Born Free - Wildlife Times - Jan 2018

WILDLIFE TIMES

Magazine

JANUARY 2018

The magazine for people who are wild about animals

LOCKED UP FOR LIFE? we challenge zoos & seek a kinder fuTure

TINY MONKEY RESCUE uk MarMoseTs need a hoMe

LONG-LEGGED LIFELINE sTick your neck ouT for giraffes

PLUS

• The orca sTory • a prickly subjecT • lion love – aT lasT! • Muddy’s baby KEEP WILDLIFE IN THE WILD

WELCOME

“ Our work must continue relentlessly, while wild animals suffer because of us, while species are threatened by senseless human greed.”

From Will Travers OBE

dear friends you should never ignore your roots! ours started with our challenge to the captive exploitation of wildlife - so no surprises our ‘beyond the bars’ theme continues to take centre stage in this outstanding edition of Wildlife Times. we've been busy - and so have you: helping rescue marmoset monkeys for cornwall’s Monkey sanctuary (p8), protecting threatened giraffe in niger (p16), caring for sick and injured uk wildlife (p26).

Thirteen years ago we started helping the zambia primate project return monkeys to the wild (p28). and 25 years after we helped end the keeping of orca and dolphins in captivity in britain, we now address the challenge worldwide (p22). our team share their views and expertise, we welcome a new ceo at born free usa (p31) and, of course, don't miss virginia's unique take on the world around us (p30). yes, roots are vitally important. They sustain the tree they support. if born free was likened to a tree then, thanks to your help and encouragement, we'd be a mighty oak!

president will@bornfree.org.uk @willtravers

© www.margotraggettphotography.com

COVER STORY

© g Roberts

© J Mcarthur/BFF

best as ever

PS. To mark this special year focussed on captivity, we’ve reprinted our seminal book 'Beyond the Bars'.

Limited edition – see back cover.

Rhinos are ancient creatures, virtually unchanged for 50 million years. But today just 29,000 remain in the wild. Born Free campaigns to end captive exploitation and fights the illegal global trade in rhino horn. aided by ‘Remembering Rhinos’ (p14) we focus on conservation initiatives, protecting rhinos in the wild.

Cover photo © B Jaschinski/BFF

P4 Over to you your letters, photos, poems, fundraising and more!

P8 Captivity cover story Rescuing tiny monkeys, thanks to you

In this issue of Wildlife Times

© T Money

CONTENTS

P8 Treated like a toy

P13 News cover story Lion love – at last! Muddy’s baby.

Life-size animal art

© H Roland

P16 Conservation cover story Stick your neck out for giraffes!

P22 Big Picture cover story The orca story. Four-page special P26 Rescue & Care cover story Don’t forget the little guys – uK rescue

P16 Stick your neck out!

P30 Virginia’s page Thoughts from our Founder

© M Bostock

P31 Born Free worldwide Kenya, South africa, Sri Lanka, uSa and more P34 Business friends & holidays

P26

P35 Recent events

P36 Beyond the Bars book

P22 Where orca belong

Prickly subject – UK rescue

The Born Free Foundation is an international wildlife charity devoted to wild animal welfare and compassionate conservation. Born Free works to end captive exploitation and keep wildlife in the wild, where it belongs!

Wildlife Times is published by the Born Free Foundation iSSn 1351_9212 Managing editor: Will Travers, will@bornfree.org.uk editor: Celia nicholls, celia@bornfree.org.uk Designed by: Claire Stanford, claire@bornfree.org.uk Born Free Foundation, Broadlands Business Campus, Langhurstwood Road, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 4QP. 01403 240170 info@bornfree.org.uk www.bornfree.org.uk The Born Free Foundation is a Registered Charity no. 1070906 Printed by 4 Print Ltd, Tel 020 8941 0144 This publication is printed on Satimatt green supplied by ebbs Tel: 020 8893 1144 The views expressed in Wildlife Times are not necessarily those of Born Free. if you have any comments or issues you would like to raise, please write to the Managing editor at the address above.

JanuaRy 2018 | CONTENTS 03

© a Reding

P35 Wild about Dan Richardson

Your photos, letters, poems and more.

OVER TO YOU

Big Cat Nap

Contented kitty Maddie was chosen ‘top cat’ from hundreds of entries in our annual photo competition, raising funds to protect big cats in the wild.

YOUR LETTERS Star letter The film ‘an elephant Called Slowly’ is delightful, though knowing Pole Pole’s fate (she died at London zoo) it makes me cry. Hope her story continues to inspire and help all our dreams for elephants come true.

Donna Mackenzie

To buy the film visit give.bornfree.org.uk/shop (£10).

Virginia McKenna’s tribute on george adamson Day was beautiful. His love, gentleness and compassion left their mark. He was the Father of Lions. The world needs more people like him.

Mary Shabbot see bornfree.org.uk/blog 04 OVER TO YOU | JanuaRy 2018

YOUR PHOTOS Thank you Ros Crematy for your affectionate lion brothers portrait, taken in kenya’s Masai Mara.

i’m a life-long fan of Virginia McKenna and live close to the Moray Firth, so finally decided to contribute by adopting and taking part in your dolphin competition (p14).

Dagmar Gros The new look magazine gets a 10/10 from me - a fantastic read. On a recent safari, seeing animals with no fence was life-changing. no more zoos for me, all animals should be wild and free.

Archie Montgomerie Litter is a big part of pollution, this can cause animals serious harm. They may become trapped in the waste, or swallow litter, get their heads stuck in jars and bottles, and old fishing wire can strangle wildlife. This must stop!

Year 4, Middlethorpe Primary Academy i feel upset and helpless about the amount of animal cruelty that goes on, but try to do my bit whenever i can and notice how online petitions reach so many people and get positive actions.

Carole Wollard

YOUR COMMENTS:

Maren Dallman Once they’ve killed all the badgers and realise they haven’t killed bovine TB, which species will be next up for extinction?

YOUR COMMENTS:

Geraldine Siggery We’re supposed to be a nation of animal-lovers. So why are we keeping primates as pets in cages, they should live free.

GET IN TOUCH We love hearing from you, so please send us your thoughts on the magazine, your poetry and your wildlife photos (up to 3mb).

• Write to Celia nicholls, editor, Wildlife Times, Born Free Foundation (address details p3) • email celia@bornfree.org.uk

YOUR POEMS

YOUR GIFTS

Badger

By Richard Bonfield Painted with strokes of moonlight The badger shuffles from the dark Like a part of the dark advancing The night-sky Caught in ambling time-lapse Stars spark from his town-lit eyes As this confederate of the constellations This charcoal woodsman Prowls his monochrome kingdom Drifting down the path between dusk and dawn Melting with the morning Like night fog Lifting

Your donations really add up! every pound you give to our appeals makes a positive difference – thank you.

Beyond the Bars - new year 2017, to tackle captive exploitation. Raised

£46,405 To purchase ‘wildness’ poems by richard, with paintings by pollyanna pickering (£8.99) visit give.bornfree.org.uk/shop

Rehome Ciam and Nelson spring 2017, to take two lions to africa. Raised

£86,366 Louise Jones i was shocked by the numbers of primates kept as uK pets. We need to raise awareness that this cruel trade happens right here.

YOUR STUFF!

© richardsymonds.co.uk

Can you help? Our team at Shamwari, South Africa (p31) need these items as they care for beautiful Shada (below) and our other rescued big cats: • eight walkie-talkie (two-way) radios for contact between our rescue centres • Two heavy duty cordless drills with spare batteries for maintenance • 2nd hand or new ‘rugged’ mobile phones eg CaT S60 • Two tablets for educational work • Steel toe boots, uK sizes 3, 7, 8 & 9 Visit bornfree.org.uk/wishlist for our full list. All items in good condition and delivered to Horsham please.

Contact Tarnya on tarnya@bornfree.org.uk

YOUR COMMENTS:

Steve Brant i was inspired by the film ‘Born Free’ as a child and delighted your organisation continues to do important work for our animal friends.

YOUR COMMENTS:

Alan Siddell “never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world, indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

£1 coins go extinct autumn 2017, old pound coins save rare species. Raised

£4,258 Give tiny monkeys a home autumn 2017, help to rescue ex-pets. So far raised

£7,000 bornfree.org.uk/marmoset

kept as a plaything

“I know that you, our loyal and generous supporters, think as we do. That is why I thank you with all my heart.”

Virginia McKenna OBE JanuaRy 2018 | OVER TO YOU 05

© T Money

YOUR COMMENTS:

OVER TO YOU YOUR WILDLIFE FUNDRAISING

Soren Decraene ran Switzerland’s 35km Eiger trail in under six hours raising £465.

You’ve been having Wild Fun raising funds – thanks to each of you!

Richard Barr’s epic Land’s end to John O’groats bike-ride raised £330.

