Some exceptional animal welfare projects were bought to our attention over the past year but sadly due to Covid restrictions we were unable to visit them in person. We don’t normally extend grants to projects we haven’t seen first hand but these were exceptional circumstances and based on reputation and gut feeling, we decided to support some incredible initiatives.

I am hoping to visit them at some point in the future and will report back live when I do, but for now here are stories and pictures that showcase the amazing work of three such projects. I will continue to showcase the work of other new projects in further blogs to come.

HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL – SOUTH KOREA

Dog Meat Trade

Humane Society International (HSI) are a leading force for animal protection. Alongside their admirable disaster relief responses, they work around the globe to promote the human-animal bond and confront animal cruelty in all its forms including ending confined meat farming, animal testing, trophy hunting and fur farming.

We recently learnt of HSI’s efforts in South Korea, where they are working toward initiating a government ban on the farming of dog meat for human consumption. By 2030, they hope their efforts will have led to the closure of all dog meat farms in the country, and that the cultural view that all dogs are worthy companion animals will predominate.  South Korea is the only country in the world that commercially farms dogs for human consumption and unbelievably, there are an estimated 2 million dogs (including many breeds) currently kept in cruel conditions on thousands of these farms.

Needless to say when HSI asked for our support in shutting down one of these dog meat farms to enable them to rescue and rehabilitate all 171 dogs, we immediately agreed. I am pleased to say that the mission went to plan and HSI expertly coordinated the closure of the farm and the subsequent transport of the dogs to the USA and Canada where they are now undergoing a comprehensive rehabilitation process in preparation for eventual rehoming.

We love everything HSI stand far and are incredibly proud to have been able to help them in this particular mission. I feel its the start of a longstanding mutually beneficial relationship and again, I cant wait to get out to South Korea to witness first hand the work they are doing to end this horrendously cruel trade in dog meat.  

The pictures and short video below shows the dog meat farm before it was closed and prior to the dogs being rescued and transported. The pictures after the video showcase the rescue mission and very happy dogs at the start of their new lives.

Dog Meat Farm

JACK PRIMATE SANCTUARY- Democratic Republic of Congo

25 primates rescued from illegal wildlife trade

DRC is not a country I had ever intended to travel to but having recently learnt about the amazing work of JACK Sanctuary (Jeunes Animal Confisques au Katanga) who specialise in the rescue and rehabilitation of Chimpanzees and other primates, its high on my list of priority projects to visit!

This project came about when we responded to a public appeal from PASA (Pan African Sanctuary Alliance) to help with the rehabilitation of 25 primates, confiscated by the wildlife authorities in Zimbabwe. The primates were illegally taken from the wild in DRC as part of an illegal trade deal. Fortunately the specialised wildlife trade authorities were made aware of this and were able to intervene when the truck carrying the primates was intercepted in Zimbabwe. It is believed they were en-route to South Africa before being exported overseas for the exotic pet trade, zoos, circuses.

Once confiscated the primates needed urgent care and attention due to the stress they had endured and this was provided by a small animal welfare rescue centre in Zimbabwe with the help of Lisa Hywood – founder of the Tikki Hywood Foundation. The primates remained at this facility until the necessary paperwork was obtained to repatriate them to DRC. Sadly the administrative process took 4 months but the good news is they are now back in DRC and thanks to experienced carers at the JACK sanctuary they are well on their way to being rehabilitated. Once this process is completed, they will be returned to the wilds of DRC where they belong.

JACK specialise in the rehabilitation of chimpanzees, which is very different from primate rehabilitation and in order to receive the 25 primates they needed to build specific enclosures and accommodation. With funding from OAT and others, they managed to build this facility in record time and you will see from the photos below, they did an awesome job! I can’t wait to get out their at see it for myself!

Watch this primate entertaining himself….

PETA INDIA

Working horses and bullocks on the street

We have supported the work of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for a number of years now but this particular protect struck our heart strings. In simplistic terms it incentivises the owners of working animals on the streets of Delhi to relinquish their horses and bullocks to PETA in return for the provision of a mechanised rickshaw. This is a much more efficient method for transporting goods and the animals get to retire to Animal Rahat, a purpose built sanctuary supported by PETA.

A win win situation and better still, the Delhi government are right behind the initiative ensuring that the suffering of working animals will continue to diminish.

Hopefully one day the unnecessary suffering of these animals will become a thing of the distant past. I am pleased to say that our close friends of Good Heart Animal Sanctuaries were as excited as we were about this project and decided to co-fund a grant to enable the kickstart of this awesome initiative. Thank you Good Heart!

I’ll sign off now with a heartwarming video showing their new life at the sanctuary and I look forward to updating you on more new supported projects in the coming weeks.