Richard Leakey to Speak at Grand Opening

To commemorate the opening of the Draper Museum of Natural History at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Richard Leakey spoke at the Donor Dinner on June 2, 2002 and also gave a public lecture at the Cody High School auditorium on June 3, 2002. Leakey participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Grand Opening of the Draper Museum of Natural History on June 4, 2002.

Richard Leakey has always utilized his great talents for organizing and inspiring others. "I am not much given to reflection," he states. "I like to get things done." ¹

"Get things done" best describes Leakey's mantra over the last 30-years of his career. Leakey has achieved international recognition as a successful, influential, inspirational and controversial figure in paleoanthropology, African politics and world conservation. He served his native country of Kenya as a senior government official, a member of parliament, an opposition political activist, a conservationist, an administrator, a museum director, a scientific researcher, an author and a farmer.

The second of Dr. Louis and Mary Leakey's three sons, Richard declared a complete disinterest in paleoanthropology (the study of human origins) at an early age. While his parents were unearthing ancient hominid fossils at Olduvai Gorge, Leakey was spending his time observing and tracking Africa's rich diversity of wildlife. After leaving high school at 17, he began a career working with wildlife and leading a photographic safari company.

Inevitably, he found himself drawn to the family business of paleoanthropology, and in turn, made some of the most significant early human fossil discoveries of the 20th century. In 1968, Leakey, then only 23, was hired as director of the National Museum of Kenya. During his 21-year tenure, it became one of the most respected museums in Africa.

In 1989, Leakey, a lifelong critic of the mismanagement of Kenya's wildlife, was appointed director of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) by President Daniel arap Moi. Before Leakey took over the KWS, armed poachers, supplying the international markets for ivory in Europe, the United States and Asia, had in a few short years reduced the elephant herds in Kenya's parks and reserves by more than 85%. Leakey tirelessly campaigned for passage of the worldwide ban on the ivory trade, which went into effect in 1990. Leakey's term at the KWS was interrupted when his plane crashed in 1993 (still unexplained) claiming both of his legs. The following year, Leakey resigned his post, declaring that government corruption had undermined the KWS.

In 1995 Leakey joined forces with a small group of Kenyans to establish Safina, a political party created to unify the opposition in Kenya. Despite constant government-sponsored verbal and physical attacks, Leakey continued to fight against a system he considered oppressive and self-defeating.

In 1998, at the request of the Kenyan government, Leakey returned to Kenya Wildlife Service, salvaging it from bankruptcy. The following year, President Moi appointed Leakey Head of the Civil Service and Secretary of the Cabinet where he worked closely on a number of national issues, including Kenya's response to HIV/AIDS, privatization of state owned enterprises and the reduction of poverty.

Although subjected to beatings, death threats, and constant government surveillance, Leakey has continued his crusade for political justice. Unfortunately, major differences between Leakey and the Kenyan government on matters of policy and priority led to Leakey's resignation in early 2001.

Richard Leakey, as one of the foremost authorities on wildlife and nature conservation, continues to educate people around the world about the dangers of environmental degradation through his lectures and books. His most recent work Wildlife Wars: My Fight to Save Africa's Natural Treasures (2001) relates his work with the Kenya Wildlife Service, the eradication of elephant poaching and the ban on international trade in ivory.

Additionally, Leakey was profiled on 60 Minutes and included in TIME Magazine as one of the "Century's 100 Greatest Minds."

1. "Interview with Richard Leakey", The Guardian (October 9, 2001).