Star fundraiser Superstar Sarah Locke is taking her training for this april’s London marathon very seriously. assistant to Born Free’s President Will Travers, Sarah will first tackle africa’s tallest mountain, climbing the mighty Kilimanjaro, in February (p34). “It’s a big challenge but a once in the lifetime opportunity.” she explained.

Sponsor Sarah’s epic effort at bornfree.org.uk/sarah

2nd Alnwick Brownies’ coffee evening included cakes and tombola and raised £44.

Sandra Dornizio’s 70-mile triathlon ended with a run up Ben Nevis and raised £1,935.

Michelle and Nita’s Walk 4 Wildlife 20km South Downs trek raised £760.

a cake sale by 12-year old Bilal, Dara, Matty, Seb and Thomas at Kingston’s Rokeby School raised £360.

You can help: Visit bornfree.org.uk/ wildfun for our online fundraising pack and bornfree.org.uk/fundraisers for our full list of your fundraising.

Greta Iori organised a bootcamp and raised £430 for our projects in ethiopia.

06 OVER TO YOU | JanuaRy 2018

Joanne Bartholomew events Manager joanne@bornfree.org.uk 01403 340170

RAFFLE

NEW EVENTS 2018

Thanks for buying tickets! our beyond the bars raffle raised £22,606 to help stop captive exploitation, while our giraffle raised £17,903 to protect rare giraffes in the wild (p16).

© a Bhatwadekar

We’d love to see you!

YOU SPEAK OUT!

Throughout February ‘Feel the Roar!’ anywhere you like!

This virtual race is a 20k run, walk, cycle or tri, with 20% of every entry fee donated to our lion projects. bornfree.org.uk/events 22nd April Virgin London Marathon Fundraise for Born Free if you have your own place, or come and cheer our gallant Run Wild team, including Sarah Locke (p6).

12th May Just Walk chichester With distances from 10k-60k, across Sussex’s breathtaking South Downs visit: www.just-walk.co.uk and choose to raise funds for Born Free.

Thanks to all of you who joined the Make Badger Culling & Fox Hunting History march on Downing Street, London, organised by a coalition of animal groups last august. great speeches included Born Free’s Will Travers and Mark Jones (above), with lots of positive, in-depth coverage in national press. With your help we also supported the Japan Dolphin Day march in September to protest about Taiji’s brutal annual hunts, with speakers including Born Free’s Dominic Dyer. not only are up to 2,000 dolphins killed each year, but some endure perhaps worse suffering - torn from family to be trained by withholding food, then sold to captive marine parks around the world.

FIVE FREE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED 1. Sign up for enews For the latest wild stories, rescue news and campaign reports each month - bornfree.org.uk/enews 2. Connect with us

Join our family on social media! .Facebook – bornfreefoundation Twitter - @bornfreefdn Instagram - @bornfreefoundation

3. Videos you’ll love enjoy wild films, rescue footage, animal videos and team interviews YouTube - bornfreefoundation 4. Be inspired Will Travers and colleagues speaks out for animals in their regular blogs bornfree.org.uk/blog 5. Your wild child animal facts and wild fun for under 13s, with email mini mags each month bornfree.org.uk/wildcrew

11th June Piano recital Cadogan Hall, London enjoy the music of internationally acclaimed classical pianist and composer Panos Karan, at one of London’s leading convert venues. To benefit children and wildlife.

23rd June Summer Ball park view palace hotel, southend on sea Dinner, dancing and entertainment in aid of Born Free, tickets £50.

10th-22nd July Love and Protection art exhibition & auction nature in art museum & gallery, sandhurst, gloucestershire enjoy gary Hodges’ world-renowned pencil wildlife art, with Private View and hand-embellished print auction

by TV’s James Lewis 21st July.

Find out more Please visit bornfree.org.uk or contact joanne@bornfree.org.uk or 01403 240170.

JanuaRy 2018 | OVER TO YOU 07

FAR FROM HOME Thanks to your support, Born Free is taking action to help rescue tiny monkeys and end the uK’s cruel trade in ‘pet’ primates. Chris Draper reports.

a

© T Money

few weeks ago we got in touch to tell you about three marmosets – Coco, Kiki and Jerry. Taken from their mothers when just weeks old, these small monkeys had been hand-reared, sold as ‘pets’, then kept in bird-cages and fed inappropriate diets.

The tiny trio were in a shocking state and urgently needed a proper home and expert care. your response was instant.

To date you have helped us raise £7,000

‘Marmosets need family and forest, not isolation and furniture’ 08 CAPTIVITY | JanuaRy 2018

to help our friends at Wild Futures build a rescue facility for marmosets at their Monkey Sanctuary in Cornwall.

The 18cm marmoset monkey is the smallest victim of the uK’s primate trade. at least 5,000 primates are kept as pets, including hundreds of marmosets, as well as squirrel monkeys, capuchins and lemurs. But this growing trade is unregulated – for many species you don’t

need a licence to buy or sell. you can purchase a monkey, on a whim, by walking into a high-street pet shop or with a few clicks online.

The trade is fuelled by greed, with one marmoset selling for up to £1,200, but problems are widespread. Breeders promote the myth they are easy to keep, but these intelligent animals have complex needs and are extremely difficult to care

CAPTIVITY

for. Owners can be cruel through simple ignorance and monkeys quickly grow unmanageable. Once the initial thrill is over they are left to suffer - bored and lonely in small, inadequate cages.

You can help Coco You can still donate to our appeal at bornfree.org.uk/marmoset and sign our petition at bornfree.org.uk/psp

With animal welfare colleagues, including Wild Futures, Born Free is campaigning to persuade the uK government to update the Pet animals act (largely unchanged since 1951) and ban the keeping of all primates as pets. Our work to investigate and challenge the exotic pet industry includes significant reports, a major conference, and our petition to end ‘Petshop Primates’ signed by over 57,000 people.

WE DON’T MAKE GOOD PETS • Marmosets are social, highly intelligent and have complex needs • Can become aggressive when mature • Quickly become unmanageable, can bite and attack their owners • Can live for 20 years • Can scent mark extensively • Prone to bone disease caused by poor diet © T Money

The funds you kindly donated to our appeal will help us continue this important campaign and end the uK’s cruel primate trade. you will also help Wild Futures complete a brand new complex of indoor and outdoor enclosures for Coco, Kiki and Jerry, and rescue many other marmosets in need.

The stimulating new environment will provide natural vegetation, branches, ropes, platforms and hiding places, where these delicate monkeys can express natural behaviours and spend their days socialising with others of their own kind. Thank you for the part you are playing in turning this wonderful vision into a reality.

WHERE WE BELONG

© M nicol

Chris Draper head of animal welfare and captivity chris@bornfree.org.uk

© Wild Futures

yet marmosets kept as pets retain the same instincts and needs as their wild counterparts. unlike cats and dogs, they are not ‘domesticated’. They struggle to cope with the confinement and constant human contact in our homes. it is time for the keeping of and trade in marmosets and other primates to end.

sociable, playful and curious, marmosets evolved to live with their families in brazil’s lush rainforest. agile climbers, these intelligent tropical monkeys forage for plant gums, fruit, flowers and insects, and communicate with an intricate language of gestures and vocalisations.

JanuaRy 2018 | CAPTIVITY 09

ZOO NEWS

© C Fiderer

Here in the uK, zoos are in the news for all the wrong reasons. This year alone has seen numerous animal breakouts, including a cheetah at Port Lympne, an orangutan at Chester zoo and a wolf at Cotswold Wildlife Park eventually shot dead close to a main road. Other escapees include an otter at Blue Planet aquarium, a red panda at edinburgh zoo and, most recently, a lynx from Borth Wild animal Kingdom in Wales, also shot dead. Wild animals should never be exploited in captivity, but while zoos exist they have a duty to keep their animals safe – a duty they are widely failing to meet. SG

shot dead in wales – a eurasian lynx

YOUR VOICE

help stop such cruelty

For 33 years Born Free has investigated the welfare of captive wild animals worldwide with visits to thousands of zoos, dolphinaria and circuses - recording poor conditions, deprivation and abuse.

But your reports are also invaluable. We hear from a diverse mix - whether zoo-lovers or haters, tourists, students or campaigners - all united by concern for the individual animals you encounter. you don’t need to witness cruelty firsthand to take action. One supporter recently noticed an elephant trek included in the itinerary of a ‘mindfulness retreat’ holiday in Thailand. She raised concern directly with the company: “Training methods are extraordinarily cruel, designed to break the spirit of a beautiful wild animal.

This seems wholly contrary to your ethos and I respectfully ask you to reconsider.” and they listened! after receiving similar complaints they dropped the activity.

