It’s World Turtle Day on Wednesday 23rd May 2012, offering you the perfect opportunity to adopt one of these beautiful creatures with WWF UK. Over the past 200 years, an astounding six of the world’s seven species are now on the endangered list or vulnerable.

First started in 1990, World Turtle Day is the celebration of these gentle animals who have been on the planet an amazing 100 million years. Many of the world’s marine turtles can be found in Australian waters, though, due to -

• Illegal hunting
• Being caught in fishing gear
• Coastal development

there numbers are dropping dramatically. Marine turtles are an integral part of many tropical coastal ecosystems, and unless we pay more attention to their plight, they may had the same way as there ancient ancestors the dinosaurs. If you would like to help there plight, why not adopt a turtle? They make great presents for loved ones or colleagues, you could even keep it for yourself.

Your donations will go a long way to providing the funds to aid the turtles worldwide fight for survival. If we all pull together we can try to save these gentle creatures before it’s too late.

Adopt an Turtle with WWF UK

The WWF is a non profit organisation who can only sustain their tireless work in saving the planet and its inhabitants through donations. You can help raise funds through the WWF Adopt a Turtle scheme.

The Recipient of the Charity Gift Gets -

• beautiful cuddly toy and print of your animal
• gift pack including a greeting card, certificate, facts about the species and tips on a ‘greener’ lifestyle
• Wild World magazine delivered 3 times a year plus regular updates on your chosen animal

> > Click here to Adopt a Turtle with WWF UK

Alister

WWF charity representatives have reported that up to a third of the world’s 63 legally protected tiger sanctuaries areas only just maintain their minimum protection requirements. At the 2010 ‘Tiger Summit’ in Russia, the Tiger Range Governments committed to doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022, but this looks a long way off if the designated refuges are not being run properly.

WWF’s assessed seven of the 12 countries where tiger conservation is ongoing, covering 84 locations, of which 63 were legally protected. The poaching for body parts for ornamental and medicinal usage is now the main factor in the drop in tiger numbers, with demand ever growing. With a meeting planned soon in New Delhi, this is a perfect opportunity to discuss plans to improve sites that are critical to the tigers survival and increase zero poaching action.

Leader of WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative, Mike Baltzer, said -

Poaching is the most immediate threat to tigers and protected areas are the first line of defence against poaching. If this preliminary assessment reflects the full situation on-the-ground, then protected areas are not functioning as an effective safe haven for tigers. Without places tigers can be safer from poaching, there is no hope to meet the target of more than 6,000 tigers by 2022.

Here’s hoping that the new meeting in Delhi helps to bring the relevant parties together to help this beautiful creatures fight for survival. With poaching on the increase, now is the time to clamp down before it’s too late.

Adopt a Tiger with WWF UK

The WWF is a non profit organisation who can only sustain their tireless work in saving the planet and its inhabitants through donations. You can help raise funds through the WWF Adopt a Tiger scheme.

From as little as £3 a month you receive a certificate, a print of your animal, a greetings card, and a soft toy that would make a fantastic charity gift for a loved one.

> > Click here to Adopt an Tiger with WWF UK

Alister

Guide Dogs for the Blind are pleased to announce that Specsavers will be sponsoring this year’s Guide Dog of the Year Awards. The event will be held in London on Thursday 19th July 2012 to celebrate the partnership formed between dog and owner. There’s a whole host of prizes to be won, and you can nominate someone for an award too!

There will be seven award categories, including -

• Guide Dog of the Year
• Inspirational Guide Dog Owner
• Fundraiser of the Year
• Volunteer of the Year
• Outstanding Teamwork Award
• Young Persons Award
• Lifetime Achievement

Simply click on the link below to make a nomination for somebody who you think deserves the chance of picking up one of the categories above. All nominations need to be in by 9am on Monday 14th May 2012 to be in with a chance of winning, so if you know somebody who deserves some recognition for the work they do, feel free to email your suggestion through to Guide Dogs for the Blind as soon as possible.

> > Click here to make a nomination

Sponsor a Puppy with Guide Dogs for the Blind

Sponsor a Puppy is a fantastic way to support a young guide dog and follow it’s fascinating adventures during the different stages of it’s life. From just £5 a month, your donations will not only make a huge difference in a guide dogs progress, but also to the people who require these amazing animals help in their day to day lives.

