Jonathan “Jon” Yob, based in Tampa, Florida, has built and grown a series of successful investment companies over the decades. The principal of JAY Management Corporation, Jonathan Yob additionally directs the work of the Yob Family Foundation (YFF), which addresses crucial needs in the areas of conservation, social welfare, and arts and culture.
Many aspects of the YFF’s conservation-related charitable giving focus on animal welfare. One of its recent projects involved teaming with Veterans Empowered to Protect African Wildlife, or VETPAW, to safeguard the continent’s endangered and threatened species from poachers, as well as from criminal enterprises engaged in the destruction of African animals to sell their body parts on international markets. Poachers and traffickers typically target intelligent large mammal species such as gorillas, rhinos, and elephants.
One grim statistic: some 30,000 African elephants are slaughtered by poachers every year. Fewer than half a million of the animals remain alive today, despite a more than 30-year international ban on the cross-border ivory trade. Additionally, rhinos continue to be hunted for their horns, which, like ivory, find eager buyers on the black market.
Started by a former United States Marine who saw the hideous work of poachers in Africa firsthand, VETPAW marshals the can-do attitudes of military veterans to stem this seemingly ever-flowing tide. The organization’s most notable efforts include training African park rangers to combat poaching and preserve species.