© georgelogan.co.uk

MY VIEW In my time as a vet, I’ve seen first-hand the misery many wild animals experience in captivity, and the devastation capturing wild animals for the captive trade can cause. Wild animals aren’t designed to live behind bars in zoos and circuses, or in people’s homes. They can’t possibly be provided with their complex physical, emotional or social needs, which we often don’t even begin to fully understand. Most live foreshortened lives and many suffer serious physical, behavioural and emotional problems. Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, and their son Will, started Born Free because of their concerns for elephants and other wild animals in zoos. Those concerns are as relevant today as ever – keep wildlife in the wild!

10 CAPTIVITY | JanuaRy 2018

You can make a difference. Born Free received a report about a small uK zoo: “I was concerned about a porcupine surrounded by corrugated metal with no stimulation. Conditions seemed inhumane”. Born Free contacted the local authority responsible for licensing the zoo and ‘improvements’ were made. But it’s not enough. Staggeringly, a uK zoo is only formally inspected every three to four years. Born Free calls for an urgent re-evaluation of the licensing regime, including the establishment of a full-time, independent inspectorate.

You can help: Send your reports via bornfree.org.uk/TAA or send us a letter.

Sarah Jefferson Captivity Programme information Officer sarahj@bornfree.org.uk

“Wild animals aren’t designed to live behind bars.”

Dr Mark Jones Vet and associate Director mark@bornfree.org.uk

KIND TRAVEL

W

ild animals are a passion for a great many of us, and nowhere is that more evident than the travel industry. Vast numbers of people spend hard-earned cash journeying halfway around the world to witness wildlife spectacles or have close encounters with animals. There has been a global explosion of opportunities for tourists to get up close and personal with wildlife - both captive and wild. Travellers are bombarded with offers to swim with dolphins, pet lion cubs, ride elephants and much more.

CAPTIVITY

their skins ending up as trophies in living rooms across the globe, their skeletons sold into the asian market for medicinal purposes. it is heart-breaking that animalloving travellers, often unknowingly, actually support such an industry.

breed their animals unless destined for reintroduction, and put their needs and welfare first and foremost. Visitors, if allowed, are escorted - and hopefully educated - in small groups, with a respectful distance maintained. a good rule of thumb? if you can touch, ride, pet or hand-feed a wild animal, the conservation credentials of that project will be slim to non-existent, and negative impacts on animals’ welfare considerable. if it seems too good to be true, it probably is! CD

There will always be those willing to exploit animals and unsuspecting tourists for profit, but fortunately there are others working tirelessly to protect and rescue animals. genuine sanctuaries do not

But it is all too easy to overlook the lives animals may endure to offer this ‘oncein-a-lifetime’ experience. Lion cubs don’t need a parade of unfamiliar humans bottle-feeding them - they need their mothers. elephants don’t need help bathing – they can manage just fine without enthusiastic tourists popping in.

‘A cub needs her mum, not a tourist’s cuddles’

© L zebest

and the negative impact does not stop there. Take ‘walking with lions’ - South africa alone has 200 breeding facilities, with 6,000-8,000 captive lions. yet these ‘farms’ exploit the animals they breed for profit throughout their lives, not just by offering drop-in tourists the chance to cuddle cubs, but also through paid volunteering opportunities to ostensibly further ‘lion conservation’. and at the end?

The same, near-tame lions killed in fenced enclosures by gun-toting ‘canned’ hunters;

© www.georgelogan.co.uk

© www.georgelogan.co.uk

CaPTiViTy NEWS IN BRIEF

You won’t believe your eyes

Don’t tell me lies

Don’t miss this!

When digital poster sites nationwide turned into life-size orca tanks, shoppers donated to ‘free an orca’. now you can watch their glorious swim to freedom at bornfree.org.uk/tankfree

narrated by Virginia McKenna, animated film #StopDolphinaria tells the real-life story of Kohana the orca, Jordi the dolphin and Kairo the beluga, each captive in Spain bornfree.org.uk/tankfree

Must-see documentary, ‘inside the Tanks’, delivers an engaging and thoughtprovoking behind the scenes glimpse into europe’s captive cetacean industry. View at bornfree.org.uk/tankfree JanuaRy 2018 | CAPTIVITY 11

pe Mak rfe es ct a gif t!

Just

£2.50 per month

FREE cuddly toy

Personalised gift pack + regular updates

OCEAN BEAUTY Adopt a marine animal today!

© P Richardson/MCS

You’ll help keep them safe AND fund their species’ conservation

Muddy the dolphin

Springer the orca

The Turtle Family

our bottlenose Muddy lives in scotland’s Moray firth with her babies. she’s a great mum and has had seven calves, including hiccup, born in 2014, and new baby Moonshine, born in october 2016.

springer lives with her wild family in the waters near canada’s vancouver island. despite being orphaned when just two years old, springer is another brilliant mum and has two calves.

green turtles are ancient reptiles, unchanged for 200 million years. This endangered family lives in the warm waters off Tanzania’s Mafia island and nests on the white sandy beaches.

To adopt call 01403 240170 or visit bornfree.org.uk/adopt

WILD NEWS How your support has been helping keep wildlife in the wild.

LOVE AT LAST

© BF Shamwari

It’s taken at while, but at long last affectionate Achee has won stand-offish Sinbad’s heart.

Introduced two years ago in South Africa, our rescued lions (p31) are most definitely an item, and are now inseparable!

BEYOND THE BARS

Joanna with Oona, puppet star of Michael Mopurgo’s ‘Runnng Wild’

an array of celebrity friends and supporters joined Virginia McKenna and Will Travers for our ‘Beyond the Bars’ gala event at London’s Royal Horticultural Halls in november. Founder Patron Joanna Lumley, led an emotional tribute to our Founder Bill Travers, while an auction by TV’s James Lewis included a stunning live painting by Sherree Valentine Daines and walk-on parts in iTV’s smash hit Doc Martin, donated by Patron Martin Clunes. guests enjoyed a delicious indian-inspired menu by Quilon’s Sriram aylur, before dancing the night away to disco favourites Odyssey. Full report in our next magazine.

nasorro Shahame is a busy man.

Conservation Officer for Sea Sense, he’s just recorded his 2,000th protected green turtle nest on Juani island - Tanzania’s most important site for these ancient marine reptiles. That’s over 150,000 baby hatchlings safely reaching the sea thanks to nasorro’s care!

Safely in the sea

our adopted baby dolphin who lives with mum Muddy in scotland’s Moray firth now has a name, thanks to our competition winner james blackburn from edinburgh.

JanuaRy 2018 | NEWS 13

© Sea Sense

MEET MOONSHINE!

© CRRu

© C Probert

TURTLE TWO THOUSAND

WORTHY WINNER

amazing Margot at the rgs launch with Tv presenter saba douglas-hamilton

What a night! Our inspirational Founder, Virginia McKenna, was honoured with a Lifetime achievement award at the Mirror’s spectacular animal Hero awards in London.

“I don’t expect prizes,” said an emotional Virginia, “the prize for me is when you can help an animal. I won’t give up until I drop.”

REMEMBERING RHINOS

© whitehat-seo.co.uk

WALK AMONG GIANTS

lauren st john, virginia Mckenna, linda sian, omra sian, dan richardson,

helen worth, paul o’grady, nancy sorrell and will Travers at the launch party

© whitehat-seo.co.uk

Our thanks to wildlife photographer Margot Raggett, who masterminded ‘Remembering Rhinos’, a spectacular coffee table book featuring rhino images donated by 65 top photographers.

The follow up to the hugely successful ‘Remembering elephants’ - a sell-out collectors’ item - the book was launched at London’s Royal geographical Society in november and celebrated at a La galleria Pall Mall exhibition. ‘Remembering Rhinos’ has raised £115,000 for rhino conservation - to order your copy visit buyrememberingbooks.com

Life-size animals took over Westminster at the ‘This is Our World’ art exhibition, held at the Royal Horticultural Halls and supporting Born Free. guests were thrilled by breath-taking canvases up to 7m wide by acclaimed artist Omra Sian, including giraffes, an elephant, gorillas and more - described

by Prince William as “extraordinary”. an auction by TV’s James Lewis at the launch party raised thousands for conservation.

© The Mirror

WILD NEWS

LOOK AT HIM NOW! Remember Joey, the ‘world’s smallest hedgehog’? Thanks to round-theclock loving care from our rescuer Tarnya Knight (p26), he was successfully returned to the wild in Sussex.

REMEMBER ME? ZEBRA RESCUE When a baby zebra got snared in Malawi, our partners at Lilongwe Wildlife Trust sent in their Wildlife emergency Response unit. Mum kept a close eye as they safely removed the deadly wire and the pair are now doing well.

© LWT

© CWET

back in 2013, born free helped rescue a tiny, twoweek old baby hippo in zambia. drinking 3½ pints of milk every three hours, knee-high douglas quickly grew at chipembele wildlife education Trust in zambia. Today he’s learning to fend for himself and nearly fully grown.

14 NEWS | JanuaRy 2018

THANK YOU UN!

© X Li

We think the world’s governments should do a LOT more for wild animals.

