Lake Pape - The People

Velta Kupele, Manager for the grazing area

Velta Kupele is in charge of the grazing area. One of the four WWF guides, she is hired on a permanent basis all year round to watch over the wild horses. She has to know everything about their movements, so monitors their activity, patrols the area on her little all terrain vehicle (ATV), and helps horses that have fallen into ditches. She also writes reports, teaches new guides, and manages workers hired to repair potential damages.

Velta Kupele was born 56 years ago and grew up in the Lake Pape area. At school, she liked mathematics and wanted to become a teacher. Later, she changed her mind as in the Soviet era, teachers had the power to influence the children's future, which was strongly against her belief.

She became an agriculture economist, and managed collective farms for 23 years. After the collapse of the Soviet Regime, she went back on her farm and lived by subsistence farming.

She ended up in conservation by accident. The Lake Pape Project offered her husband a job to repair fences, which he declined because of the low salary. However, she decided to try and took the job. It was hard work. "In the beginning I was only repairing fences broken by the horses, but I did not have a minute to look at the animals," she recalls. "Later, I started to write a horse-focussed diary, which eventually became a report!" She gained a lot of expertise and her job changed accordingly.

She is now passionate about her job, enjoying the work in wide, open lands. She also likes making everything good for the animals. What she does not like are the accidents, when horses fights and bang into each other, and sometimes slip into ditches, which can kill them. She believes the animals need more space.

Her job is for those who like to be outside and hike a lot. "It's not enough to like horses, you have to know everything about them," she says. "You need to be patient and resistant, as you will not see the results of your efforts immediately."