The Recipient of the Charity Gift Gets -

• Special Offer – FREE Cuddly Toy – anyone who signs up to Sponsor a Puppy through our site will get a guide dog puppy soft toy
• Welcome Pack including a great Sponsor a Puppy gift certificate
• Exclusive Calendar featuring shots of Guide Dogs for the Blinds cute puppies.
• Puppy Updates get regular ‘Pupdates’ including photos at key stages of your puppy’s training

> > Click here to sponsor a puppy with Guide Dogs for the Blind

Alister

WWF charity officials are concerned that a court case against a gang suspected of killing 20 Rhinos in South Africa, has been postponed. 11 people, including suspected kingpin Dawie Groenewald, have seen their case postponed until October 2012 by South African magistrates.

The ‘Groenewald Gang’, as they have become known, recently appeared in Musina Magistrate’s court faced with hundreds of charges, including the illegal trade, fraud and killing of 20 rhinos. They also stand accused of illegal hunting, weapons violations racketeering and money laundering.

The carcasses of 20 rhinos were found buried on Groenewald’s land two years ago, missing their horns. Groenewald operates a safari tour company in South Africa, with the other suspects including veterinarians, professional hunters and a helicopter pilot. Rhino poaching has risen dramatically in South Africa due to the demand for rhino horn in Asia.

Up to 181 rhinos have been killed in South Africa this year so far, with poaching rates expected to exceed the record 448 rhino deaths in 2011.

Head of WWF’s African Rhino Programme, Dr Joseph Okori, said -

A high level of criminal sophistication was required to orchestrate the killing of these rhinos, but this case demonstrates that no one is above the law. The world is watching and waiting for justice to be served.

WWF is working with the South African government to help improve forensics at rhino crime scenes and to also help improve the knowledge of those in charge of prosecuting people for rhino crimes. Let’s hope those that are charged are given the sentences they deserve for these barbaric crimes.

Adopt an Rhino with WWF UK

The WWF is a non profit organisation who can only sustain their tireless work in saving the planet and its inhabitants through donations. You can help raise funds through the WWF Adopt a Rhino scheme.

The Recipient of the Charity Gift Gets -

• beautiful cuddly toy and print of your animal
• gift pack including a greeting card, certificate, facts about the species and tips on a ‘greener’ lifestyle
• Wild World magazine delivered 3 times a year plus regular updates on your chosen animal

> > Click here to Adopt a Rhino with WWF UK

Alister

Guide Dogs for the Blind officials have welcomed the news that the Government is proposing the compulsory microchipping of dogs in England. With major concerns about the rise in the number of attacks on guide dogs, the charity is calling for the measure to be put into place across the whole of the UK.

Charity officials are also calling on the British government to allow the police to treat an attack on a guide dog as seriously as an attack on a person. In many incidents, the attacks are unprovoked by aggressive dogs, usually off their leads.

Latest figures produced by Guide Dogs for the Blind show that their are more than seven attacks on guide dogs every month by other dogs. As many as four guide dogs a year have to taken out of service due to these attacks, costing the charity a whopping £200,000!

Chief Executive of Guide Dogs, Richard Leaman, said -

The Government’s preferred option is to make breeders responsible for microchipping newly-born dogs before they are sold. Although we support this idea in principle, it would take many years before all dogs are microchipped, so we would also like to see the introduction of mandatory microchipping of all dogs, regardless of their age, within two years of legislation being introduced. There were 147 attacks on guide dogs between June 2010 and December 2011. We believe that an attack on an assistance dog should be considered an attack on the person, to reflect the fact that a guide dog is a vital mobility aid and that such attacks are very distressing for people who are already vulnerable.

The number of guides dogs that are being attacked by other dogs is far higher than I thought was possible. This reason alone should convince government officials that the microchipping of ALL dogs from birth in the UK should be compulsory. One can only imagine the terror for not just the dog, but also the partially sighted owner during an attack.

Sponsor a Puppy with Guide Dogs for the Blind

Sponsor a Puppy is a fantastic way to support a young guide dog and follow it’s fascinating adventures during the different stages of it’s life. From just £5 a month, your donations will not only make a huge difference in a guide dogs progress, but also to the people who require these amazing animals help in their day to day lives.

The Recipient of the Charity Gift Gets -

• Special Offer – FREE Cuddly Toy – anyone who signs up to Sponsor a Puppy through our site will get a guide dog puppy soft toy
• Welcome Pack including a great Sponsor a Puppy gift certificate
• Exclusive Calendar featuring shots of Guide Dogs for the Blinds cute puppies.
• Puppy Updates get regular ‘Pupdates’ including photos at key stages of your puppy’s training

> > Click here to sponsor a puppy with Guide Dogs for the Blind

Alister

Aspinall Foundation officials at the Howletts Wild Animal Park are delighted to welcome the arrival of a new baby Javan gibbon to their family. These beautiful creatures are currently the most endangered gibbon species on the planet, with as few as 2,500 remaining in their natural habitat.

