Deborah attends Disney's African Cats premier in aid of Tusk

On Wednesday 25th April 2012, Deborah attended Disneynature's African Cats UK Premiere along with guests of honour TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Filmed in Kenya’s Masai Mara region from August 2008 to October 2010, “African Cats” follows a pride of lions and a family of cheetahs in the savanna. British actor Sir Patrick Stewart narrates the documentary, which is directed by Keith Scholey (”Big Cat Diary”) and Alastair Fothergill (”Earth,” ‘’Deep Blue”).

The event was held at the British Film Institute on London’s Southbank, and served as a charity fundraiser for Tusk. “It’s what we call an ‘integrated approach’ to conservation,” said Charlie Mayhew, the charity’s chief executive. “It’s really that integration that has drawn Prince William as our patron. It’s something that he believes passionately in, and tonight’s premiere of ‘African Cats’ just gives us an opportunity to communicate that onto the global stage.”

Scholey and Fothergill said keeping track of the stars in “African Cats” was a substantial task. *“The most challenging (part) was actually to stay with our cats for a whole two year period,” Scholey said. “These are wild animals, they can go wherever they want, and we had to stay with the same characters, so that was quite hard.”

Deborah became a Patron and Special Advisor to Tusk in 2010. In an article written for the Tusk newsletter, after a visit to Africa to visit several Tusk projects, Deborah wrote “we saw that through Tusk and the amazing people it works with that there is a deep understanding of the local issues and that the future lies with the protection of the wildlife through its people. We saw how the Tusk projects guide and encourage these people. We left Africa with a head stuffed full of sights, smells and sounds but more importantly, we left Africa with more hope than we’d arrived with.”

To read more about Deborah’s trip to Kenya with Tusk click here

To learn about the Tusk click here to visit their page on this website or click here to visit the Tusk website.