22 February 2007
Campaign to save endangered species to hit streets of East Hampshire
Fundraising representatives from The John Aspinall Foundation will be taking to the streets of East Hampshire next week to raise funds and awareness for their work in the protection of endangered animals.
From Monday 26 February, representatives from the charity will be out in force, visiting homes in the local area and talking to residents about the plight of animals including the western lowland gorilla and the black rhino.
The John Aspinall Foundation is a UK-based charity devoted to protecting endangered species and returning them, where possible, to the wild. The charity continues the work started by the late John Aspinall, a passionate conservationist who began a collection of wild animals in 1957 when he bought the Howletts estate near Canterbury in Kent.
At the time he had belief, a passion and just one tiger, two bears and a monkey. But soon his collection grew and in 1973 he purchased nearby Port Lympne estate to help house his growing groups of animals. In 1975 the estates were opened to the public as wild animal parks and today, thanks to some remarkably successful captive breeding programmes, they are home to more than 1000 animals and 90 different species.
The John Aspinall Foundation supports the parks but also manages a number of conservation projects worldwide. These include two gorilla rescue and rehabilitation projects in Congo and Gabon that are home to more than 40 western lowland gorillas.
The western lowland gorilla, native to west Africa, is at threat of extinction due to an increase in poaching and the bushmeat trade which has left only 50,000 remaining in the wild. Numbers have halved over the last 20 years and if they continue to decrease at the present rate, these animals will be extinct by 2020.
Most of the gorillas at the charity’s projects are orphans of the bushmeat trade that would have been sold illegally as pets, but were confiscated by local ministry officials and handed into the protection of The John Aspinall Foundation’s dedicated professionals. Six of them were actually born at Howletts Wild Animal Park and were transferred back into their natural habitat in August 2003.
John Aspinall’s son Damian says:
‘These incredible creatures belong to us all and it is our responsibility to save them before it’s too late. We at the Foundation have been working hard to protect these animals but unfortunately this work doesn’t come cheaply. It costs an amazing £400,000 each year to run our African projects alone and £100,000 a year just to feed our herd of black rhino.
‘Any donation, however small will help. Just £7 per month could buy the dried milk used to supplement the youngest of the reintroduced gorillas, while £10 a month could help us monitor the bushmeat trade in local market towns. For £15 we could purchase tents, sleeping bags and radio handsets that our staff could use on poaching patrols.
‘Gorillas, rhinos, and other animals that we know and love are on the brink of extinction. If we do not act now our children may never get the chance to see these amazing creatures.
‘Please enable us to continue the work my father started by making a donation, no matter how small. Imagine a world without animals, and help us to help them - before it’s too late.’