Saola by Jeff Long
The American artist Jeff Long has created a significant new work, a unique painting of the iconic Saola. Jeff has kindly donated this piece to the Saola Foundation to help raise funds for our appeal to put the search team back in the forest in the Annamite Mountains Bioregion of Lao.
This work has an estimated value of US$20,000. The first round of bidding closed on 9 October 2026 and the painting remains unclaimed. Bidding will reopen in December 2026.
Bidding has closed
Bidding reopens in December 2026. If you are interested in the meantime, please email info@saolafoundation.org.
How the sale works
Bidding is closed for now and will reopen in December 2026.
Bids start at US$5,000, which is the reserve. Bids below the reserve cannot be accepted. Each new bid must be at least US$500 above the last.
You can bid as often as you wish. If you prefer, name the maximum you are willing to pay and we will bid for you in US$500 steps. You pay only enough to stay ahead of the next bidder, never more than your maximum, and your maximum stays private. We will email you if you are outbid.
The first round of bidding closed on 9 October 2026 without a sale. We will announce the dates of the December round on this page.
About the painting
The painting is an oil on canvas, 36 by 48 inches, depicting a wild Saola. Jeff Long created it specifically to support the search.
Meet the artist
Jeffrey Long is an American painter, born in New York City in 1948, who studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the California College of Arts and Crafts. He has painted for more than five decades, and the human element in nature runs through all of it. His work is held by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum of California, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art.
His paintings have raised conservation funding before, including for Working Dogs for Conservation, our technical partner on the Scent Detection Dog Unit, and for the Akashinga all-female ranger teams in Zimbabwe through Operation Diana.
More of his work is at Artsy and jeffreylongstudio.com.
His Saola painting was recently featured in the Marin Independent Journal: Unraveling the mysteries of the Saola.
Terms
Bids are binding. Payment is due within seven days of notification. The painting ships from the United States, and shipping and insurance are at the buyer’s cost. We can ship internationally.
This is a purchase rather than a donation. We publish an estimated value of US$20,000 in good faith. If the winning bid exceeds that estimate, the excess may be deductible. Please consult your own tax advisor. The Saola Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3), EIN 82-3731270.
Get in touch
If you are interested in the painting before bidding reopens in December, please email info@saolafoundation.org with your name and a telephone number. We will reply to every enquiry.
Where the money goes
The Saola has not been recorded anywhere in the world since 2013. Almost certainly fewer than 50 remain. The Saola Foundation is the only nongovernmental organization in the world with a program dedicated exclusively to this species, and every gift keeps our team in the forest.
Every dollar this painting raises goes directly to our appeal to keep the team in the forest until the end of December. The team is back in the forest for October, and we are now raising the funds to keep them there through November and December, toward our $150,000 target.
This painting also supports the people who do the searching. Without this appeal, the contracts of 23 of our 28 field team members would have ended on September 30. The Annamite Mountains Research and Conservation Team is a Lao field team of trackers, dog handlers, logisticians and technicians, built over years of specialized training with Working Dogs for Conservation, CyberTracker Conservation and WCS Lao. A team of this caliber cannot be stood down and then easily rebuilt.