It’s International Orangutan Day on 19^th August and the Orangutan Foundation have a wonderful opportunity for us all to create real impact for orangutans, forests and people!

How can we do this?

By sponsoring an acre of tropical rainforest!   You can protect an acre of essential rainforest habitat for one year from ONLY £2!

 
Please sponsor an acre of rainforest and
  help orangutans this International Orangutan Day.
Image copyright Orangutan Foundation

Sponsorship will directly benefit 5,000 orangutans in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve and Tanjung Putting National Park.  The Orangutan Foundation is aiming to protect 3,000 acres in the run up to International Orangutan Day!

Donations support:

• 500,00 acres of tropical rainforest – we all need tropical rainforest to help keep the balance of nature and keep us all well and healthy
• 5,000 critically endangered orangutans
• 10 forest guard posts in critical orangutan habitat
• 25 Local people directly protecting habitat
• Training in SMART technology to improve forest and wildlife protection

You could also sponsor an acre as a gift to someone who loves orangutans and the natural world.  All you need to do is to leave a name and email address in the “Additional Info” section at checkout.

Please give others the opportunity to sponsor rainforest too – tell everyone you can about it! 

There’s more information about it – just swing over to the Orangutan Foundation’s website!

The charity Free the Bears are busy with rescue bears.  

They rescue sun and moon bears held in captivity in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and they have a couple of bear sanctuaries where they look after the bears.  

Last week, they took a tiny male moon bear cub- Laos Rescue 122 - into their care.  He was an orphan and very traumatised, and weighed only 8.5 kg. 

The little cub was spotted high up in a tree in the capital of Laos, Vientiane.  Free the Bears think he probably escaped illegal wildlife traders who were trying to sell him in the city after poachers killed his mum.

Visit Free the Bears to find out more about them.
Image ©Free the Bears

Visit Free the Bears You Tube Channel
to see videos of rescues and of the rescued bears.

This tiny bear is cowering in the corner of his quarantine den and Free the Bears say it is going to take a lot of expert, loving care to help him recover.  He’ll be in quarantine for a month, and then he may be introduced to a couple of other cubs who have also been rescued recently.  This should help him recover and develop. 

But there’s more – Free the Bears have heard of a juvenile female mon bear, orphaned, and being held in a tiny cage.  She is in the far north of Laos and she looks desperate.  Free the Bears are working with government partners to sort out a rescue which hopefully will take place at the end of the week.

You can help these bears and Free the Bears help the bears by making a small donation or sending a Cub Care Kit to help Laos Rescue #122 – the little moon bear rescued up a tree. The kits are £19 each.

Why not be a bear carer? (This is from £5 a month) or consider volunteering with Free the Bears? 

Let’s help Free the Bears help free the bears – and care for them afterwards!

Find out more from their website.

The 29^th July is World Tiger Day (also known as International Tiger Day and Global Tiger Day).  It's an opportuniity to celebrate tigers, one of the world's most iconic big cats. 

Today, the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF)** reports that there are only 4,500 tigers left in the wild today –a decrease from 100,000 in a century and three subspecies have become extinct.  There are more tigers in captivity around the world than in the wild, bred for consumption and entertainment. 

Threats to tigers include:

1. The illegal wildlife trade in both tigers and tiger parts – captive breeding facilities have made things much worse
2. Habitat loss -tiger habitat has decreased by 93% - all species need the right sort of habitat to survive and thrive, and it needs to be protected habitat
3. Human-wildlife conflict 

The illegal wildlife trade is using wild and captive tigers to meet the demand for their body parts.  As the tigers are now so scarce in the wild, cruel and dirty tiger farms make these body parts far easier to source.

Please help the DSWF shed light on the dark side
of the illegal tiger trade today. 

Find out more about the 
David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation's Tiger Appeal

David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation launches a Tiger Appeal:

DSWF supports frontline tiger conservation initiatives in India, Thailand and Russia and provides funding for undercover investigations and exposés into the illegal wildlife trade. DSWF have launched a Tiger appeal to raise vital funds to fight the illegal trade in tigers.

By donating today, you can provide funding to debunk myths on the use of animal by-products in traditional medicine, fund anti-poaching rangers and fund undercover investigations to disrupt criminal networks involved in the illegal tiger trade.  Donate Here

Find more information on tigers and how the DSWF is helping them here.

Visit the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation here.

**DSWF is a UK registered charity no 1106893.

The RSPB and the Co-op have announced a three year partnership to protect carbon stores through the restoration and long-term management of UK peatland.

The focus will be upland peatland in Scotland and Wales which are owned by the RSPB, also supported by the National Peatland Action Programme in Wales and Peatland ACTION in Scotland.  These areas are about the same size as 400 football pitches.

In the UK, peatlands store about 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon and they provide vital habitats for wildlife and reduce flood risk.  But 80% of the peatlands in the UK are degraded, and without any intervention to repair and preserve them, their greenhouse gas emissions could exceed the equivalent of 20 million tonnes of CO2 a year. 

The Co-op’s initial investment is £1 in 2023, and it’s funded via sales of compostable carrier bags in its stores.  It’s part of the Co-op’s Climate Plan commitments to fund UK natural restoration. 

The Co-op has reduced the carbon emissions of its operations by 56% since 2016, and back in 2021, it was the first supermarket to ban the sale of peat-based compost from its stores, with only peat free alternatives available to customers.

The benefits of the project will be:

• To restore and maintain actively eroding peatland
• To create the conditions needed for the areas to recover
• The protection of natural habitats for wildlife
• Potentially, improving water quality and reducing flood risk by regulating water flow

The two areas involved are Cerniau at RSPB Lake Vymwy in Powys, Wales, which is the largest area of blanket bog and European dry heath in Wales.  It’s a vital area for breeding birds and it supports species such as the Hen Harrier, the Merlin, the Peregrine and Red Kite.

Lumbister at RSPB Yell is on one of Shetland’s most northern islands, and home to upland waders such as Snipe, Dunlin, Golden Plover, Curlew and Whimbrel, as well as the Arctic Skua, the Great Kua, Red-throated Divers, and otters.  Round-leaved Sundew and Butterwort and Sphagnum moss are also to be found there.

The RSPB’s Executive Director for Income and Conservation Investment, Rebecca Munro, said that “Businesses have a vital role to play in the transition to net zero and we are excited to be working with Co-op to protect and restore some of our most precious upland sites to make sure these places are delivering for our climate, whilst also providing a lasting home for our wildlife.”

Guy Stuart, Director of Sustainability, Techhoical and Agriculture, Co-op, said “We are in the grip of a climate and environment emergency, a crisis which is of humankind’s making.  Around the world we are seeing shocking water shortages, floods, extreme heat and biodiversity losses.  We need to decarbonise and quickly”.

Mr Stuart noted that we can reduce carbon far faster than we are at the moment through co-operation, and this partnership between the RSPB and the Co-op can play a part in helping to avoid carbon emissions.  Repairing peatlands will increase carbon stores.

Useful resources:

• The RSPB Press release about the project
• The Co-op Press release about it
• The Co-op’s Climate Plan Commitments
• RSPB LakeVymwy
• National Peatland Action Programme, Wales:   This is a 5 year plan of peatland restoration in Wales. 
• Peatland ACTION, Scotland:   This is a national programme to restore peatlands across Scotland.
  
  
  

"12 birds to save your life: nature's lessons in happiness"
 is available from the RSPB Shop for £10.99.