Marcy Mendelson
Wildlife Criminologist | Conservation Researcher | Documentary Filmmaker

Marcy Mendelson is an interdisciplinary expert in wildlife crime, environmental justice, and human-wildlife conflict, with over a decade of experience in investigative fieldwork, intelligence analysis, and global communications. A member of INTERPOL’s Wildlife Crime Working Group (Civil Society Division), she holds an MSc in International Criminal Justice (Wildlife Criminology) from the University of Portsmouth, where her thesis on gender and cheetah trafficking was awarded with distinction.

Her analytical and investigative work has supported organizations including the Environmental Investigation Agency and Freeland. She has produced intelligence reports on illegal wildlife trade and conducted field journalism across Eastern and Southern Africa, with bylines in National Geographic, AFAR, and Africa Geographic. She is the award-winning director of The Last Cheetahs of Solitaire, a conservation documentary currently screening internationally and on the WaterBear Network.

Mendelson regularly speaks on the silencing of conservation actors in politically volatile contexts, most recently presenting on Ecopoliticide—the strategic targeting of conservationists—as part of CECRN’s Global Environmental Justice Conference (2025). Her work integrates criminological research, visual storytelling, and advocacy for coexistence, with a sustained focus on gender, displacement, and transnational enforcement dynamics in nature crime.

Website: Cheetah-Watch.com

Portfolio: MendelsonImages.com

Talk: Ecopoliticide – CECRN Global Environmental Justice Conference

Location: Based in Berlin, Germany & Global / U.S. & Africa-based operations

Languages: English (native/ fluent), German B1

Security Clearance: Eligible upon request

Counter-Trafficking Advisor, Wildlife Conservation Society