Don't miss this one hour television programme on BBC2 tonight at 9pm.
(If you do, you can see it on BBC's iplayer later on.)
Watch the impact of your donations in action – you’ll see the life-saving work of International Animal Rescue’s teams, who are dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing orangutans back into the forests of Borneo.
Rescue teams come to the aid of apes who’ve been stranded as their forest home id destroyed. It shows them rehabilitate orphaned baby orangutans who’ve been taken from the wild from the illegal pet trade.
The documentary also shows how the orangutan has been pushed to the brink of distinction. It asks what hope remains for these amazing animals.
Consumer pressure can help these animals and bring them back from the brink of distinction.
Find out more by watching this amazing programme tonight on BBC 2’s Natural World at 9pm! It will also be available on iPlayer shortly after.
Their prospects of survival as a species is plummeting because a Chinese state-owned company called Sinohydro is planning to build a hydrodam right in the middle of the Tapanuli orangutan population’s habitat.
If the company goes ahead, it will cut the orangutan population in two which will make it much harder for the species to survive. They won’t be able to connect.
It is expected that the building of the dam, plus the roads, tunnels and electricity lines needed to go with it, will cause the extinction of two of the three sub-populations and destroy the most important habitat.
The incredible thing is that the Indonesian government approved this dam but the orangutan is a protected species. The Indonesian law prohibits actions which harm a protected species so why this dam has been allowed to go ahead is a mystery.
The RSPCA has launched campaign to encourage people to do their bit for animals of all sizes.
An online survey undertaken by YouGov of 2,142 adults in March this year showed that 85% considered themselves to be animal lovers.
But 20% felt a lack of money and 32% said a lack of time were barriers to doing more to help animals.
A particularly worrying discovery from the survey was that 11% of people felt their actions couldn’t make a difference.
The top animal welfare issue people were concerned about was animals being used in blood sports – such as cockfighting, dog fighting and badger baiting. 40% of those surveyed were concerned about this.
35% were concerned about the destruction of or damage to natural habitats for wild animals.
29% were concerned about puppy farming – that is, businesses which breed dogs on a large scale to be sold via the internet, pet shops and newspaper advertisements.
The animal issues people are most concerned about in the survey were:
40% - animals being used in blood sports
35% - destruction of or damage to natural habitats for wild animals
29% - puppy farming
27% - litter and plastics being hazardous to animals
24% - testing on animals (e.g. for scientific research, cosmetics, drugs testing etc)
23% - foxes hunted for sport
17% - conditions animals are kept in on farms
13% - recognition of animals as sentient beings (being able to feel and perceive things)
12% - live transport of animals for slaughter
11% - wild animals in circuses
11% - conditions animals are kept in when being bred as pets, not including puppy farms
10% - people not being fully informed on how to look after their pets properly
8% - not concerned with any animal welfare issues in partiuclar
6% - a lack of homes for pets
3% - other
3% - don’t know
Yet every single one of us can take any number of actions to help animals and collectively we can make a huge difference.
Join in the #AnimalKind campaign
So this week, the RSPCA is launching a new campaign called #AnimalKind. The aim is to encourage people to join it in creating a world which is kinder to animals.
There’s advice on what you can do to ensure all animals are better protected and cared for.
And there’s a free guide to show how small acts of kindness can make a difference.
It doesn’t take a lot of time or money to help.
In fact, you can save yourself money and help animals. For instance, you could…
be kind to polar bears and switch your heating down or off, saving you money.
buy a water bottle once which you refill instead of buying plastic bottle after plastic bottle.
help walk dogs at a local rescue centre or join a local conservation group and get active, instead of paying money to take out a gym membership
take a flask of coffee with you instead of stopping for a take-out coffee with a single use coffee cup
ask people to make a donation to your favourite animal charity for your birthday rather than get you something you don’t want or need, or to sponsor an acre or adopt an animal
Other ways to help which take no time or virtually seconds to do:
sign a petition to add your voice to help animals who have no voice
save stamps to help animal charities
put out bird feed every day – this takes just a few minutes and you can then enjoy a nature show for free
switch your plastic toothbrush to a bamboo one.
Every single action will make a difference to animals all around the world.
“Never underestimate the difference YOU can make in the lives of others. Step forward, reach out and help. This week reach to someone that might need a lift”
