How your money is spent

From March 2020, we supported 9 observation-only elephant camps in Thailand, one in Nepal, one in Laos, and one in Cambodia - we paid for the food and care of 85 elephants. The camps are high welfare. This means that in the pre-covid world tourists could observe elephants feeding, grazing and socialising with each other on their own terms.

Elephants Nam Gaew, Asia and Fah Sai at Tree Tops in Thailand. Image credit: Tree Tops

Pakistan

With your help, our partner the Bioresource Research Centre of Pakistan (BRC) continued their high standards of care for the 70 bears living at the Balkasar bear sanctuary. They saved 17 bears from the cruel entertainments of baiting and dancing. Two were confiscated and handed over to the sanctuary and 15 were surrendered to BRC by their owners in exchange for alternative livelihoods. BRC also successfully lobbied for an amendment to the Punjab Wildlife Act. This will increase penalties for cruelty against wild animals and give greater protection for wild and captive bears.

Romania

Our partner Asociatia Milionane de Prieteni (AMP) had to close the Romanian bear sanctuary’s doors to visitors for months and lost its major income stream overnight. So, we launched an emergency appeal to give vital financial support to help feed and care for the bears. Its success ensured they could pay all their operating costs and welcome six more bears rescued from abuse to the sanctuary, bringing the total to 107.

A bear in the snow at Libearty sanctuary, Romania

Through our Change for Chickens campaign, we successfully pressed fast food retailers, supermarkets and producers to give more than 764 million chickens better lives.

We supported the following companies and organisations to sign up to the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC):

• Nando’s UK and KFC Denmark
• Pizza Hut in Europe
• Popeyes in the USA and Canada under the Restaurant Brands International (RBI) umbrella

In November 2020 our Thailand team held a Change for Chickens running event to raise awareness on chicken suffering.

Thousands of distressed and injured animals received emergency aid through vet, care, equipment and food provided to local partners including a mobile triage van.

Our face-to-face and online training and resources helped more than 40,000 people and vets professionals be better prepared to protect animals from future disasters. And research conducted by Macquarie University will be critical in examining how disaster risk reduction and preparedness can be enhanced at a state and federal level.

The three kangaroos Floyd, Noni and Talia at Hunter Wildlife Rescue.