The Javan gibbon is usually found in the wild of Indonesia, but due to -

• Illegal Pet Trade
• Hunting
• Deforestation

there numbers have significantly reduced, and they have now been placed on the IUCN Red List as endangered. There are as few as  50 captive outside of Indonesia in only ten different parks across the globe. This is mostly due to very few pairs breeding successfully in captivity, so the new arrival is an amazing success for the park

Head of Primate Section, Matt Ford, said -

We are all delighted with our latest arrival to this group of Javan gibbons. Mum is very experienced and her baby boy is doing well. Howletts and our sister park, Port Lympne, together hold half of the world’s total captive population of Javan gibbon – currently housing 11 males and 13 females between the two parks. With 25 viable births since 1988, we are the world’s most successful breeder of this species.

The Aspinall Foundation has now launched a new project in Indonesia to help protect endangered primates from the illegal pet trade and help return them back in to the wild.

Adopt an Animal with The Aspinall Foundation

Each Keep Me Safe animal adoption from The Aspinall Foundation comes in a presentation box which includes a cuddly toy of your adopted species, fact sheet and £5 voucher accepted as part of entry cost to Howletts or Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks, plus -

• Animal PC wallpaper
• Animal e-factsheet
• E-certificate for your adopted animal
• Twice yearly update on your adopted animal by email.
• As well as one FREE entry to Howletts or Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks – so you can come and visit your animal!

>> Click Here to Adopt an Animal with the Aspinall Foundation

Alister

Guide Dogs for the Blind were happy to show London Mayor candidate Jenny Jones what it’s like to experience life with sight. The Green Party representative donned a special kind of blindfold and used a white cane to help her down part of Exhibition Road. Jenny wore the ‘mindfold’ – which plunges the participant into complete darkness, even with their eyes open!

Guide Dog officials believe improvements should be made to towns across the country so that streets are designed to give blind and partially sighted people the same access as everyone else. Guide Dogs have already worked with Kensington and Chelsea to get strips of ridged corduroy paving included in Exhibition Road’s new design. This give the visually impaired something they can feel to mark out the edge of the pavement.

Jenny Jones said -

Green Assembly members have worked hard over the last 12 years to make sure that everyone can get around the capital safely. We believe it is possible for City Hall to ensure that blindness or any other disability does not prevent Londoners or visitors being able to fully participate in this wonderful city. I think it is important that politicians remain in touch with issues affecting those that they represent so I was only too happy to accept an invitation from Guide Dogs to share the experiences and challenges of blind people in London.

Sponsor a Puppy with Guide Dogs for the Blind

Sponsor a Puppy is a fantastic way to support a young guide dog and follow it’s fascinating adventures during the different stages of it’s life. From just £5 a month, your donations will not only make a huge difference in a guide dogs progress, but also to the people who require these amazing animals help in their day to day lives.

The Recipient of the Charity Gift Gets -

• Special Offer – FREE Cuddly Toy – anyone who signs up to Sponsor a Puppy through our site will get a guide dog puppy soft toy
• Welcome Pack including a great Sponsor a Puppy gift certificate
• Exclusive Calendar featuring shots of Guide Dogs for the Blinds cute puppies.
• Puppy Updates get regular ‘Pupdates’ including photos at key stages of your puppy’s training

> > Click here to sponsor a puppy with Guide Dogs for the Blind

Alister

A famous Guide Dogs for the Blind Volunteer has been selected to be one of the Olympic torchbearers for this years historic games in London 2012. Wendy Shaw, who has completed 22 marathons in the last 18 months dressed as Alfie the Guide Dog, will be carrying the flame through Theale on Weds 11th July 2012.

Wendy was nominated by her friend Kerry Aylmer after raising thousands of pounds for Guide Dogs thanks to her amazing commitment to the cause. Wendy began running for Guide Dogs since the Brighton Marathon last April, and hasn’t stopped since!

Wendy said -

If there’s something I can do to make something work or make something happen I will do it. My baby niece was recently diagnosed with infant Glaucoma that has already left her partially sighted so helping Guide Dogs has now become very close to my heart. Running as ‘Alfie’ is hard work but also incredible fun and the Guide Dogs Events Team are always there to offer support and some much needed refreshments when you cross the finish line.

Wendy’s amazing efforts as Alfie the wonder dog has now even seen her enter the Guinness Book of World Record’s for the ‘fastest marathon by a female mascot’, when she completed the 2011 London Marathon in 4 hours and 44 minutes! This amazing achievement was even more impressive, considering it was a shatteringly hot day.

