Alliance for Human Animal Coexistence

08/30/2026

Update from Our Center in Kenya! 🐘 🌍 🌻 🦋

 (1) For the last few months our Elephant Guardians have been conducting their regular daily and nightly patrols to deter elephants from predating crops in the villages surrounding our Center, allowing all farmers to successfully harvest their crops at the end of July. Thanks to the human-elephant conflict reduction strategies of the Guardians, elephants invaded less than 3% of farms across the whole location, down from almost 90% in previous years, and for the fifth consecutive rainy season most farmers harvested nearly 100% of their surviving crops.

(2) Since June 2026 to date, we have received and oil pressed a total of 3500 kilos of sunflower and produced 950 litres of sunflower oil. We are still the only operational sunflower oil press in the county region. In September, using funds accrued from the oil press operations, we will purchase 1000 kilos of sunflower seeds from the to provide to the farmers participating in this project.

(3) The next anti-rabies campaign for Kasigau location will take place on 4th, 5th and 6th of September 2026 and cover all 14 villages in the location. All the necessary drugs and consumables have been procured. The exercise will be done as a partnership between AHAC and a Kenyan non-profit called VetsInWild.

(4) From 14th July to 7th August, AHAC’s Center hosted a total of 152 British teenagers visiting the Kasigau community as part of Camps International, who organized them to volunteer in deworming livestock, painting local schools, building a water tank, and supporting local women's groups of basket weavers.

(5) The Center recently benefited from a series of substantial operational and infrastructural improvements in order to comply with government hospitality standards. These included new paintwork and fire extinguishing equipment, new stone paths to reduce safety risks and connect all the buildings, new garden seats, and an increase in water storage capacity to 87,000 litres, allowing us to harvest rainwater during the forthcoming rainy season.

If you're interested in visiting our Center in Kenya get in touch with us at [email protected]!

08/08/2026

Over the last month key partners and stakeholders in the Africa Animal Law Collaborative (AALC) - a joint initiative being led by the Center for Animal Law Studies (CALS) and AHAC in collaboration with Lawyers for Animal Protection Africa (LAPA) and Animal Law Reform South Africa (ALRSA) - have had the opportunity to convene in person for a series of conferences and strategic gatherings across Africa and in the UK. At the AVA Summit in Ghana, we convened CALS alumni for a dinner to begin identifying gaps in resources for alumni and map out key stakeholders to help strengthen animal law advocacy on the continent. In Kenya, we convened our core partners to think through how to operationalize the AALC’s central objectives while staying anchored in our guiding values. At the Animal Ethics Summer School in Oxford, we had the chance to learn from leading global animal lawyers and identity opportunities to create synergies and collaborations that connect global legal animal advocacy with Afro-centric and country specific efforts. This in-person time together has been invaluable and has allowed us to take steps to concretize the collaborative in a way that’s rooted in friendship, dedication, and shared purpose. If you’re an African animal advocate working to use the levers of the law on behalf of animals, stay tuned for new opportunities to get involved and have your work supported by the AALC through our forthcoming animal-law focused grant opportunities! 🌱🌍

07/28/2026

We are grateful that much of our team has had the opportunity to be together in this past month, and in addition to all the strategic and programmatic progress made, this in-person time has provided an opportunity for reaffirming and clarifying relationships.

are at the heart of everything we do at AHAC. Where healthy relationships exist, life can flourish. Where unhealthy relationships are allowed to take root, things break down. This is true across all dimensions of life and at every level of our shared coexistence: the biological, ecological, sociological, interpersonal.

That’s why we’re so grateful to have such deep and healthy friendships at the center of our work, and we just wanted to take a moment to thank all of those whose friendship, collegiality, and collaboration make this work not only possible, but joyful!

Stay tuned for updates on new AHAC projects, grant opportunities, and collaborations that have emerged from this time together! 🌍🌱🦋

“Nature has catenated together organic beings in a state of reciprocity, and as such made them mutually dependent on each other for their existence, and all of them dependent upon light.” - Humphrey Davy☀️

07/09/2026

We are back in Tanzania this month with an amazing team of volunteers from North America working together with our local partners Meru Animal Welfare Organization (MAWO) and Education for African Animal Welfare (EAAW) to bring otherwise inaccessible veterinary care and vaccinations to thousands of dogs, cats, and donkeys across Arusha and Singida. This collaboration began in 2022 and has continued every year since, and together we have been able to dramatically improve the health and welfare of the animals in these communities.

