Franz Weiß received via email were a wonderful recognition of his commitment. ”Ever since I was a child the nature of African wildlife has filled me with great enthusiasm. Perhaps the reason why I am particularly fond of the hyena is because of the myths that have grown up around these animals. It makes me happy that I can now make my contribution to the preservation of hyenas that have already disappeared in many African countries“.

But Franz Weiß would like to do more to help predators: Each of his African travels has made him more aware of potential sources of threats and dangers that predators are exposed to: shooting or poisoning and increasing habitat loss are among a few. Thus he decided to support other SAVE projects such as the Hyena Research Project in the Congo and Botswana, including the lion and wild dog conservation program. But first he wanted to understand better the predator protection work and therefore he visited in the summer of 2011 the SAVE lion and wild dog researchers in Botswana. “Here I have seen all the works and efforts that are done by the researches in order to give endangered animals in the wild a greater chance at survival”, so I just wish more people out there could see this work and support it. I try to attract new sponsors for these important projects on the new web portal zirkon.de.

The idea that his generation is perhaps the last to experience a fascinating African wilderness is unbearable to him. “I want my children and maybe one day my grandchildren to have a chance to feel shivers when hearing the howl of a hyena or blood-curdling roar of the lion. But I also know that I must necessarily do something about it right now!”