Rachael Bale is the executive editor of the animals desk at National Geographic, where she oversees the digital and magazine coverage of all things animals. She also manages, and occasionally reports for Wildlife Watch, Nat Geo’s investigative reporting project focused on wildlife crime and exploitation. Its goal is to shine a light on practices that have serious implications for not just for the animals themselves, but for broader conservation issues, security, international trade, and economic and civic development.

Rachael started at National Geographic, in Washington, D.C., as a reporter for Wildlife Watch, but before that, she was reporter and researcher at Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting in California. She started off covering immigration and the developmentally disabled before focusing on environmental stories, including mining on public lands, pesticides’ effects on rural communities, and wildlife. She also occasionally freelanced for KQED public radio, the Bay Area’s NPR affiliate.

She got her start in investigative reporting covering money in politics for the Center for Public Integrity, which, like CIR, is a a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative journalism newsroom. She covered campaign finance in the first post-Citizens United presidential election, which saw an unprecedented amount of outside influence and secret cash seeking to influence the outcome. She has training in data journalism and experience with SQL.
In addition to wildlife and the environment, she is especially interested in social justice, mental health, and international relations. Her goal is to make people care about what’s happening around them.