A massive congratulations to Wendy on this distinctive honour, I managed a 10K run once for Cancer Research once and I looked a bit like a dog when I’d finished that! I can’t imagine what it must be like running up to 26 miles wearing a full costume – unbelievable stamina and commitment. Wendy definitely deserves her big day out.

Sponsor a Puppy with Guide Dogs for the Blind

Sponsor a Puppy is a fantastic way to support a young guide dog and follow it’s fascinating adventures during the different stages of it’s life. From just £5 a month, your donations will not only make a huge difference in a guide dogs progress, but also to the people who require these amazing animals help in their day to day lives.

The Recipient of the Charity Gift Gets -

• Special Offer – FREE Cuddly Toy – anyone who signs up to Sponsor a Puppy through our site will get a guide dog puppy soft toy
• Welcome Pack including a great Sponsor a Puppy gift certificate
• Exclusive Calendar featuring shots of Guide Dogs for the Blinds cute puppies.
• Puppy Updates get regular ‘Pupdates’ including photos at key stages of your puppy’s training

> > Click here to sponsor a puppy with Guide Dogs for the Blind

Alister

WWF charity officials are pleased to see the opening of a new national park in Russia that has been set up in an effort to save the world’s rarest cat – the Amur leopard. There are believed to be only 30 left in the wild today, with the majority now living within the new Land of the Leopard National Park in Russia.

The park includes around 60% of the endangered cat’s remaining habitat and extends nearly 650,000 acres across all of the Amur’s breeding areas. Inside, the park will be split into various zones, including -

• Protected areas
• Economic development
• Recreational
• Eco-tourism

The Russian government will be investing up to $16.6 million into the development of the park’s infrastructure, plus another $1.3 million for upkeep.The park will also become home to 10 Amur tigers that are key for population in China, plus a valuable Korean pine forest. A worthwhile venture for all concerned, and a much needed helping hand in the stabilising of the Amur Leopard’s future.

Head of WWF’s species program, Dr. Sybille Klenzendorf, said -

Amur leopards are literally teetering on the brink of extinction. With the establishment of Land of the Leopard National Park, in conjunction with other conservation efforts, we can now start to focus on how to begin bringing them back.

Due to extensive habitat loss and conflict with humans, Amur leopards are critically endangered. The last 40 on the planet are believed to remain in Russia and China in and around this new park. Let’s hope this beautiful creature is now looked after before it’s too late.

Adopt an Amur Leopard with WWF UK

The WWF is a non profit organisation who can only sustain their tireless work in saving the planet and its inhabitants through donations. You can help raise funds through the WWF Adopt an Amur Leopard scheme.

The Recipient of the Charity Gift Gets -

• beautiful cuddly toy and print of your animal
• gift pack including a greeting card, certificate, facts about the species and tips on a ‘greener’ lifestyle
• Wild World magazine delivered 3 times a year plus regular updates on your chosen animal

> > Click here to Adopt an Snow Leopard with WWF UK

Alister

Aspinall Foundation keepers at Howletts Wild Animal Park treated their animals to some Easter themed enrichment over the bank holiday weekend, looks like animals like Easter Eggs too! The elephants and anteaters were given papier – mâché eggs, each one filled with delicious and nutritious treats to encourage stimulation and interest.

The African elephants had eggs filled with a mixture of maize and jumbo nuts, whilst the anteaters were given eggs filled with one of their favourite dishes – mealworms (think I’ll stick to chocolate!)

Animal Director, Neil Spooner, said -

Enrichment plays a vital role in how we care for the animals at the park and can take many different forms. Ultimately enrichment is designed to provide stimulation (sensory or otherwise) and interest in our animals. The elephants really enjoyed the eggs and they didn’t last long, the anteaters on the other hand took a little more time with their eggs but once they realised there were meal worms inside they also made short work of them. This Easter holiday our visitors can join in with the education team and make their own enrichment eggs and then watch what happens when the keepers give them to some of the animals.

Howletts Wild Animal Park also opened a brand new education centre over the Easter holiday, where visitors can discover facts about all the Apsinall Foundation conservation projects. Let’s hope mealworm snacks weren’t available for the visitors!

Adopt an Animal with The Aspinall Foundation

Each Keep Me Safe animal adoption from The Aspinall Foundation comes in a presentation box which includes a cuddly toy of your adopted species, fact sheet and £5 voucher accepted as part of entry cost to Howletts or Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks, plus -

• Animal PC wallpaper
• Animal e-factsheet
• E-certificate for your adopted animal
• Twice yearly update on your adopted animal by email.
• As well as one FREE entry to Howletts or Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks – so you can come and visit your animal!

>> Click Here to Adopt an Animal with the Aspinall Foundation

Alister