Richard Leakey made headlines around the world in 1989 when a stockpile of 12 tons of ivory was burned in Nairobi National Park. This media event was orchestrated by Leakey, then Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service, to raise awareness of the massive poaching problem from which Kenya was suffering at the time, and to demonstrate the resolution of his department in ending this crisis. Photo credit: Bob Campbell.
Richard Leakey and his efforts to prevent wildlife poaching in East Africa will be the subject of an upcoming movie directed by Angelina Jolie and based on a script by Eric Roth, who won an Academy Award for his work on the movie Forrest Gump.
More information can be found at the following sources:
