When we talk of health and being well, much of the talk is often centred on physical health – but mental health matters too.

And the Royal College of General Practitioners recently revealed that loneliness can be just as bad for our health as illnesses such as diabetes.

More than 1.1 million people in the UK are thought to be chronically lonely, with 17% of older people having human contact less than once a week.

So the RSPCA is urging people who know someone who may be lonely to consider adopting a rescue pet or to volunteer.

The Chief Scientific Officer at the RSPCA, Dr Julia Wrathal, said:  “Adopting a pet can be a fantastic way to combat loneliness and animals can make wonderful companions for those who find themselves alone.”

Pairing people with pets could also help ease pressure on animal charities.  Older pets are hard to re-home, and older people could adopt older pets – they don’t need to take on a youngster.  It’s often the older pets who really just want a loving, caring home with a lap to cuddle up next to, and a stroll around the garden or a short walk around the block.   

There are benefits to adopting a pet:

They make great companions.  There’s someone to meet you when you get home.  Walking a dog is a great way to meet people when you’re out and about.  Dogs mean you need to get out and about for exercise and you can get to meet other dog owners and build up quite a network of people to say hallo to!

Evidence suggests that when we stroke animals - or in the case of dogs, when we just look into their eyes - our bodies release oxytocin, a hormone that brings about bonding between individuals as well as helping us feel more optimistic and lowering blood pressure.  They make us less vulnerable to the physical effects of stress.

That said, owning a pet won’t be for everyone. 

So what do you do if owning a pet long term isn’t for you?

You could volunteer – it’s a great way to meet people and you can build it into a regular routine.  When I volunteered for Cats Protection, an elderly lady used to bring her knitting and radio along to help.  She would sit in the pens of the more nervous cats and knit listening to the radio at one end, and the nervous cat would sit at the other and gradually come to say hallo as she knitted away.  It was a great way to give cats in the cattery human companionship and keep them in touch with people.

You could also foster – a short term arrangement – or longer!   Fosterers are great when kennels and catteries are particularly busy or when there are cats and dogs who aren’t coping with life in a rescue and need more of a homely environment.  Contact your local rescue to see how you can help.

The RSPCA says that interacting with animals can be a great way to overcome loneliness in people – and help animals at the same time! 

And if you’d like to help the elderly with pet care, you could become a volunteer for the Cinnamon Trust who have volunteers all over the UK.  They help with dog walking and all sorts of activities to help the elderly keep their pets, whether the older people live in a care home or in their own homes.  

So I was watching the Invictus Games tonight on the TV and just wanted to tell you about something which caught my eye. 

Introducing Bravehound...

Dogs can help heal invisible wounds.

Bravehound looks to provide companion dogs to veterans and then support the dog and veteran over the dogs’ life.  They try to match suitable veterans with companion dogs and where possible, they willl re-home dogs from an animal welfare charity.  Veterans are supported with pet insurance, feeding and equipment.    

Dogs are really at providing companionship, and encouraging owners to take exercise and have a routine.  They also make it easier for people to talk to each other.  

Scottish based Bravehound is the canine wing of Glen Art, and they support former servicemen and women and their families 

This is really quite a charity and they have already been voted Best Voluntary/Charity Project in the National Lottery Awards.   You can make a donation to help them in their work here. 

There's some amazing work being done by animals all over the world to help people.

A fantastic example is that of donkeys.   The Donkey Sanctuary donkeys are at work in the UK, Sri Lanka and in Italy helping children through donkey therapy.

In the Donkey Sanctuary's newsletter this Spring 2017, we heard about the charity's most recent project.

At the Mannar Assocication for Rehabilitation of Differnently Abled People (MARDAP) in Sri Lanka, children are benefitting from donkey interaction.

The Director of MARDAP, Sister Josephine, noted that in the beginning a child called Murika was reluctant to interact with other children.  But with the help of the donkeys, that began to improve.  And Murika has shown a great love for animals.  Her bond with the donkeys has changed her from a nervous child to a happy, confident one, with a smiling face and a child who loves coming to school.  A child with hand co-ordination issues was seen grooming a donkey.  

The children love to hug the donkeys.  They feed, groom and talk to the donkeys.  It all helps to improve their emotional and physical development.  And adults have benefitted too.

The donkeys have been helped by Bridging Lanka, a charity which works with the large feral donkey population in Sri Lanka.  

The project brings together children at MARDAP’s school with donkeys helped by Bridging Lanka, a charity which works with the large feral donkey population in Sri Lanka. 

Bluto, a rescued donkey at the Donkey Sanctuary's Italian centre, sharies many special moments with residents of a nearby care home.  They love spending time with him - and he enjoys his visits to see them.  

It's wonderful to see the great work so many of these donkeys are doing to help young and old.   Many have been rescued from terrible situations.   There are many ways you can support the Donkey Sanctuary to do their work - find out more here

It's always wonderful to read about schools helping with fundraising towards wildlife and environmental causes.

Reading through my copy of the excellent "Rainforest Review 2017" from Rainforest Concern, I was really excited to see a number of schools supporting the charity.  

Cake sales, farmer's markets, a raffle and rainforest calendars were just a few of the ways in which young people raised funds for this charity. 

The charity reported on 10 schools who did their bit for Rainforest Concern and raised funds - it would be great to see more schools getting involved.

One young supporter raised a very impressive £553, which saved 11 acres of rainforest!  And Angharad is only eight years old!  She ran 20 km over 4 weeks.   A big well done to her :-) 

There some great teacher resources for schools on Rainforest Concern's website which you can find here, and there are even Amazonas Comics for the children too!

It costs £50 to sponsor one acre of rainforest.  If you sponsor an acre, Rainforest Concern will give you a personalised certificate recording your sponsorship and regular updates on their progress.  Your sponsorship will protect many plants and animals who need rainforest to live in.  Click here for more information.

Snow leopards live high in the mountains of Central Asia.

There are only about 4,000 of these wonderful big cats left, due to habitat loss, retaliating killings and poaching.  On average, a snow leopard is killed a day by poachers or local communities trying to protect their livestock.  Much of the big cats' home is at risk because of development and exploitation.

Back in 2013, the leaders from all 12 countries in the snow leopard habitat pledged to secure at least 20 snow leopard landscapes of Asia by 2020.

And in August 2017, the 12 countries are all meeting for Kyrgyzstan for the International Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Forum. 

This high-level event aims to do two things, according to the website:

1. To further strengthen the range countries’ ongoing effort to protect the snow leopard, and
2. To galvanize international support for their ambitious plan of securing 20 snow leopard landscapes by the year 2020.

They need to act to save snow leopards before it is too late.  It's vital to secure snow leopard landscapes with the support of local communities, to tackle illegal trade and make sure we build a future in which snow leopards can survive.

There is a petition, on Care2.com's Petitions website, urging the snow leopard country leaders to pledge concrete action when they meet in August.  

Sign the petition to pledge these leaders to take concrete action to save snow leopards at their August meeting.