World Wildlife Day - How WVS are getting involved

Today is World Wildlife Day, this global event occurs every year to raise awareness of endangered animals and plants, and ways to fight against wildlife crime.

This year has a specific theme about future-proofing our wildlife. “The future of wildlife is in our hands.” will have a specific focus on the protection of African and Asian elephants (both of which suffer from high levels of illicit wildlife tracking)

Elephants, tigers, pangolins and rhinoceros are among the most critically poached and trafficked species across the world. Looking closer to home in Britain, we are seeing huge declines in the numbers of hedgehogs, bees and butterflies.

We have to act quickly to protect and conserve the biodiversity on this planet. So, what can we all do about this? We need to take collaborative action to protect and conserve our wildlife (both here and worldwide) which could make the difference between a species surviving or becoming extinct.

WVS are working on a dedicated project entitled the 'Wildlife Veterinary Project' with Game Rangers International, a charity that supports communities living around the Kafue National Park in the heart of Zambia. It manages the natural resources of the area through support to wildlife management and protection and community outreach and education.

Our outreach veterinary team has been involved and given help in wildlife projects such as lion re-introductions, giraffe post mortems, the clinical examination of orphan elephants, the rehabilitation of bush babies, as well as the rescue and reintroduction of pangolins.

We have to act quickly to protect and conserve biodiversity on this planet and Worldwide Wildlife Day is a great day to promote this.

For press information, contact Emma Harrison on tel: 01725 557225 or email emma.harrison@wvs.org.uk.

EDITORS' NOTES:

Founded by Luke Gamble in 2003, the Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) is a UK registered charity that provides a sustainable veterinary resource to assist animal charities throughout the world. From disaster emergency response to training and education, our aim is to provide a fast action veterinary response to charities and animals in need.