Fighting Wildlife Crime: "Poaching Is Stealing From All of Us." | National Geographic

We do get captivated by media, by the attention drawn to other countries, to the big animals that are being slaughtered by poachers.

We do forget that we have the same problems going on in our backyards. Whenever, uh, we see a deer laying in a field that's been killed in the middle of the night, with its antlers cut off, it makes you sick.

But I think we forget how often it happens here, how often it happens around us. In those times when there's a conviction, when the poacher is brought to Justice, I feel like we've all been able to speak for the ones that can't be heard, for the animals, for the ones that have been taken illegally.

Because it's stealing from all of us. When a poacher kills an animal, they have stolen from every single one of us. I keep doing this job because I believe in it, because I believe it's the right thing to do.

And because someday I want my children to be able to say, “My mom did what she believed in. She pushed hard, and she gave it everything she had.”

And I've had a good time. I love my job.