Say it with an e-card

Have you sent your holiday cards yet?  

Quite often I will be pleased that I have managed to send all mine out on time only to then realise that I have forgotten someone and it is too late to reach them via mail, especially if it happens to be one of my friends in the USA.  


Every year I ask myself how I can use my holiday cards to spread awareness, I buy cards from animal rescue centres which donates money to a good cause and also advertises the centre on the card itself.  This year I wanted to do something extra so have decided to be extra festive by sending a card and an e-card.  

The e-card I have chosen is a snow leopard themed card from WWF.

The beautiful snow leopard resides in the rocky alpine regions of Central Asia.  Currently there are just 6,000 snow leopards in the wild across 12 countries including China, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Russia.  The number is gradually declining due to hunting (for their beautiful fur and bones for Chinese medicine) and habitat loss.  Some snow leopards are killed by farmers as they prey on their livestock, they are preying on domestic animals due to the decline of their natural prey.

Send your own e-card to raise awareness

Spread the word by sharing this post on Facebook and Twitter.

Adopt a snow leopard for Christmas.

More e-cards

Snow leopard trust

If you would like an e-card from The Animal News please send your e-mail address to the.animal.news@googlemail.com.

Thank you.

Countdown to Christmas #2

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I am the proud owner of a donkey and a seal, although the seal doesn't live in the bath and the donkey isn't grazing in the garden but technically I have adopted them.  My adoption of Oscar the donkey was a birthday present from my Mum as part of the Adopta Donkey scheme at Elisabeth Svendsen’s Trust for Children and Donkeys; Kitto the seal was a Christmas gift from my Mum and the Gweek Seal Sanctuary. 

As part of adopting Oscar I receive a regular newsletter about how Oscar is getting on, as well as a certificate, birthday and Christmas cards and the option of popping along to the Sanctuary to visit him if I arrange an appointment.  My sister adopted Donk Dean from the same Sanctuary as Oscar so for my birthday one year we all went to visit them and it was lovely.

My Nan adores whales and dolphins so one year I adopted a dolphin called Whiskey for her, she received a video of Whiskey as well as a certificate and newsletter.  She was thrilled to bits with it and I think she was seriously considering making room in her bath for him!

It really is a fantastic idea to sponsor or adopt an animal for an animal lover this Christmas (maybe even treat yourself!), as well as spreading joy to the receiver - the gift of sponsorship or adoption can make a huge difference to the life of the animal.

Many organisations run sponsorship or adoption schemes which all offer something different depending on your preference.  For more information I recommend the following links:

World Wildlife Foundation (WWF)

Born Free

Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS)

Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

London Zoo

Dudley Zoo (or your local zoo)

Dogs Trust

Cats Protection League

RSPCA

Always make sure you buy your adoption or sponsorship directly from the animal organisation concerned to ensure your money is going to the right place.

I would love to hear from any of you that do decide to adopt or sponsor an animal this Christmas.

Seasons Greetings!

Happy News from WWF!

Source: Pinterest.

Last month there was news of increased rhino numbers in Nepal, and tigers on the way back to central Asia.

The latest rhino census shows there are almost 100 more one-horned rhinos than in 2008.

On top of the recent improved figures from India, tigers are now set to return to central Asia for the first time in 40 years. WWF have come up with a plan along with the government of Kazakhstan, to relocate some Russian Amur tigers (which are genetically identical to central Asia's extinct Turan tiger) to suitable areas in Kazakhstan.

The Big Fish Fight!

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Most of Europe’s fishing grounds are currently over-fished. Iconic species are disappearing and coastal communities are being run down.  This is all due to current unsustainable fishing regulations.

Channel 4 is currently running "The Big Fish Fight" where chefs including Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall join forces championing sustainable seafood ("and celebrating lesser known delicacies of the deep" but as a vegetarian I'm not interested in that part!)

Have a look here and if you have time watch some of the very interesting and informative programmes about the fishing industry.

Did you know that over half of the fish caught in the North Sea are thrown overboard dead?  Please visit Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's campaign to help stop this wasteful fishing.  If you support the campaign your name will be added to the ready prepared letter to Commissioner Maria Damanaki, as well as members of the Common Fisheries Policy Reform Group, and all MEPs.  If you have a bit more time to spare you can lobby your MP here asking them to sign the Early Day Motion agreeing to debate the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

WWF are also running a More Fish petition which you can sign here.

As I have mentioned, I don't eat fish but I don't agree with what is currently happening on our planet either.

What happened in Russia?

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After my numerous posts on the first Tiger Summit (International Tiger Conservation Forum) in St. Petersburg it's about time we had an update as to what was achieved from this important meeting.  I am pleased to report that World Leaders have backed a Global Tiger Recovery Programme in the hope of doubling tiger numbers by 2022 (which just happens to be the next Year of the Tiger) and agreed to provide funding to achieve this goal.  

Governments have promised around 127 million dollars and the World Bank has offered a loan package worth $100 million to Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal to help support tiger conservation work.  Also the Global Environment Facility has pledged $12 million to regional tiger projects.  As well as this, actor Leonardo Dicaprio has offered a personal donation of $1 million to the WWF supporting their work with the tigers!  

Overall WWF has committed $50 million over five years on tiger conservation and they hope to increase this to $85 million.  Despite this excellent start to funding which will help get action underway more funding is still needed from the international community in the coming months.

During the next six months the 13 countries will meet again in the hope of securing more money and the long term financing of the plan will be finalised in July 2011.  The countries will again reconvene in December 2011 to monitor how well the plan is working.

WWF's petition is still open for signatures just to keep this issue in the forefront.

Last chance!

Have you signed the petition yet for the Tiger Summit?  Please do.

Fluffy Friday #11 ~ Save the Tiger Special

As the deadline for WWF's Save the Tiger petition is fast approaching I thought today's Fluffy Friday should be tiger themed, I have chosen some pictures from the web that show us just why we cannot lose this beautiful animal.

We are losing tigers at an extremely rapid rate, please help by showing the Russian Government you support WWF's campaign.

Can you imagine a world without tigers?

Quick! I've left it quite late to update you on this as there is a deadline of 21st November so please act NOW!

There are around 3,200 tigers left in the wild which is an astonishingly small number, this number is falling rapidly as poaching has surged over recent months and the tigers habitat is being lost at a very fast rate.  We can still take action to save the tiger population if we can offer them protection, space and enough food the population can increase as rapidly as they are declining.

From 21st to 24th November the Russian Prime Minister, Putin is hosting the first Heads of Government Tiger Summit hosting the leaders of 13 countries where tigers live and the WWF wish to show the Summit that there is a huge level of public support for political action.  A petition is currently running here with a target of 150,000 signatures and at the moment there are 123,408 so we need to urgently push for more signatures before the weekend.

Please sign the petition and then tell your friends by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace....

This really is important so please spare a minute to quickly add your name to support the future of tigers.

Save the Tiger!

Did you know that there are around just 3,200 tigers in the wild at the moment? This is an incredibly small number and unfortunately it is decreasing. Tiger habitat is being lost rapidly and poaching has increased in recent months.

We can do something about this and there is still hope for tigers. They need protection, space and food in order for number to increase.

In 57 days the Tiger Summit is being held in St Petersburg, Russia and the World Wildlife Fund need our help to get as many signatures on their petition in time for this deadline to give tigers a chance.

Action stations!

1. Please sign the petition
2. Then tell your friends
3. Then use Facebook, Twitter, My Space to show your support for the campaign (there is even a nice badge for you to display on your Facebook/Twitter profile photo showing your support)

Read more about WWF's campaign to save the tiger.