Not only do these trips tangibly advance human-animal coexistence and one health, they also provide opportunities for cross-cultural exchanges and points of learning and reciprocity between our team of volunteers and the local people we work with as a team to facilitate the clinics. Every child that witnesses the compassionate handling of an animal; every participant that walks away with a new curiosity for the cultural practices of Indigenous African communities; every animal marked as being vaccinated for rabies that would otherwise be killed inhumanely if suspected - are all positive steps in the direction of kindness and deeper understanding of our relationships to each other, other animals, and the environment.

We facilitate these trips with the intention to offer a way of traveling and experiencing the wonders of Africa in a way that simultaneously support the needs and well being of local people and animals. We are so grateful to our team this year and to everyone who has contributed to making this collaboration such a success.

If this sounds like an experience you’d be interested in, get in touch with us at [email protected] to join our wait list for next year!

07/02/2026

We are happy to share the latest article our blog series, Critical Perspectives on Coexistence, titled ‘Action Towards a Shared Moral & Ecological Community: Reimagining Coexistence in Africa’: 🌍 🐘 🦋 🌱 https://www.humananimalcoexistence.org/blog/action-towards-a-shared-moral-amp-ecological-community-reimagining-coexistence-in-africa

The piece was co-authored by our close friends, colleagues, and members of our regranting committee, Dr Mwenda Mbaka and Tozie Zokufa, alongside our CEO and co-founder Katherine Baxter, Ph.D. Baxter. They write:

“Across Africa and beyond, conversations on animal welfare, conservation, food systems, resilience, and regenerative development are increasingly converging. What once appeared to be distinct and unrelated challenges are now revealing themselves as interconnected manifestations of a deeper crisis being witnessed in the gradual erosion of humanity's relationship with the living world.

At the , we are often engrossed in discussions and interventions on issues as diverse as the donkey skin trade, , industrial livestock production, biodiversity loss, invasive species management, aquatic animal welfare, and the preservation of indigenous ecological knowledge. While each issue presents unique challenges, they share a common thread. They arise from development models that increasingly treat animals, ecosystems, and even human communities as commodities rather than as interconnected participants in a shared ecological system.

The growing recognition and inability to deny the reality of these invites a fundamental question: What kind of relationship should humanity have with animals and the ecosystems upon which all life depends?

We believe the answer lies in advancing a vision of a Shared Moral and Ecological Community.

You can read the full article here: https://www.humananimalcoexistence.org/blog/action-towards-a-shared-moral-amp-ecological-community-reimagining-coexistence-in-africa

06/24/2026

Our Kenya team continues to demonstrate that people, wildlife, and nature can thrive together through community-led conservation. Here are five recent highlights:

1. Elephant Guardians: Since 1 April 2026, daily patrols have protected over 2,500 farms across eight villages, helping farmers harvest 99% of their crops while significantly reducing

2. Elephants & Sunflowers: More than 450 farmers planted sunflowers this season using free seeds from AHAC. Since launching in 2023 with just 40 farmers, the program has grown to 950+ participants and is expected to produce 10 metric tonnes of Elephant  cooking oil by September.

3. Pollinator Garden: Launched in April 2026, this program trains local communities in ethical butterfly and beekeeping enterprises, has already identified 25 butterfly and moth , and aims to establish a butterfly house by year-end.

4. Community Elephant Monitoring: In June 2026, AHAC launched Kenya's first community-led elephant monitoring program, strengthening local stewardship while creating opportunities for research and .

5. Animal Welfare: Following two years of annual vaccination and clinics, the Centre has recorded no reported inhumane dog killings linked to suspected rabies a significant milestone for animal welfare in the region.

Together, these initiatives are improving livelihoods, protecting wildlife, and building a future where people and nature coexist.

06/17/2026

We are pleased to announce the successful recipients of our latest grant round, selected by an expert Africa-based regranting committee from a highly competitive pool of innovative proposals. The grants support locally driven initiatives that advance the interconnected well-being of people, animals, and the environment across Africa.

This funding round focused on "Coexistence, Creatively," recognizing that coexistence is not only a scientific and policy issue but also a cultural and social one. The selected projects stood out for their creative use of the arts and community engagement to foster harmonious coexistence, and we look forward to the meaningful impact they will create across the continent.

(1) Pwani Animal Welfare (PAW Mombasa): https://pawmombasa.co.ke/
Project Title: Urban Coexistence in Practice: Humane Care for Free-Roaming Cats in Mombasa through Youth Storytelling

(2) Ethical Seafood Research (ESR): https://www.ethicalseafoodresearch.org
Project Title: Water Remembers: Intergenerational Stories of Coexistence with Aquatic Animals in East Africa

(3) LoveDogs 360 FOUNDATION: https://lovebirds.co.ke/
Project Title: Mbwa Rafiki Show: A Community Storytelling & Dialogue Platform to Advance Human–Dog Coexistence

(4) ENDANGERED WILDLIFE CONSERVATION ORGANIZATION (EWCO) Uganda: https://ewco.org.ug/
Project Title: Stories of Coexistence: Using Indigenous Narratives and Creative Arts to Strengthen Human–Lion Coexistence in Uganda.

