Stefanie Powers’ professional career in films, television and theater
began at age 15, but her love and protection of animals goes back to her
first recollection and earliest memory. Her mother provided her with a
stepfather who raised thoroughbred racehorses and who collected the odd
exotic animal to dot around the stud farm or to rescue from an
undesirable fate. Thus, she grew up surrounded by animals of all
descriptions.
Later
Stefanie found a baby Malaysian Sun Bear for sale in a pet shop in West
Hollywood and, convinced that he would fall into the wrong hands, she
"rescued" him, thus opening the doors to the world of wildlife,
veterinarians, collectors, protectors and conservationists. But it was
through her long relationship with actor/conservationist, William
Holden, whose many years in Kenya motivated his conservation
activities—long before the notion of conservation was embraced by
popular culture. Through Holden’s work as co-creator of the Mount
Kenya Game Ranch several East African species have managed to escape
extinction by on site captive breeding and by export to zoos and
zoological parks in Europe and North America. After his death, Stefanie,
along with Holden’s former partners, created the William Holden Wildlife
Foundation (a U.S.-based public charity) in an effort to carry on with
his dream of an education program as a back up to the species
conservation ongoing at the game ranch. (Now the Mount Kenya Wildlife
Conservancy.) Today, the Foundation’s Education Center offers
conservation programs appropriate to the local population and serves
well over 10,000 students per year. In addition, the Foundation operates
a rural outreach program providing libraries and field installations at
rural schools that involve over 2,000 students and their families.
Stefanie Powers is a Fellow of the Los Angeles Zoo and formerly served
on its board, she is also a former member of the advisory board of the
Zoo Atlanta and the Columbus Zoo. She has received many awards for her
work with WHWF as well as her work with Dr Biruté
Galdikas (The Orangutan Foundation), Dr. Betsy Dresser (Center for the
Reproduction of Endangered Wildlife - Audubon Zoo, New Orleans), Karen
Sussman (International Society for the Protection of Burros and
Mustangs) and Grace Belcnore (California Equine Retirement Foundation
for rehabilitation of retired racehorses). Ms. Powers is a frequent
keynote speaker for causes dear to her heart such as Farm Sanctuary
(humane treatment for farmed animals), and the Bushmeat Crisis (alerting
and uniting people to the effects of over-exploitation of forests in
Africa and the world and its disastrous effect on wildlife). She has
been honored by venerable Explorers Club with its Lowell Thomas Award
for her conservation efforts and received a Fellowship to the Royal
Geographic Society.
In addition, a
ground-breaking opportunity arrived with Jaguar Motor Company of North
America in 2003 when Ms. Powers was appointed Conservation Consultant
offering her an opportunity to create the by-laws for the Jaguar
Conservation Trust, a full spectrum conservation program for the Jaguar
cat. This marks
the first time in
motor industry history that an automobile company has dedicated itself
to the preservation of the very species from which it derives its name.
The Trust awards annual grants to organizations that preserve protect
and propagate the jaguar, and Ms. Powers, working with judges in each
country, selects the winners. She is also involved in Jaguar’s parent
Ford Motor Company’s efforts to save the wild mustang and is on the
advisory board of the newly-formed Vanishing Herds Foundation in India,
whose primary effort is the protection and preservation of the Gujarat
Asiatic lion population dangerously in peril of extinction.
It is
safe and accurate to say that Stefanie Powers leads a double life, one
in front of the camera or on a stage and one in absolute dedication to
the preservation of animals and the natural world. |