So, at their recent Conservation of Migratory Species conference in Manila, we asked the United Nations to offer a lifeline to chimpanzees, giraffes, lions and more (p19).

Our campaign continues to help our friends at Captive animal Protection Society end the use of live reindeer and penguins at festive uK events.

EPIC DOCUMENTARY Our new Patron, actor Dan Richardson (p35), hosted the european gala screening of ‘gods in Shackles’ at London’s prestigious Royal geographical Society in October. The award-winning film by Sangita iyer, born and raised in Kerala, exposes the dark side of cultural festivities that exploit temple elephants in this indian state.

© margotraggettphotography.com

Kevin and Will Travers with special friends

RHINO T20

WILD GOLF Congratulations to team Olsen animal Trust, seen here with our CeO Howard Jones, winners of our fifth annual go Wild golf Day at gatton Manor golf Club last September.

© Shaylib

Escaped circus tiger shot dead in Paris

Teaching rescued geladas how to climb in Ethiopia

Visit bornfree.org.uk/news to find out more!

Don’t miss Will’s Beyond the Bars speech bornfree.org.uk/ speech

© Shaylib

© a gardiner

GET THE FULL STORY

Thanks to cricket legend Kevin Pieterson, a passionate rhino fan, a very special T20 county cricket match took place between Surrey and Sussex at London’s Kia Oval last august. With a £1 donation on every ticket, the event raised funds for rhino conservation in association with Remembering Rhinos (p14).

© BF Kenya

© whitehat-seo.co.uk

CHRISTMAS CRUELTY

UK’s fake antiques from freshly carved ivory

Seeking an end to UK crimes like hare coursing

Could we save the injured lion in Kenya?

JanuaRy 2018 | NEWS 15

TIME TO STICK OUR NECKS OUT

Have we overlooked these gentle giants? Liz Greengrass reports on the ‘silent extinction’ of giraffes, but explains it’s not too late to take action to save them.

a

s majestic as they are odd, the sight of giraffe lumbering across dry arid plains in the early morning light is synonymous with africa. The tallest and largest ruminant, by browsing trees and shrubs, giraffe open the habitat up, trample vegetation and promote new growth of forage. They play an important ecological role dispersing acacia seeds and, with other large mammals such as elephant and rhino, manage the landscape, helping stem the tide of desertification.

Rock carvings in the Sahara Desert, estimated to be 9,000 years old, are the first recorded human association with this

16 CONSERVATION | JanuaRy 2018

species. even today we revere the giraffe; it is the national animal of Tanzania, its image and name (‘Twiga’ in Swahili) used to advertise everything from food, to beer to football teams.

Despite its popularity and conspicuousness, the giraffe has largely been overlooked.

Few people contemplate an africa without them, yet numbers have been steadily declining for decades, falling 43% since the late 1990’s, from an estimated 140,000 to less than 80,000. even estimates of better-known giraffes, such as the reticulated, have fallen sharply, from 28,000 in 1998 to less than 5,000 today.

Human population growth, combined with shifting agriculture, pastoralism, and unsustainable fuel wood collection, has led to large-scale habitat degradation and fragmentation. Hunting, severe drought and civil conflict have also contributed to their demise. giraffe taxonomy has yet to be resolved.

Based upon coat markings and geographical distribution, giraffes were classed until 2016 as a single species with nine subspecies. in 2016, however, new genetic evidence suggested four species: the northern species in West and Central africa, the Masai and the reticulated in

CONSERVATION

every new calf is important

© B gratwick

GIRAFFE GEN

1.5 million

years ago giraffes evolved

5.5m

height of male giraffe

2m a ‘kindergarten’ of young giraffe rest in the shade

© C Rupprecht

long neck reaches tree-tops

45cm

long tongue aids feeding

2.4m

Despite its popularity the giraffe has been overlooked, with numbers steadily declining.

But conservation efforts include an outstanding success story.

longest tail of any animal

30mph

how fast a giraffe can run

10kg giant heart pumps blood to brain

170

You can help

heartbeats/min, 2x fast as ours

see p18 to adopt our niger giraffe family - you’ll help protect rare giraffe!

63kg

east africa, and the southern in southern africa. The northern has an extensive range in West and Central africa, east into ethiopia and South Sudan, but with less than 5,000 individuals is now highly-threatened.

Born Free has supported a number of conservation initiatives over the last 15 years. in 2011, for example, we helped the giraffe Conservation Foundation (gCF) - the only ngO* dedicated to giraffes - reintroduce Rothschild’s giraffe (a reticulated subspecies) into their native range on an island in Lake Baringo, Kenya. in recent years we have also

© H Roland

© H Roland

leaves eaten each day

supported gCF’s efforts to conserve the rarest subspecies of northern giraffe, the West african. Widespread, from nigeria west to Senegal at the start of the last century, by the 1990’s numbers had declined to just 50 individuals in a single population in niger. Over the last two decades, conservation effort led by the niger government, gCF and partners has been effective and the population has risen steadily.

This is a success story; an annual survey recently estimated about 550 individuals.

Local people tolerate giraffe and even express pride living alongside them. as

2cm

giraffe calves grow each day

numbers increase, however, individuals have dispersed to new areas, which lack the vital local community buy-in to ensure their conservation, increasing their vulnerability to poaching and other threats. now, with your help, efforts are underway to identify suitable areas to translocate individuals to establish new satellite populations within niger. *non governmental organisation

Dr Liz Greengrass associate Director african Conservation liz@bornfree.org.uk JanuaRy 2018 | CONSERVATION 17

ADOPT OUR

pe Mak rfe es ct a gif t!

GIRAFFE

FAMILY

You’ll protect the world’s rarest giraffes and help keep them safe!

Just £2.50 per month

FREE cuddly toy

To adopt call 01403 240170 or visit bornfree.org.uk/giraffe

© H Roland

Personalised gift pack + regular updates

POLITICAL ANIMALS DOES THE UN HELP?

© uSFWS

The united nations’ environment Programme convenes a number of key agreements aimed at protecting wildlife.

Born Free focusses on two - the Convention on international Trade in endangered Species (CiTeS), and the Convention for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild animals (CMS). We do everything we can to persuade governments to protect vulnerable species and restrict international trade in wild animals and products such as ivory, rhino horn, lion and tiger bones and pangolin scales. Meetings of the Conventions can be frustrating, and bureaucratic, but the decisions they make are vitally important.

The recent CMS conference threw a much-needed lifeline to lions, leopards, chimps, giraffes and others, by identifying them for collaborative action. MJ

we fight trade in pangolins

CONSERVATION a key part of our natural world

ON YOUR DOORSTEP

GREEN AND PLEASANT Wildlife protection at home and abroad is of crucial importance to Born Free. it's not only animals on the african plains that are at great risk, but also in this green and pleasant land we call home. The badger and the fox might not inspire as much concern and passion in some people as elephants and lions, but they are also subject to huge threats in our countryside as a result of illegal persecution, or conflict with farmers, landowners and game keepers. From the badger cull to illegal fox

MY VIEW It is everyone’s desire to see a happy ending. I always become delighted when the primates we have rescued and rehabilitated have the door to freedom finally opened, when we release them back to the wild. Here in Zambia there is a serious illegal pet trade in primates and the pain and cruelty these animals suffer at the hands of humans is unspeakable. In 2002, God answered their cries when Born Free helped set up Zambia Primate Project, which I have worked for ever since, trying to combat the trade (p28). We believe the welfare of every single individual animal matters. Without this compassionate conservation approach, more than 600 vervet monkeys and baboons would have died on the end of short chains in captivity without ever tasting freedom.

hunting, Born Free is campaigning alongside other charities such as the RSPCa and the League against Cruel Sports to ensure we prevent the cruel killing of these beautiful wild animals. They are a key part of our natural world and of significant ecological importance to our landscapes.

Dominic Dyer Policy advisor dominicdyer@aol.com

“We believe in compassionate conservation, the welfare of every single individual animal matters.”

Cosmas Mumba Project Manager Zambia Primate Project JanuaRy 2018 | CONSERVATION 19

WILDLIFE FOR SALE FARMERS &TRADE

REDMOND REPORTS

FORESTS FOR ALL

The impacts of wildlife trade can be devastating. yet in South africa, rhino ranchers and lion breeders are desperate to sell horns and bones, apparently oblivious to the devastation it could cause for rhinos and lions well beyond South africa’s borders.

Proponents of trade claim the only way to protect wild animals threatened by poaching is to sell products from farmed animals, and put profits back into protection. However, legalising trade stimulates demand and incentivises poachers and illegal traders, who launder poached items into the market. and money from trade rarely if ever finds its way back into genuine conservation.

