Charities Blog

Giving Something Back

Animal Charities Cheer New Laws On Commercial Pet Fairs

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In the UK, animal rights charities such as the RSPCA and the Pet Care Trust have long been fighting the legality of animals sold during Commercial Pet Fairs. There was great concern that the welfare of animals bought and sold at such temporary events were compromised.

However, a new bill that has just been passed not only bans the sale of animals, but also allows animal lovers to run and participate in these pet fairs without the need for a license.

David Bowles, Head of External Affairs at the RSPCA commented:

“We are delighted that the Government is going to follow the judicial review on pet fairs that concluded that such events are currently illegal under existing legislation and to ensure that new legislation maintains the position that it is illegal to sell animals at temporary commercial events, under the Animal Welfare Bill.

“The RSPCA has attended many commercial pet fairs and has had long standing concerns about the welfare of the animals which are bought and sold in such circumstances.”

“Today’s announcement heralds an important decision on welfare grounds to continue to ban commercial pet fairs in England, and that is very good news for the welfare of the diverse variety of animals now kept in captivity. We would urge the Assembly of Wales to do the same.

“The consultation announced today will also provide the opportunity to clarify what is meant by permitted fairs where animals are not sold in the course of a business. All animals that are bought and sold at temporary fairs are subject to the same welfare needs, and the RSPCA will be seeking to ensure that those needs are recognised in law.”

[tags]charities,animals,rspca,pets,animal welfare,animal protection,laws[/tags]

Originally posted on October 10, 2006 @ 5:18 am

Helping Pets This Holiday Season

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If you love animals, consider giving to a pet or animal charity this holiday season. In your community alone, there are various organizations who need your help. If you live in the UK, a good place to start looking is at Pet Charities website. This comprehensive site has listings of most animal charities in the UK, with contact details.

Here are some ideas that will give brighten up a pet’s life:

1. Animal Rescues and Shelters

These places are always in need of food, blankets, medicine, toys and other supplies. Visit or call your local one and ask what necessities they need most. Also consider putting your time to volunteer, act as a foster home, or better yet, adopt a pet yourself.

2. Animal Welfare Groups

Large organizations like the RSPCA (Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), The American Humane Society or the ASPCA are great places to start off finding ways you can help. Their websites are incredibly comprehensive and organized, and have a lot of facts and information and well as the latest news, programs and interesting stories.

You can even get your children involved by taking them to these sites and asing them how they would like to help. If finding a new family pet is in the picture, take your child to the American Humane Society’s website where they’ll find Clifford The Big Red Dog‘s Adopt a Dog Month.

Older kids can also give part of their allowance each month, or raise funds through selling their old toys, clothes or even having an old fashioned lemonade stand in the yard.
Through their sites, you can create direct debit accounts to give monthly donations, or even shop in their store for some great products which go to a worthy cause.

In the RSPCA shop site for instance, the Holiday Collection is out and worth a look. Here’ll you’ll find a wonderful one-stop-shop for a lot of your holiday needs. Fantastic Christmas cards with adorable illustrations of animals, wrapping paper, card holders, advent calendars, Christmas crackers, chocolate, even decorations for the home and much, much more.

There is also a massive selection of toys and personalised gifts for everyone in the family including pets of course!), as well as many other lovely home, garden and leisure items.

[tags]pets,animal cruelty,christmas,holidays,animal welfare,aspca,rspca[/tags]

Originally posted on November 9, 2006 @ 5:24 am

Saving Sea Turtles in Sri Lanka

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The southern and western coasts of Sri Lanka was once the home of a large number of sea-turtle hatcheries, which did no end of good for the endangered species in its seas. Sadly the tsunami wiped them all out.

When it struck, conservationists were terrified that it would mean the eggs would all be wiped out as the area is a well-known nesting ground for some of the most beautiful sea-turtles in the world. Sri Lanka is home to 5 (of 7 I think) marine turtles , all of whom are endangered: the Loggerhead, Green, Oliver, Hawksbill and Leatherback.

But as luck would have it the nesting time was not in December, and so the turtles we all saved although the facilities were not. When we visited a hatchery a couple of weeks ago, the rebuilding was in progress. In addition, officials are once again engaging local communities in conservation efforts.

As many local fishermen earned their livelihood by illegally poaching turtle eggs, programmes were initiated to turn the “egg poachers” into “egg protectors”. The scheme employs local fishermen to protect natural turtle nesting sites. The project, known as in-situ conservation, gave an alternative means of livelihood to fishing folk, who made a living from tourists’ interest in turtle-watching.

Whats good is that help is greatly appreciated. Here are the details below:

Sea Turtle Conservation in Sri Lanka

Cost in US$: $2895

Cost Includes: The price you pay covers you for the duration of your stay and includes all you food, accommodation, insurance and all of your overseas support whilst you are there. Really the only major cost which is not included is your flight. It is actually quite a cheap way to see a country and to become fully immersed in the culture in a manner which even the most hardened of backpackers could never hope to do. As you have all of your bed and board taken care of you really could get by on next to nothing if you wanted to once you have arrived in your destination country.Experience Required: no
Term: Throughout the year
Length of Position: 4 weeks to 12 months
Durations of Program: 2-4 weeks, 5-8 weeks, 9-12 weeks, 3-6 months and 7-12 months
Typical Duration of Program: 9-12 weeks

Originally posted on August 24, 2006 @ 9:32 am

Bindi To Continue Her Dad’s Wildlife Campaign

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Bindi, the 8-year-old daughter of the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, made millions tear at her stoical speech during her father’s memorial service. Well, the brave little girl is now showing how she plans to continue her father’s legacy by becoming the front person of her father’s wildlide campaign, the Wildlife Warriors Charity.

The new campaign of the charity hopes to raise funds through the sale of green wristbands and dvds of Steve’s memorial service – the proceeds of which will go to saving endangered animals.

Michael Hornby, the Fund manager of the charity says that the campaign was planned and set in motion even before the untimely death of Mr.Irwin, and it will continue now, more than ever as Steve would have wished.

“It’s a project that was actually developed six months ago working with newspapers to try to find an opportunity to provide easy access for everyone to get involved with conservation,” he told ABC Radio.

“With the untimely passing of our good mate, Steve, I guess this project has brought on added meaning.”

[tags]Bindi Irwin,Steve Irwin,Australia,Environment,Wildlife[/tags]

Originally posted on October 14, 2006 @ 2:52 pm