(5) Tom Ro Haven for Equines and Children: https://www.tomrohaven.org.za/
Project title: Healing Horses While Helping Women

(6) GYG Project Foundation; https://gygproject.org/
Project Title: ART FOR ANIMALS

Stay tuned for the call for our next round of applications with a special thematic focus on animal-law initiatives across the African continent! ⚖️ 🌍

Center for Animal Law Studies Lawyers for Animal Protection in Africa ( ), Animal Law Reform South Africa(

06/02/2026

We had the privilege of attending the .intl Summit in Toronto last week, a valuable opportunity to reconnect with fellow animal advocates, engage with stakeholders advancing protection across Africa, and explore partnerships to advance shared goals.

We are grateful for the conversations and for being part of this collective effort alongside Thrive Philanthropy, Animal Advocacy Africa, Tailored Food, Animal Charity Evaluators, Animal Ask, Mercy for Animals, ProVeg International, and many others.

As both a funder and an implementer, we approached AVA with a commitment to honesty and humility. We welcomed feedback on our own work and encouraged grantees to share not only their successes, but also the challenges and setbacks they encounter. Meaningful change in the complex between humans and animals is rarely linear, and progress is often difficult to measure.

This openness to learning, adaptation, and occasional failure is central to our grant making approach and lies at the heart of our Seeds & Possibilities program.

Some seeds emerge quickly, while others require more time and care. At AHAC, we believe it is better to create space for honest reflection than to incentivize false certainty or superficial results. We hope more funders will embrace this mindset and celebrate humility, transparency, and learning as essential ingredients for lasting impact.

Our thanks to the AVA organizing team and everyone who made the summit so worthwhile. We look forward to continuing these conversations at AVA Ghana in July.

Unifying the well-being of people, animals, and the environment.

05/22/2026

Our sincere gratitude to everyone who came out to help us celebrate one year of the Alliance for Human Animal Coexistence in Denver this past week! https://www.humananimalcoexistence.org/campaigns/view-campaign/RVjnBorHXveIKJCU4s1XzcPg8uhtCFR2ICXfDAEF0nHPpGnh6uPI7uBaPBF9vGEHxfqr0XqlHi-XK1IdUR9vQdUDdQB4lCTa

Over this last week we’ve had the pleasure of hosting some of our Kenyan colleagues here in Denver for a series of events that brought more than 100 people together from across North America and around the world to celebrate one year since the official launch of the Alliance for Human Animal Coexistence. Thanks to the generosity of more than 50 individual donors and members of this community, we were able to mobilize over $18,000 USD, while building community and a sense of shared purpose around our vision to unify the well being of people, animals, and the environment. We are deeply humbled and grateful for everyone who took part in making these events such a success, especially our amazing board members and the event organizing committee.

The ‘Sundowner’ theme of the events, which is an African tradition in which safarists assemble together to reflect and share stories of their journey and encounters in the African wild, was intended to invite people to think about the role of stories in our lives and in our relationships to the living world. Stories are central to what it means to be human because they frame human experience and beliefs. But human beings are not merely story tellers; our lives are an embodied narrative that unfolds over time. Our life stories manifest our values, our hopes, our fears, and even our dreams. So over the course of the last week, we asked the members of the AHAC community to consider: what stories do you want to be a part of? What stories do you want to tell with your life?

At AHAC we believe that our world, and all of us as individuals who care deeply for it, desperately need hopeful stories that bring to light what’s possible when committed people from around the globe come together and draw upon what they have to create positive change that upholds our moral obligations to each other, other animals, and the natural world

05/11/2026

Join us for the AHAC sundowner Auction & Launch Event on May 14th in Denver, Colorado for an inspiring evening dedicated to advancing human, animal, and environmental coexistence.

Enjoy an unforgettable sundowner experience featuring signature cocktails, delicious bites, powerful stories from our Kenyan partners, and an opportunity to connect with a community passionate about conservation and coexistence.

We also invite you to participate in our exclusive auction in support of AHAC’s mission:
https://ahac.betterworld.org/auctions/Sundowner

Your support helps strengthen projects that promote the well-being of people, animals, and the environment.

Reserve your tickets and learn more:
https://ahac.betterworld.org/events/alliance-human-animal-coexistenc

All are welcome.