© R griffiths/The Mirror

Born Free works tirelessly to persuade South african authorities, and the wider international community, to resist calls from those who only see wild animals in terms of profit, and protect wildlife by educating the public not to buy wildlife products in the first place. MJ

Healthy forests need animals

Ian Redmond OBE Senior Wildlife Consultant ian@bornfree.org.uk

ethical shoppers look out for labels - cruelty-free cosmetics, dolphin-friendly tuna, deforestation-free palm-oil, etc - to reassure themselves their money is not going towards destruction of nature or exploitation of people. The gold standard for paper and wood products is FSC, the Forest Stewardship Council, which Born Free joined four years ago. FSC has policies on sustainable logging, biodiversity, workers’ rights and respect for indigenous people, but no mention of humane standards for animals.

© georgelogan.co.uk

Wild animals are essential for a healthy forest – they pollinate flowers, prune the trees, disperse seeds and fertilise the soil. Recognising this, in October, Born Free made a second attempt at introducing ‘best practice guidelines for humane animal management’ as a requirement for FSC certification. almost two-thirds of voting members agreed, but FSC’s unique voting system requires a majority in three chambers – environmental, Social and economic. and so, despite our best efforts to accommodate concerns of some economic Chamber members, our Motion did not pass.

legal trade in rhino horn leads to poaching 20 CONSERVATION | JanuaRy 2018

it’s clear most FSC members agree with the need to consider animals, and so rather than waiting another three years for the next general assembly, we are seeking other ways to achieve our goal. The FSC aim is ‘Forests for all, forever’ and in our view, ‘all’ includes animals. Forests need animals as much as animals need forests.

‘We never forget - every single elephant matters’

www.margotraggettphotography.com

CONSERVATION

FRONTLINE

REMEMBERING ELEPHANTS The ‘Remembering elephants’ charity book was created by wildlife-photographer Margot Raggett after her encounter with a poached elephant in northern Kenya in 2014. “I was so impotent with rage that I knew I just had to do ‘something’ to make a difference,” she recalls. Margot started asking fellow photographers if they would contribute to a fundraising book on elephants, crowd-funded its production and launched it in September 2016 to critical acclaim.

The resulting sales raised over £135,000 for the Born Free Foundation to spend on anti-poaching projects, and with Margot we chose where to deploy those funds. “It

was important for me to support projects across Africa and we made donations in Mali, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Kenya,” Margot explained. and it was to Kenya that Raggett returned at the end of 2016 to see how some of those funds, given to support Born Free’s efforts in Meru, had been spent. accompanied by Born Free Patron, actor Dan Richardson (p35), she met Kenya Wildlife Service rangers and heard how the donation had bought tyres, fuel, night-vision binoculars, and even been used to repair a grading machine that makes impassable roads accessible again. “Seeing those funds in action made it all worth it,” she said.

Margot and dan meet kws rangers

Find out more: See p14 for Margot’s latest money-raising sensation ‘Remembering Rhinos’.

© georgelogan.co.uk

COnSeRVaTiOn NEWS IN BRIEF

Shining example

Kudos Kenya!

Bounty for Meru

Kenya has banned plastic bags! This is a huge relief for humans, animals and the environment. We hope many more countries will take notice and adopt such bio-friendly alternatives for a healthier planet. EW

Our team’s efforts in Meru Park are remarkable. in two years we have recovered over 1,700 wire snares, apprehended four poachers and successfully rescued many trapped animals including a snared lion. EW

Rain has come at last to Kenya, after a year of severe drought. The 13 dried up rivers in Meru national Park are now bursting their banks and there is plenty of pasture and bathing pools for wild herbivores, including buffalo.

JanuaRy 2018 | CONSERVATION 21

WILD AND FREE WHERE ORCA SHOULD BE!

© M Layne

Laura Gosset and Sam Goddard tell the remarkable story of this exceptional, sentient species and share born free’s vision to end captive orca exploitation.

Born Free has supported the amazing work of Dr Paul Spong and Helena Symonds at OrcaLab since 1994, having first made contact during our ‘into the Blue’ campaign (returning the uK’s last captive dolphins to the wild). a perfect example of compassionate conservation, Paul and Helena’s non-invasive orca (killer whale)

22 THE BIG PICTURE | JanuaRy 2018

monitoring project in Canada’s British Columbia has individuals at its core.

Thanks to nearly 50 years’ of painstaking hydrophone (underwater microphones), photo and remote video documentation compiled by OrcaLab, the area around Hanson island, off the eastern coast of

Vancouver island, has been classified as ‘Critical Habitat’ for the northern resident orca community. This will help safeguard their future - protecting the area and the orcas’ fragile prey base, largely comprised of Chinook and chum salmon.

THE BIG PICTURE ‘We watch orcas in the wild, slowly revealing the richness and depth of their culture’.

self-aware, with unusually large brains for their body size, orca live in complex societies with a defined culture. They communicate with an intricate language of calls, have distinct personalities and experience a broad spectrum of sophisticated emotions including intuition and empathy.

© C Michel

Awesome orca

JanuaRy 2018 | THE BIG PICTURE 23

MEET THE NORTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS Ecotype: Orcas belong to a single species Orcinus orca with nine ‘ecotypes’ (three north Pacific, two north atlantic and four southern hemisphere). These distinct populations have different hunting habitats, food preferences and unique calls. While ranges overlap in areas, ecotypes almost never interact.

The show’s over born free has campaigned against keeping orca in captivity for over 30 years. The issue is as important to us as ever, as today we reach new audiences through our #Tankfree initiative. The stark contrast between the lives of captive and wild orcas reinforces our belief - whales and dolphins deserve better than being kept in featureless tanks doing demeaning circus tricks. Today, there are over 2,000 dolphins and 60 orcas in captivity.

Telling their individual stories of suffering helps us encourage the public to boycott dolphinaria, as we seek an end to captive exploitation. we call on the industry to retire their animals to seaside sanctuaries.

During a recent visit to OrcaLab, we learnt how Paul’s fascination with orcas began at Vancouver aquarium in 1967. a young behavioural scientist from new zealand, he studied an orca named Skana, newly captured from the wild. The experience had a profound impact, teaching him “it was extremely unfair to take orca away from the ocean, and the natural sounds and society they came from, and put them in a barren concrete tank." it was this realisation that brought Paul to Johnstone Strait in 1970 to found OrcaLab. The world’s longest-running study of wild cetacea, Paul and Helena’s life’s work mirrors our attitude here at Born Free. We should appreciate and enjoy orcas, as a species and as individuals, and respect them enough to study them without interference.

Matriline: each pod is made up of one or more lines of descendants from a female ancestor. The northern resident community has 43 of these ‘mother lines’, with nearly 300 individuals.

Vocal traditions: a clan is defined as ‘pods which share common calls’. each matriline within the clan has their own distinctive, but related, ‘vocal tradition’ or dialect.

Family bonds: Bonds between mother and baby (and grandbabies) are extremely strong. Offspring, male and female, stay with their mother for life.

Movement: Orca often travel long distances, regularly swimming at 13kph (8mph), and up to 45kph (28 mph) for short periods. Diving 130m or more during foraging.

Food: Despite fishing as individuals, group members coordinate movements to increase success. Prey is shared by matriline individuals, especially a mother and her youngest.

© OrcaLab

Members of the a clan

24 THE BIG PICTURE | JanuaRy 2018

Speaking with Paul and Helena about their work and their take on the captive industry is thought-provoking. Paul: “At the beginning, captivity served a purpose, to enrich the understanding of the public about these whales, but that job was done a long long time ago… Instead of educating they are mis-educating, teaching kids it is OK to do this to wild animals. That you can bring them into a captive situation and force them to perform and entertain – it’s totally the wrong attitude.” Helena: “It is also very shallow, it doesn’t tell the whole story, it makes up the story. Out here we are watching and observing orcas in the wild, free orcas who are going about their business and slowly, over time, revealing the richness and depth of their culture.”

‘Life in the wild is complex, unpredictable and challenging.

Life in captivity is bleak, monotonous and deprived.’

Such compassion and respect for orca is not the approach taken by the captive industry. a vast, multi-billion pound, money-making global enterprise, it uses these intelligent animals to ‘entertain’ misguided audiences. nothing demonstrates this more starkly than the tragic story of Corky, a young female orca caught from the wild in British Columbia in 1969, aged just three. For nearly 50 years she has languished in a tank, the world’s longest-held captive orca, living at SeaWorld San Diego since 1987. During this time Corky has experienced seven pregnancies, yet tragically none of her babies survived beyond 46 days. She has suffered aggression, notably from an icelandic female orca named Kandu V, corky still performs at seaworld

© B Bradford

Community: Found along the British Columbian coast east of Vancouver island, the northern resident community consists of three clans (a, g, and R), divided into 16 family pods.

Today, the majority of Corky’s lower teeth are worn and she is almost blind in one eye. yet she still 'speaks' the same dialect as her family, the a5 pod, and Paul and Helena regularly watch her brother Fife and sister Ripple swim together through the Johnstone Strait, hunting for salmon.

