Maya Higa at the Alveus Studio, live on Twitch
EDITOR’S NOTE: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.
When Blake Korengold, a 17-year-old high school senior in Santa Barbara, California, played back the footage from the motion-activated trail camera, he was astonished by what he saw: a mountain lion, one of the area’s most elusive predators.
In late 2025, he had installed three devices around the city’s Museum of Natural History with support from its TEENature research program, which is led by young people, hoping to document the wildlife slipping through the grounds at night. The museum used the footage for research, but also for educational videos inside the museum, and an outreach campaign on social media targeting teenagers.
Pictured is the iconic image of P-22, the mountain lion that Winter took using a camera trap in Los Angeles. The photo captured the hearts of local residents and helped catapult the movement to build the world’s largest wildlife corridor across the 10-lane Highway 101 to connect two important stretches of wild habitat in the region. Scroll through the gallery to see more.
How a celebrity cat inspired the construction of the world’s largest wildlife corridor
6 min read“People are freaked out about mountain lions, and it is because they don’t know much about how close we are to them,” Korengold told CNN. “But I’m hoping that this footage will make society feel more connected to wildlife and care for it … As well as provide a voice of reason for concerned neighbors.”
A mountain lion captured by Blake Korengold’s trail camera project around Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
Young people are often portrayed as addicted to screens and disconnected from nature. Research presented to the UK government found that almost a quarter of young people use their smartphones “in a way that is consistent with a behavioral addiction.” A 2021 report by nonprofit Common Sense Media found that 13- to 18-year-olds in the US spend about eight and a half hours on screens daily.
“We spend too much time indoors and have grown too complacent in the status quo that the pandemic brought on,” Korengold said.
But for the high schooler, being digital natives is precisely what could help his generation develop a commitment to conservation.
Craving the real thing
As an answer to doomscrolling, AI-generated videos and contrived content, Korengold wants “things to be unequivocally real,” he said. “I think trail cams and livestreams can help unlock that emotional connection with the outside world.”
Camera traps — motion-activated devices that are used to capture images of wildlife — have been used by researchers since the 19th century to monitor populations, track migration and study behavior. Along with their modern cousin, the wildlife livestream, they’ve gained popularity among Gen Z.
A 2022 global survey by market research company Ipsos found that 83% of Gen Z respondents used YouTube to watch soothing content, with animal livestreams and immersive nature films among their favorites. But it goes deeper than relaxation for Korengold. Their sheer unedited rawness allows a “real emotional connection” — “Because whatever these animals are going through, you know it’s not for the sake of entertainment. That’s why we care.”
Blake Korengold checking on one of the motion-activated trail cameras he installed around the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
Daniella Brigida, head of wildlife communication at WWF, agrees. “Technology is often seen as against nature. Livestreams are a cool instance where it’s bringing us together.”
More than screens, Brigida thinks it’s the avalanche of negative news that has disconnected younger generations from conservation. These days, nature is constantly associated with climate change, natural disasters, and danger, she said. Korengold describes “a generational and existential fear about the future, and about whether we’ll live in a hospitable world a decade from now.”
“Livestreams show the day-to-day of wild animals and endangered species having the time of their life,” Brigida said. “It brings people so much joy but also invites them to do more.”
Livestreams help foster meaningful connections between people and the natural world, as well as increasing equitable access to nature education, studies have shown. Brigida points to Fat Bear Week, an annual online contest hosted by Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, and Explore.org, where voters choose the biggest brown bears before hibernation.
“One year, you’re looking at a hilariously chunky bear,” she said. “The next, you worry about the salmon population needed to support them, the flow of water, and the health of the forest around them.” The event draws over a million viewers to its livestreams and raises between $200,000 and $300,000 on average, while also being used in classrooms to teach sustainability and conservation.
Screenshot from Fat Bear Week 2019
Livestreams have also been used by rangers, such as South Africa’s Black Mambas, as a tool against poachers, with the Wildlife Watch initiative inviting their global audience to act as “virtual rangers” and report suspicious behavior in real time.
“Seeing Gen Z’s growing interest in conservation has been the most exciting,” Brigida said, adding that they are validating the technology beyond its original research purpose and redefining what these tools can achieve in conservation.
“The communities built around the livestreams are also amazing,” she added. “There are groups where strangers exchange screenshots. The Twitch chats are so lively. The internet has become a place to connect over animals we’re growing fond of.”
Animal ambassadors
That impact is exemplified by conservationist Maya Higa. She started livestreaming about her job as a zookeeper in 2019, but now operates an animal sanctuary that is only open to the public virtually.
Maya Higa live on Twitch from the Alveus Sanctuary
Created near Austin, Texas, in 2021, the Alveus Sanctuary is equipped with 24/7 cameras that stream live on Twitch, with 28-year-old Higa occasionally hosting educational segments. The sanctuary has nearly 2 million followers across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and X. Most of her audience is young adults, ranging from 18 to their early 30s.
“I understand that people want Gen Z to get out, but inevitably they’re going to spend some time online. And we’re in a sixth mass extinction right now: we can’t afford to wait for people to become conservationists,” Higa said. “We have to go find them where they already are and bring them in, and platforms like Twitch feel like the most effective, fastest way to do that.”
Higa teaches her audience about animal welfare and the wildlife through the animal “ambassadors” she has rescued. This includes a cow, Winnie The Moo, who teaches the world about the negative impact of the beef industry; a tortoise, Push Pop, who illustrates the dangers of the exotic pet trade and a wolf hybrid, Awa, a reminder of the historic persecution of wolves by humans.
Bili the gorilla in the Republic of Congo. If her rehabilitation continues to go well, she could be moved to a sanctuary run by the government and The Aspinall Foundation, and eventually return to the wild.
Traffickers ripped Bili the baby gorilla from her home. An international mission is returning her to the wild
7 min readShe says the virtual model allows her to educate people without disturbing the animals and means the sanctuary doesn’t need to build the infrastructure needed for in-person visitors.
“We reached over 250 million people last year,” Higa said. “There’s no public facility that could accommodate 250 million people coming through the doors a year, especially not while putting the well-being of the animal first.” At Alveus, there are no overwhelming sounds or smells for the animals, no unintentional touches or pokes. “Animals here are blissfully unaware of the thousands of eyes on them at any given time,” she added.
Alveus Sanctuary's animal ambassadors: Stompy the Emu and Winnie the Moo
This model has allowed the American to raise nearly $8 million for animal and wildlife conservation since 2019 through streaming donations and crowdfunding. It’s proof for her that Gen Z cares deeply about conservation. “We put all of the funding into our staff and care for these animals,” she added. “We don’t have to deal with any public infrastructure like entertainment and concession stands.”
Higa has announced plans for the Alveus Research and Recovery Institute for conservation breeding programs, which will start with breeding and reintroducing the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf and the red wolf. It will apply for acceptance to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) programs.
“On top of this, I’ve received a lot of testimonials of young people telling me how my livestreams have impacted what they consume, what policies they’re voting for, and even how they’re choosing their careers and their college majors,” she said. “It’s probably my favorite part of the job.”
That echoes the path Korengold is taking. “I’m going to start applying to university this year,” he said. “I’m hoping to study environmental science, and maybe start a career in the non-profit sector or in environmental law.”
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