Wednesday 23 November 2011

5 wildlife adoption gifts for under £25.00

Wildlife adoptions are a great way for people to help raise money for wildlife. It’s a great way for wildlife organisations to raise money for the cause and helps to build up relationships between conservation and people. Unfortunately it does seem to be getting quite expensive and some people are being priced out of the market, especially in the UK.

Since I did my post on the top 5 wildlife gifts for Christmas this year I have had 5 or 6 emails asking me if I know of a good place to buy wildlife adoptions as gifts for people. They have had budgets of between £15.00 and £25.00 to spend but have not been able to find anything.

This post I hope will offer some remedy to that need for affordable animal adoption gifts. All the sites featured below offer wildlife adoption gifts below £25.00. I’ve tried to find sites that are the actual charities that fund projects rather than third party marketing companies. You have to be a bit careful because some wildlife and animal sponsorships will only have about 5% or 10% of your gift actually go to projects involving the species.

Previous Post : New hope for the critically endangered Sumatran tiger

Tuesday 22 November 2011

New hope for the critically endangered Sumatran tiger

A new study has provided a rare glimmer of hope for the Sumatran tiger, the last subspecies of tiger still in existence in Indonesia.

Reports that tiger populations are declining in many parts of its range paint a bleak and all too familiar picture. Of the 13 tiger-range countries recognised today, the Indonesian archipelago has already lost two distinct subspecies from the islands of Bali and Java.

Reliably determining where tigers are present within dense tropical jungle is challenging because their secretive behaviour and excellent camouflage naturally make them difficult to detect. But, for the past three years, eight NGOs have joined forces to carry out the first ever Sumatra-wide survey, in collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry.

Hariyo Wibisono of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and chairman of the Sumatran Tiger Forum, who led the project, said: ‘This survey is a milestone for Sumatran tigers. The results provide the most up-to-date and reliable information ever collected for this critically endangered species.'

The comprehensive study found that while more than 70 per cent of forest patches surveyed were occupied by tigers, its status varied greatly between the different landscapes.

Speaking about the newly created 3.3 million hectare Leuser-Ulu Masen landscape in Aceh Province, co-author Dr Matthew Linkie from Fauna & Flora International explained: ‘This study puts Aceh's previously unsurveyed forest firmly on the map as a global priority for wild tigers in Asia.'