Honed over thousands of years, such behavioural traditions represent what it truly means to be a northern resident orca. Corky, on the other hand, is not able to fulfil her destiny, but instead is a performer for the captive industry. Born Free supports the campaign to retire her to an ocean sanctuary in the same waters where her family swims. yet it is not just captive individuals who help drive our #TankFree campaign. understanding the lives of their wild counterparts helps to give further, fact-based weight to our mission for freedom. in comparison to poor Corky, Springer’s story is much more uplifting. after her mother’s death in 2002, this young female orca was found emaciated and alone near Seattle, aged just two years old.

Miraculously the baby was identified by her unique calls and, after locating her a4 pod, the uS and Canadian governments worked with charities including OrcaLab and Born Free, and industry representatives, to bring her 250 miles, by boat, back to her Johnstone Strait home. initially kept in a sea-pen, within three days Springer’s family came and found her and she has lived wild and free with them ever since. Today she has two babies of her own, the youngest born this year. now you can be part of Springer’s glorious story and help keep her safe by adopting her today. you’ll support OrcaLab’s ongoing orca monitoring and protection work, funded by Born Free for the past 23 years. Over the years this has included the purchase of an invaluable boat, the June Cove, the fuel needed to enable Springer’s return to her family, and regular support for OrcaLab’s trail-blazing mission to keep orca in the wild.

THE BIG PICTURE

life in the wild – complex and challenging

life in a tank – monotonous and deprived

springer and her calf spirit swim free

© Cetacealab

who died from blood loss after attacking Corky. These individuals were from different ecotypes and would not naturally interact, let alone be confined in such close proximity.

Find out more To adopt Springer see p12, visit bornfree.org.uk/tankfree to support our #TankFree campaign, and visit explore.org/search/orcalab to glimpse orcas in their natural habitat.

ORCA BY NUMBERS

10 tonnes adult male weight

9m

adult male length

80 years

Samantha Goddard Captivity Programmes Officer samantha@bornfree.org.uk

possible wild lifespan

17 months 200kg

newborn baby weight

2.5m

Laura Gosset Head of education laura@bornfree.org.uk

newborn baby length

50,000

estimated wild population JanuaRy 2018 | THE BIG PICTURE 25

© M Charest

gestation period

PRICKLY SUBJECT

“You help me carry on the work my mother encouraged all those years ago – thank you!”

752

Photos © BFF

individual animals helped by Tarnya in the past three years

The care of uK wild animals can be a little overshadowed by more exotic species.

So let’s hear it for the little guys! Tarnya Knight reports.

26 RESCUE & CARE | JanuaRy 2018

O

ne of my earliest memories as a child was helping my mother pick up frogs, toads and newts stuck at the kerbside, as they migrated towards the pond opposite our home. so you could say that’s when i started my wild animal rescues. in 1996, i joined the office team of care for the wild, the charity now merged with born free. Most days we’d receive numerous calls from supporters needing

help or advice with injured or orphaned uk wildlife. i was soon spending my lunchtimes and evenings acting as a taxi service for various creatures needing care or to be taken to rescue centres. i gradually got more involved in their actual rearing and rehab – and still do to this day. as you can imagine, spring and summer months are busy times, with animals including hedgehogs, birds and rabbits

RESCUE & CARE …but she quickly grew ready for release at the fox project

Two beautiful young jays

Tiny Tanny needed round the clock bottlefeeds

being injured or separated from their mothers. Too young to fend for themselves, baby animals need bottle or syringe-feeding day and night. Then, as the weather turns colder, i’m inundated with ‘autumn juvenile’ hedgehogs, born late in the season, without enough fat reserves to survive hibernation. i currently have 36 hoglets!

One memorable recent rescue was eight ducklings orphaned in January 2016.

These adorable ‘early birds’ were only a few days old when mum and three siblings were tragically killed by a car. named after tv’s ‘Brady Bunch’ these little guys became national news. i looked after them indoors until they were strong enough for an outdoor pen, before release at a private pond.

Care for the Wild supported the rescue and rehabilitation work of uK rescue centres for many years and this has continued at Born Free. Sadly, thousands of uK mammals, birds and reptiles are injured or killed every year through vehicle collisions, poisonous chemicals, entanglement in fencing and waste, and

My eight ‘early birds’ made national news

hunting. Rescue centres throughout the country take in large numbers of injured and orphaned wild animals from the public, veterinary surgeries, local councils and wildlife agencies.

These centres rely on donations and are managed by dedicated people - often volunteers - who give their free time to care for so many sick and vulnerable individuals. They are often a wild animal’s last chance. We are proud to support this valuable work by providing rescue and vet equipment, incubator heat pads and release pens.

Finally, a big thank you to Born Free for also kindly supporting my own work.

Without this contribution i wouldn’t be able to carry on the wildlife rescues that my mother encouraged me to do, all those years ago.

You can help To keep your own garden wildlife friendly visit www.bornfree.org.uk /garden

Tarnya Knight Wildlife Rescuer & Programmes Support Coodinator tarnya@bornfree.org.uk

Who needs help?

Over the years a mixed array have needed Tarnya’s care: • Hedgehogs • Foxes • Badgers • Deer (fallow and roe) • Rabbits • Stoat • Shrews • Mice (wood, field and dor) • Pipistrelle bats Plus over 40 species of birds, great and small, including: • Swans • Heron • Barn owls • Sparrow hawks • Kestrels • goldcrest • Bullfinch • Swallows • Quail • Moorhen • Woodcock She’s even looked after grass snakes!

This tiny mouse was tricky to feed at first JanuaRy 2018 | RESCUE & CARE 27

RECENT RESCUE

playful ciam enjoys life

MY VIEW each primate at our 186-acre sanctuary - home to over 600 rescued baboons, macaques and vervets - has his or her own life story. far too many involve a human antagonist who has negatively impacted their life in profound ways whether seeking to ‘own’ a novel pet, display for the public, or utilize in research. an incalculable amount of cruelty has been endured by these sensitive animals. The primates in our care can never be released to the wild. but we work hard every day to help mitigate the damage done to them by providing enriched environments, social opportunities with other monkeys, and new items to explore; compassionate salve for the wounds of captivity.

ndiase with her second wild baby

© zPP

Ciam, at three years’ old, is young, playful and inquisitive. after his confiscation from a tiny cage in French back yard, the space, sounds and smells of africa have awakened natural instincts and he scent marks his favourite trees in his large bush enclosure. He enjoys climbing his jungle gym for a better view and a possible glimpse of leopards Rhea and Leda next door. CG

Dr Cheryl Mvula MBE Wildlife Consultant cdmvula@aol.com

© M Miriatiawo

Our two newest arrivals, re-homed with your help in May to Shamwari, South africa (p31) from the nHC in Belgium, have settled in well. Older lion nelson, rescued from a French zoo, took to his new surrounds with trepidation. But he’s now often the first to ‘contact call’ his lion neighbours Sinbad and achee, resulting in a reverberating chorus.

Nelson leads the dawn chorus

“These sensitive animals need compassionate salve”

Tim Ajax Director, Born Free USA Primate Sanctuary tim@bornfreeusa.org

Adopt a vervet monkey - £2.50/mth, see p31 28 RESCUE & CARE | JanuaRy 2018

© BF USA

NELSON AND CIAM

© g Vena

UPDATE ON

ndiase, a female vervet monkey, was found tethered by a tight rope embedded into her waist. Wind forward two years and she is living wild and free in Kafue national Park and has given birth to two wild babies. We are now releasing another 22 monkeys back to the bush. Wish us luck! Rescuing monkeys and baboons from short chains and getting them back to the wild is what we do at zambia Primate Project. Set up with Born Free’s help back in 2002, we are celebrating our 15th anniversary! Since then we have rescued and secured freedom for over 600 primates, all victims of the illegal pet trade. Best of all? a staggering 95% of primates rescued now survive when we release them back to the wild.

look at pangi go!

RESCUE & CARE

FACE TO FACE gabriel Fava talks to Tamar Cassidy about rescuing rare pangolins in Central african Republic.

How did Sangha Lodge come about?

My partner Rod Cassidy started working as a specialist tour operator in the national park in 2004, and fell in love with the area.

Five years later we took over what was then a hunting concession.

What problems do pangolins face?

Traditionally pangolins are a part of the bushmeat eaten by the local population in this area. However, demand has increased in recent years, from local towns and cities and even beyond, from asian countries.

How did you start helping them?

Serendipity. a baby white bellied pangolin was brought in to us and we realised how special pangolins are. With the help of experts we managed to start feeding him and one night he disappeared into the forest.

How was Pangi rescued? another pangolin, Pangi, was brought to us when found, as a baby, on a path in the forest. We fed her on special milk and then introduced her to ants by taking her into the rainforest. gradually she spent more time there until she stopped coming back.

We have a team of eight local Ba’aka people, who follow her every day.

from the house, sleeping in holes in trees or in stag ferns. as with Pangi, Koki is being monitored by a team of Ba’aka.

