Our Blog - Ways to help animals

 
 
 
Welcome to our blog which will will have all sorts of news, stories, appeals and more!   

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  1. If you’re thinking about doing something to help an animal charity, why not look at taking on a personal challenge in 2023?

    Many animal charities offer the chance to do this, one example being SPANA.

    SPANA help working animals in many countries around the world, where locals are utterly dependent on horses, donkeys, mules and elephants for their livelihoods.  In the developing world, they say that one working animal can support an extended family of up to 30 people.

    Help a charity achieve its vision and mission
    with your personal challenge


    SPANA’s vision “is a world where every working animal lives a life free from suffering and is treated with compassion.”

    Its mission is “to improve the welfare of working animals in the world’s poorest communities.”



    SPANA take a three-pronged approach to achieve both their vision and mission:

    1. They treat animals with free veterinary care
    2. They train both in the community and professional training
    3. They teach animal welfare education

    They also respond to emergencies.

    SPANA has a number of appeals going right now, but one thing you could do to help is to set yourself a personal challenge. 

    They list a number of challenges on their website:

    • Running: You could run a half marathon in the Royal Parks Half Marathon, or take part in charity fun runs or 5k run or the Great Run Series, or even running abroad – thousands of people take part in the City2Surf event in Sydney!
    • Go climbing with SPANA – Kilimanjaro or Ben Nevis
    • Go trekking with SPANA and do the Machu Picchu trek

    Find out more about the challenges to help SPANA

    Obviously you will need a certain level of fitness and good health to participate in challenges such as these but there are other challenges you can do for other charities.  If you’re a keen knitter, why not take a look at charities needing knitters and see if you can set yourself a personal challenge to help them?

    A number of animal charities have ideas for personal challenges – Cats Protection also have lots of challenges, including cycles, tris and swims, plus zipwires, abseils and firewalks, skydiving and wingwalks. 

    If you’re looking for something really meaningful to do in 2023, this could be one way to achieve a goal and help animals as well!  A great win-win!

     

  2. There’s a programme on BBC2 on 26th August and 2nd September 2022 at 8pm that you must just not miss!

    It’s called Bears About the House. #BearsAbouttheHouse

    Conservationist Giles Clark (Big Cats About the House) is off on his biggest mission to date:  he’s taking on the illegal wildlife trade and helping to build a pioneering new bear sanctuary in Laos, South East Asia.

    Enter Matt Hunt, CEO of Free the Bears.  Free the Bears is an amazing charity which rescues moon and sun bears and cares for them in bear sanctuaries in Cambodia, Vietnam and Cambodia.  And Matt asked Giles Clark to help for 12 months. 

    Visit Free the Bears' website
    Please donate if you can and/or spread the word.
    Thank you! 

    Before long, Giles was needed to step forward and help Mary, a 5 month old sun bear who was rescued after her mother was killed in the wild.  Fragile and malnourished, she needed care at home, and that's what she got.



    Visit Free the Bears here to find out more
    Thank you

    We wish everyone at Free the Bears all the best with the programme, thinking of you
    and thank you for all you're doing

    DONATE TO FREE THE BEARS
    Thank you

    Don’t miss it – and if you can make a donation, please donate.

    Bears across Asia are sold as trophy pets.  They are used for their body parts in restaurants and processed for traditional Asian medicine. 

    The most valued part of a bear is their gallbladder.  It stores bile, a digestive fluid which is thought to have medical qualities. Many bears across Asia are kept in bear farms – this enables their bile to be extracted as needed. 

    Giles and the team want to stop this.  They are working with the government to shut these bear bile farms down.

    It’s a constant effort, and Free the Bears need your help.  Donations in whatever form will help rescue more bears in need of rescue, and care for those who have been rescued, and who need food, care and enrichment activities.

    Ways to help


    Visit Free the Bears' website

     

  3. Update: There's Baby Elephant Hospital on Channel 5 following the work of a hospital in Thailand that's devoted to treating elephants.   The series starts on 16th September at 7pm on Channel 5. 

     

    Date for your diary:  12 August 
    It's World Elephant Day. 

    Find out more here

    It's back! Don't miss this on Channel 5 on Tuesday 14 June 2022.

    The programme is called Elephant Hospital and it's the world's largest elephant hospital nestled in the forests of Thailand in Lampang. It's open 24/7 and is a sort of NHS for elephants. The team of highly skilled and very dedicated staff never know what sort of problems the elephants will be arriving with but they all do their very best to help them.  

    Paul O'Donoghue and Katheirne Connor head back to the hospital for this new series (four parts).  It cares for over 100 sick, injured or neglected animals every year.  And if the elephants can't come to the hospital, the vets go to the elephants!

    This is a heart-warming series with uplifting and unexpected stories, be they treating an elephant with cancer or a baby elephant being fed with a giant milk bottle!  There's an elephant with severe diarrhoea, and a male elephant who has been attacked by another bull elephant.  It's all go, as the incredible team try to help each elephant as best they can. 

    Find out more from Channel 5

    I am looking for ways to donate to this hospital - watch this space

    It's supported by Friends of the Asian Elephant and here is their Facebook page.

    Their website is here.

    #ElephantHospital 

    THANK YOU to everyone at the hospital for all you do for these wonderful elephants. 

    The World Elephant Day website has LOTS of information about ways to help elephants, whatever day of the year it is so please take a look at it here.

    See our list of elephant conservation charities here

    How about an elephant conservation holiday? 
    Take a look at the range of choices 
    with Responsible Travel


    You could adopt an orphan elephant
    from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust
    Image ©David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust