African Wildlife & Environment Issue 78

ECO HERO

Petri’s involvement in wildlife recently extended to placing cameras at Crowned Eagle and Bat Hawk nests. He loved flying and seriously took up Radio Controlled flying, and skillfully flew drones and RC gliders. His different passions dovetailed. He loved to watch the eagles catch thermals and would send his gliders where the eagles were.

embarked on 'Operation Prevail' (I think it was called) and people had to reapply for their posts. Petri decided to take early retirement and started his consulting business. Petri then worked as an independent wildlife consultant for the next 20 years. He worked all over Africa, and even in China. His projects included research, monitoring and management projects, species and reserve management plans, safari hunting protocols, wildlife introductions and relocations, problem animal control, sustainable resource utilisation, MoU negotiations, and protected area management plans.

Setting up a camera at a Bat Hawk nest

He may have turned 70 this year, but he still pursued new hobbies and leisure activities with great enthusiasm … like getting a mountain bike during lockdown. So much so that an old 'madala' asked him what his secret was to staying young? A glass of red wine every evening, and a good wife (in that order!). A toast to Petri. I know that the thing I want is exactly the thing I can never get. The old life, the jokes, the drinks, the arguments, the lovemaking, the tiny, heartbreaking commonplace. There is some comfort in knowing that Petri went doing something he loved.

He conducted both aerial and ground wildlife surveys in South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire, and Tanzania. He finally clocked up more than 8 000 hours’ experience as pilot, observer, and data recorder. His other project work in Africa included research monitoring and management projects, species and reserve management plans, safari hunting protocols, wildlife introductions and relocations, problem animal control, sustainable resource utilisation, MoU negotiations, and protected area management plans. Of particular interest were the four years he worked as Executive Director for Save China’s Tigers where the rewilding of the endangered South China tigers and protected area investigations were his main focus. He travelled to China on several occasions and liaised with government departments on a regular basis. In the photograph Petri on the left is taking a ‘selfie’ during an aerial survey of the Ivory Coast’s Comoë National Park. The pilot is a Frenchman named Didier Cornut. Others in aircraft unknown. Photo courtesy of Ian Whyte.

Petri with radio-controlled glider, Milibangalala

53 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 78 (2021)