You can help Support this wonderful work by adopting Pangi (£2.50 per mth incl gift pack and cuddly toy). To adopt visit give.bornfree.org.uk/ pangolin or call 01403 240170. pangolin protectors Tamar and rod

Any news on Koki?

Found injured a few months ago, Koki has been sleeping permanently in the forest since august 30th. She forages not far

© animals asia

ReSCue & CaRe NEWS IN BRIEF

Our first bushbuck

Back to the sky

Bouncy bear

Kept illegally as a pet, this beautiful male Menelik’s bushbuck is doing well at our ensessa Kotteh rescue centre, ethiopia.

Once issued with a clean bill of health we hope, one day, asala can be released.

Lengthy enough to encourage flight, our rehabilitation aviary for rescued birds of prey in ethiopia is ready. First release candidate was tawny eagle Karria. after months of training she recently flew back to the wild.

Taking a snooze by a cool pool, ginny the moon bear lives at animals asia’s 33-acre sanctuary in China. named after our Founder, ginny is feisty and loves to wrestle the other bears.

JanuaRy 2018 | RESCUE & CARE 29

FROM OUR FOUNDER W

ith the world in such a tumultuous state, it is a challenge to find an issue on which to focus. But i have been struck, over the past months and weeks, when reading about and seeing the hundreds of thousands of terrified people fleeing their homes in the Middle east and Myanmar, how rarely i have read the word ‘animal’. i imagine that nearly all the families have left their cattle, goats, chickens and dogs, and their fate does not bear thinking of.

The seeming lack of reporting on this is, to me, quite shocking. as it is when i learn of ever-increasing plans to destroy ancient forests, in order to expand roads or prospect for oil, or fracking. How can people ignore the fact that these forests are the homes of countless wild creatures? if our homes were threatened would we not rise up and protest? animals can’t do that, so when the lorries and chainsaws arrive they either die, or flee to face a bewildering and uncertain future.

30 VIRGINIA | JanuaRy 2018

Destroying ancient forests, hunting with hounds – so many horror stories

as an eternal optimist i am always hoping that leaders will deal with these issues in an understanding and pro-active way. But without going into details i am becoming increasingly disillusioned. Whether it is about destruction of the wild, the trade in ivory and rhino horn, breeding of birds for the ‘shoot’, wild animals in circuses, legality of ‘puppy farms’, the importation of wild birds, hunting with hounds – so many horror stories continue, often unreported. Some of us seem to forget that animals feel pain.

“The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.”

Henry D Thoreau (1817–1862) But they also feel contentment, family loyalty and protect their young when threatened.

One of the images i can hardly bear to think of is of a self-satisfied ‘trophy hunter’ smiling beside the dead body of a beautiful lion, elephant, giraffe or

antelope. When that ‘hunter’ is a child my horror is compounded. i personally feel that we are becoming increasingly detached from these realities.

There are just too many issues, too much suffering, too much disillusionment in our governments’ ability to be strong on all these ‘non-human’ issues. a small recent triumph was the public vote against the opening of a new ‘battery’ rabbit farm near Stafford. One minute a rabbit is a ‘pet’, the next treated as terribly as a ‘battery’ hen.

Having said all these negative things, i am always hopeful that there are growing numbers of people who feel as we do at Born Free. indeed, we all have a voice and we mustn’t be afraid to make it heard.

Virginia McKenna OBE Founder & Trustee

© P Trimming

“We all have a voice and mustn’t be afraid to make it heard.”

BORN FREE USA

WORLDWIDE

FOCUS ON AMERICA W

hen i took over as CeO of Born Free uSa in June, i strove to do my part to make a greater impact in the united States and elsewhere for the Compassionate Conservation movement - recognising some of our work and challenges are very different than in the uK of course. i am proud to say it’s been a successful few months, culminating in our first-ever Los angeles fundraiser in September. Born Free Foundation President Will Travers was our keynote speaker, with notable actors/ activists Katie Cleary, edward Holcroft, abigail Spencer and Lily Travers joining supporters, as well as our Board and team, to hear about and support our work to end cruelty to wild animals.

Born Free uSa has pushed hard against legislation that would undermine protections given to wildlife under the endangered Species act (eSa) – the most important law in the united States

safeguarding wild animal rights. a federal appellate court recently ruled in favour of Born Free uSa in striking down the government’s attempt to remove eSa protections, reaffirming its importance 45 years after its enactment. We continue efforts to end the use of animals in ‘entertainment’. This summer, new york city banned wild animals in circuses, and other major cities will hopefully follow suit.

Born Free uSa is a leader in the anti-fur/trapping movements. Our Fur for the animals drive – collecting fur donated by individuals and giving to rehabilitation centres to keep rescued animals warm – brought in fur valued at over $4 million (£3 million). in addition, we are a leading organisation in the international Fur Free Retailer programme, working with retailers and fashion designers like gucci and yOOX net-a-Porter, to go fur-free. and at our Primate Sanctuary in Texas (p28), Born Free uSa continues to take in and provide for 600 ‘residents’ – primates used as ‘pets’, in medical laboratories and

‘It’s been a successful few months as we join with supporters to end cruelty to wild animals.’ in roadside zoos. you can help support Born Free uSa efforts to keep wildlife in the wild by adopting little Teddy, one of our rescued vervet monkeys.

You can help Adopt Teddy (£2.50/mth incl gift pack and cuddly toy) at bornfree.org.uk/teddy or call 01403 240170.

Prashant Khetan CeO Born Free uSa and general Counsel prashant@bornfreeusa.org

© J Martinez

Thankfully New York has just banned such unkind, outdated ‘entertainment.’

JanuaRy 2018 | WORLDWIDE 31

Engaging pupils at Mwamwere School

WORLDWIDE

WE HAVE A DREAM O

ur Founders had a vision, to keep wildlife in the wild. One way they aimed to achieve this was ‘to work with local communities to promote tolerance and co-existence. and to bring about a positive lasting impact on animal welfare… through education and advocacy.’

Over the last 20 years, our global Friends programme in Kenya has brought us great pride, not least that our four partner schools refer to us as friends. ngonzini school bordering Mwaluganje elephant Sanctuary, Ol Moti and Lenkisem in amboseli and Kanjoo near Meru national Park all experience conflict with wild animals including elephants. But by building much-needed classrooms, supporting a scholarship programme and providing books, Born Free has helped more children remain in school and learn about the importance of their wild neighbours.

32 WORLDWIDE | JanuaRy 2018

Our relationships have grown and while wildlife protection led us to each location, social responsibility has greatly influenced our work, inspiring us to support the communities and build lasting partnerships. as we strive to live up to our founding vision, we aim to help establish a generation that views wildlife as we do. not just because we help provide infrastructure, but because we set an example they want to emulate.

However, we must ask ourselves, have we done enough? What’s next? We have captured children’s attention, but have we only created isolated islands of converts, neglecting the hinterland? Conflict, intolerance and fear towards wildlife stem from several factors, the most basic being competition for resources and lack of knowledge of the value and rights of wildlife as part of the whole. Moving forward, we will build on our successes and seek to close this gap. We want to

‘We strive to live up to our vision - to help establish a generation that views wildlife as we do.’ reach out and connect with all stakeholders - partners, policy-makers, urban and rural communities, all social economic classes.

Such a vision is our guiding light and through education we hope to tirelessly tailor our message for our different audiences. Step by step, a little at a time, as we work towards the ultimate goal keep wildlife in the wild.

Phoebe Odhiang education Programmes Officer Born Free Kenya phoebe@bornfree.or.ke

© BFK

EDUCATION

WORLDWIDE

a quilted mosaic, with fragmented patches of forest

We continue to make great strides in Meru Park. Through a donation from the ecology Trust, we have provided the Meru anti-poaching unit with 2,500 litres of fuel, 10 tyres, 10 vehicle canopy covers, six solar panels and ten chargers, and six bush tents. We have also radio-collared one lioness, aged four-five years, and a member of a splinter group from the larger Mulika pride. Our monitoring missions will help us understand the dynamics between these two prides as our lion conservation programme continues. in amboseli, besides concerted outreach and awareness efforts, we also constructed seven new predator-proof bomas. There are now 258 of these reinforced night enclosures, securing Maasai’s livestock from lions and other carnivores.

Finally, we bid farewell to our Programmes Officer Victor Mutumah, who has left us for a career in politics. it was a pleasure working with Victor for seven years and his absence will be greatly felt. We thank him for his time and dedication, and wish him good luck on his new challenge.

Tim Oloo HSC Country Manager tim@bornfree.or.ke Find out more Visit bornfree.org.uk/kenyanews for the latest Born Free Kenya News.

