It’s been quite a week for gorillas, thanks to Reddit’s WallStreetBets (WSB) community.  It’s the group behind the GameStop Movement.

Imagine - 3,500 gorillas have been adopted!

In short, Reddit investors have adopted 3,500 gorillas in just six days to help the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.   That’s an incredible investment!

Normally, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International have about 20 new adoptions on a weekend, so this is truly quite an astonishing leap up!

And it started with one post...

It all started to happen on Friday.  A member of the WSB community posted that they had sent a donation to Dian Fossey Fund International which allowed them to adopt their own gorilla.   The charity protects endangered mountain gorillas. 

And the post was upvoted over 112,000 times – members of the WSB community followed suit and adopted a gorilla!

Not only that, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International received  over $350,000 (£252,000) in donations as well!

It’s wonderful to see people wanting to do their bit and it just shows what can be done when one person sows the seed and drops an idea into a community.

A huge thank you to the Reddit WSB community for supporting the apes!  Dr Stoinski from the charity thanked WSB for their amazing support – the video was posted and upvoted over 159,000 times!

Essentially, the Fund works in four ways:

1. Daily protection of the gorillas
2. Scientific research
3. Education Conservationists
4. Helping Communities
   
   

Visit the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

How you can help gorillas

Adopt a gorilla here

Shop in their store here for gorilla products and support the Fund that way

Find out more about the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

Spread the word #gorilla and on social media

Twitter:  @SavingGorillas

Facebook:  @SavingGorillas

Instagram

Just donate whatever you can

Source:  BBC News

The Snow Leopard Trust has set up a telephone hotline service in northern India.

It’s a line local communities can call if they need help managing problems with snow leopards.

They’ve had a number of calls already, including an important call from a village called Gue. 

There had been five snow leopard attacks there in one week, resulting in the loss of 76 goats.  This was a terrible blow to the community of Gue – and of course to the goats.

The Snow Leopard Trust’s field team were able to get permission to travel to Gue, where they assessed the situation and then shipped materials so that the most vulnerable corrals could be reinforced.

They returned again to predator-proof ten corrals.  

The idea behind the corrals is that they secure livestock at night, locked away safely from predators such as snow leopards.   They also create more interest in the Trust’s conservation work and enhance tolerance of snow leopards.

Find out more about the Snow Leopard Trust here and the work they are doing on corrals and predator protection here.

And here are ways to get involved and help.

The Trust is celebrating its 40^th anniversary this year.

Take action on toxic air!

There are a couple of petitions you may want to sign – or at least look at – which are aiming to move the planet in the direction of having cleaner air and stopping toxic air.

Asthma UK:   We want clean air!

Asthma UK is asking us all to take action on toxic air and tell our leaders that we want CLEAN air.  It has a petition for new, life-saving clean air plans. 

The charity says that over 6 million people who are older than 65 are at a greater risk of breathing problems and experiencing asthma attics or flare-ups of COPD because of living in areas that are heavily polluted.

You may remember a land-mark case last year; air pollution was cited for the first time anywhere on a death certificate.   An inquest heard of the role toxic air had played in the death of nine year old London girl Ella Kissi-Debrah as her asthma got worse. 

Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation have produced a report called The invisible threat:  how we can protect people from air pollution and create a fairer, healthier society.  Their petition is asking us all to show support for new life-saving clean air plans

Stop this Toxic Treaty Now!

Avaaz also has a petition called Stop this Toxic Treaty now

Avaaz says that just as many countries are at last taking action to protect the planet, fossil fuel giants are suing governments for billions.

You see, the Energy Charter Treaty was designed to encourage energy companies to invest in developing economies.   Unfortunately, it’s being weaponised, as Avaaz calls it, to sue countries which try to shut down toxic coal plants and oil rigs.   Avaaz further say that companies have already won over $50 billion from taxpayer funds.

However, there is hope.

There’s a plan to stray this treaty.   Italy has withdrawn.  France and Spain and others are calling on the treaty to go. 

Please add your voice to Avaaz’s petition and fuel a revolt.  We need to act on climate change and get rid of toxic air.

We are all affected by toxic air, both animals and people, so let’s put pressure on those in charge to make decisions which help clean up the planet.

Update:   Fantastic News!

The fundraiser hit its target (it was £716 in the end) and now the tigers' solar pumps can be mended so that they, and other wildlife in the area, have water to drink.   The background story is below.

However, it's not too late to donate to give tigers water!  Tigers4ever have another Global Giving campaign called Water For Bandhavgarh's Tigers - Reducing Conflict and they still need donations for that.  Read the background to this appeal here.

Background Story....

A herd of wild elephants have moved to Bandhavgarh.  And they have been very naughty and destroyed two solar pumps which power the borewell pumps at two waterhole sites.

The tigers in the area are more than a bit miffed, and they are worried, too, because the drought season is rapidly approaching, and they need water to survive.  As do many other animals in the area.

As a result of the elephants’ actions, the tigers need the solar pumps to be mended and of course they don’t have any money.

Please will you help the tigers?

It’s easy to do.  

Tigers4ever, an amazing charity which works to give tigers a future, has a Global Giving campaign. They need to raise £803, and you can contribute to the campaign here. 

Tigers4ever aim to do two things with this campaign:

1. Replace the broken solar panels so that water under the ground can be pumped to the surface again – then the animals will have a source of water and won’t need to go into villages looking for water.
   
   
2. Put up fencing around the solar pump that’s elephant proof so that the solar pumps will be protected.   They are looking at using chilli fences and beehive fences to deter the elephants but these will need to be funded.

Anyway, the tigers and the other animals in the area would really appreciate your help.  They want and need access to water to survive and thrive.  Please help them and contribute towards giving them water.

Please donate to help the tigers' ongoing water appeal here

Have you ever stopped to think about the impact rat poison has on rats?

Two inspiring women, one in her teens, have put a website together called Rat Poison Facts to help people understand the impact.

They want to bring an end to animal mistreatment and the poisoning of the ecosystem by stopping the use of rat poison.

So the goal of Rat Poison Facts is to raise awareness:

• How some rodent control methods are inefficient
• How some rodent control methods could be dangerous for children, pets and other wildlife
• How some rodent control can harm our ecosystems
• How cruel and inhumane some methods to get rid of rats can be
• Humane alternatives to dealing with rats

When a rat takes in rat poison, there are all sorts of possible implications for the rat, such as internal bleeding, dehydration and dramatically bloated stomachs from overfeeding substances containing gas).  Death can be very slow and painful.

Rat poison can be dangerous to people as well – young children end up in hospital every year because of it.  Pets may eat it by mistake.

The site has very helpful education resources, with useful links, including how you can get rid of rats in a humane way, with humane ways to keep your house rat-free that work.

You can find more information  on RatPoisonFacts website.