Girl jumps off El Capitan, but you'll never guess why

September 30, 2015

Tesia Bobrycki jumped off Yosemite’s El Capitan in to stop crimes committed in the name of conservation. © Edwin Bobrycki/ Survival 2015

This page was created in 2015 and may contain language which is now outdated.

Ahead of Yosemite National Park’s 125th anniversary on Thursday, Survival’s Tesia Bobrycki launched herself off the iconic El Capitan monolith to stop crimes committed in the name of conservation – dangling 3000ft in the air supported only by a rope.

Moved by her first-hand observations of tribal peoples who were evicted from their lands in the name of conservation, Tesia said,

“I love Yosemite. But my love for the place does not excuse the fact that Native Americans were violently evicted or killed when it was created. And it does not excuse the fact that parks around the world now follow its example – from Cameroon to Botswana to India.

“If we continue to destroy tribes, we’ll continue to destroy nature, and we’ll continue to destroy our future. Together, we can create a new conservation.”

Watch the film:
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Tesia is raising awareness of Survival International’s Stop the Con campaign for a conservation model that respect tribal peoples. Read Tesia’s story here.

Maasai
Tribe

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