© georgelogan.co.uk

Monitoring Meru’s precious lions

SRI LANKA

Manori gunawardena country representative born free sri lanka manori@bornfree.org.uk

Sri Lanka - an emerald teardrop island suspended off the desiccated tip of the indian subcontinent. in the early 1900s almost half the island was covered in forests, and three decades of civil war kept forests intact, but 7,000 hectares now disappear annually. Forest cover is down to less than 30% and satellite images display an expanse of green nibbled away into a quilted mosaic. The impact of post-war prosperity has been significant and big infrastructure projects are the main culprit. intrusions into forest habitat by small land holders is insignificant by comparison, and few Sri Lankans begrudge this tiny scraping away of forests. The biggest threat to these homesteads are elephants, and in these fragmented patches of land, new battle lines of conflict are drawn between humans and elephants and must be resolved.

SOUTH AFRICA October 2017 marked the 25th anniversary of Shamwari Reserve and 20 years of Born Free at Shamwari. The unforgettable Raffi and anthea were the first rescued lions given a home here, and most recently nelson and Ciam joined our pride (p28). We have had many special visitors this quarter, amongst them our global sponsors Land Rover with a Ride and Drive experience, our Trustee Sue Olsen, as well as alicia Hosking and David Simpson - both lifetime care givers for our cats. you too can contribute by adopting one of our lions or leopard family and assist in giving the best care in their forever home with us at Shamwari.

Catherine Gillson Born Free Centre Manager Shamwari bff.manager@shamwari.com

Meet sinbad: could you look after this lion?

You can help To adopt Sinbad (£2.50 per mth inc gift pack and cuddly toy) visit bornfree.org.uk/sinbad or call 01403 240170.

JanuaRy 2018 | WORLDWIDE 33

© M Gunawardena/BFF

KENYA

BUSINESS FRIENDS

You can help If your business can help in any way, no matter how large or small, please get in touch.

SUGARHILL STRIPES We’re thrilled to announce our partnership with fashion brand, Sugarhill Boutique. as part of their #WearandCare campaign, the Brightonbased brand are using their hand-drawn designs to raise funds for endangered species. £10 per sale of their Breton striped t-shirt, featuring an embroidered giraffe motif, will support our work to protect rare giraffes (p16) visit sugarhillboutique.com

FESTIVE FUNDRAISING To celebrate the festive season, Hotel Café Royal in London made Born Free their charity partner. Their fundraising activities included a voluntary £1 donation on all guest bills during the period. The luxury Regent Street hotel also gave our adopt a Polar Bear gift pack to every child who stayed on the 25th December.

TO HELP YOU RELAX ethical fragrance company Jinkowood Ltd extracts oud oil from agarwood, known as 'Wood of the gods', as the key essence in all their products. Oud oil is known for its healing and calming power over thousands of years. Jinkowood has created a Born Free range - the Lion Candle and the elephant Candle, with 50% of profits supporting our conservation work. Perfect to help you relax at home, buy yours at jinkowood.com

COMEDY PHOTOS

ETHICAL INSURANCE

Our friends at the Comedy Wildlife Photography awards, loyal Born Free supporters, have released a fantastic new book! Celebrating the last two years of the competition, the book features over 100 hilarious and uplifting animal images. every book sold will raise vital funds for our work.

Buy yours at http://amzn.to/2fvptTi

With a passion for our natural world, evergreen insurance Services supports charities including Born Free. evergreen can help with commercial insurance from small to large business, property to fleet and can help insure your homes, cars, holidays, life or pets. For every £1 in commission earned an amazing 25% is donated to Born Free. you can request your quote from their website at www.evergreeninsuranceservices.co.uk

Nick Thorp Business Development Manager nick@bornfree.org.uk 01403 240170

HOLIDAYS & CHALLENGES Climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

February 2018

Shamwari holiday, South Africa

Year round

Visit our rescued leopards and lions, see our work firsthand, and enjoy wildlife drives and ecology walks. Book quoting ‘BFF18’ at reservations@shamwari.com, or visit our website for tailormade holidays to South africa.

34 BUSINESS | JanuaRy 2018

© georgelogan.co.uk

Join a team of 25, including Born Free staff member Sarah, on the ‘Road to Kilimanjaro’. Raise funds as you climb africa’s highest mountain, one of the world’s greatest natural wonders. Find out more at www.thexpclub.com/what-we-do/

RECENT EVENTS

Walk for the wild Friends of Wildlife’s weekend of fundraising in guernsey included a sponsored cliff top climb with 140 walkers, then afternoon tea.

They raised funds for rescued lion cubs Rea and girma.

I’M WILD ABOUT… Afternoon tea auctioneer James Lewis and talented pianist Harry the Piano joined Val Hackett and Mike Carey at their latest showstopping event at Branston golf and Country Club, raising over £6,500.

Join the Herd Wonderful Teresa Romano and mum Sue, seen here with Born Free’s Dominic Dyer, held a fundraiser in Woburn. guests enjoyed a buffet and music, raising over £1,500 for elephants.

Wyreside Hall Romy and Steve Hinde’s Lancashire event showcased the work of Born Free and animal Care, with guests greeted by a special guard of honour of rescue dogs needing homes.

Supporting the silent ivory trade protest

new Born Free Patron Dan Richardson, actor and producer, tells us the things that drive him wild.

I've been aware of Born Free for most of my life, then met some of your team at the Comedy Wildlife Photography awards last year. So this beautiful relationship of ours has been evolving pretty rapidly!

The recent silent protest organised by action for elephants in Parliament Square (calling on the government to ban the uK ivory trade) was amazing. There's something very powerful about a couple of hundred people standing in absolute silence for 30 minutes... apart from the beat of a lone drummer. it was a poignant and emotional experience with some great speakers including Will Travers.

The film ‘Gods in Shackles’ by Sangita iyer (p15) does an incredible and heartbreaking job exposing the cruelty and exploitation faced by the 'temple elephants' of Kerala, india. i felt compelled to help ensure the film was seen more widely. Sangita granted me permission to host a London screening, which Born Free kindly co-hosted. i believe the film will facilitate real, lasting change.

All Born Free’s projects are important to me. That's one of the things i really love about Born Free - so many campaigns covering such a diversity of species and scenarios. i respect that enormously - that every species, and every individual, matters.

My favourite wild animal is a tough one! i've had a serious soft spot for dolphins ever since i was a kid. Last year

i had the most remarkable encounter with an elephant which effected me very deeply... but then also with Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, who i visited in Kenya. giraffes take some beating, orca blow my mind, lions are awesome. Do i have to choose one? alright fine, dolphins. no wait!

Marmosets! Oh hang on, elephants. nope, can't do it. all of them!

The pacific coast of Costa Rica is my special wild place. it's insanely beautiful, rugged, unspoilt and wild. Plus Costa Rica has very advanced and enlightened environmental and animal conservation policies, so that helps!

The best way to relax is going for a walk and reconnecting with nature, or meditating. Or both.

We could all make the world a better place by making every choice from a foundation of love, compassion and kindness. Simple.

I’m wild about Born Free for so many reasons. your values regarding compassionate conservation recognising that every individual animal matters. your lack of ego, and unfaltering willingness to collaborate for the greater good. Such wonderful, compassionate, proactive, helpful and generally lovely people.

Dan was talking to Celia Nicholls JanuaRy 2018 | WILD ABOUT 35

BEYOND THE BARS The Zoo Dilemma £17 10% OFF!

“When we formed Zoo Check in 1984, the organisation that has evolved into the Born Free Foundation, our mission was simple. To question the justifications for keeping wild animals in zoos and to explore new thinking.

In 1987 we published ‘Beyond the Bars’, a collection of essays by leading conservationists, writers, philosophers and campaigners of the time, including Richard Adams, Mary Midgley, Billy Arjan Singh, Hugo van Lawick, Spike Milligan and, of course, my parents Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers. I was one of the book’s editors, along with Jonathan Wray.

visiT give.bornfree.org.uk QuoTe ‘WLTWINTER’ valid unTil 30TH JAN 2018 Website only

Thirty years have passed and to commemorate that book and the philosophy underpinning it, we have decided to reprint it for our special year of Beyond the Bars. The book raised many profound and important questions about our relationship with the natural world and the individual wild animals we share it with. Judge for yourself, with the passage of time, whether we have made progress, become a little more enlightened, whether challenges have changed.

The words are exactly as each author wrote them but the book has a new foreword and afterword, plus a chapter by Born Free’s Head of Animal Welfare and Captivity, Chris Draper. Please support our campaign to make the world a better, kinder and more compassionate place by ordering your copy today.

Will Travers OBE President Born Free Foundation

£15

Captive Over 100 photographs by Jo-Anne McArthur - many commissioned

by Born Free - revealing the impoverished lives of animals in zoos. Features essay by

Thank you very much indeed.”

T-shirt

Also available

Virginia McKenna.

£25

polo shirt

£19

Mug

£10

To order visit give.bornfree.org.uk/shop or call us on 01403 240170 J McArthur/BFF

Mini jute bag

£8