One very meaningful day in Bryansky Les nature reserve with the Herd of Joy. These are eight horses of Laura Williams, the founder and the first director of WWF Russia, who suddenly passed away last year.
I happened to know Laura – not really close, but we met in person and had a couple of conversations. She had a really unbelievable life. Born in Colorado, USA and graduated from Cornell University, she decided to move to Russia to help saving our nature. In early 90's when almost nobody in the whole country seemed to care about the nature. When life we'd known before collapsed and crime was literally everywhere.
After few years in WWF she decided to get closer to nature and moved to a little village Chukhrai in the heart of Bryansky Les. That's where we are now, walking with her horses and discussing ideas with her husband, the founder of the nature reserve, famous wildlife photographer and blogger Igor Shpilenok, who few years ago inspired me to get into the world of wild nature.
Last several years Laura became really passionate about hippotherapy. She got her own herd, started to work with different groups (from people who just needed a break to children sick with cancer) and shown some real progress. A year ago she died from unfortunate accident in the age of 58.
WWF Russia in still trying to save our nature (for 25 years now). Horses are still trying to help people. Of course, much less often now, cause there are only a couple of coaches able to perform such trainings who can come once in a while, and they, of course, have their own businesses. But... well, at least, us they helped.
