We received a letter of thanks from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) for us promoting their extremely worthwhile  charitable cause through the site - and more importantly they sent us an update on how the money you have donated has helped their animal charity work.

WSPA 2007 Progress Update

A first for the whaling campaign
Earlier in 2007, following pressure from WSPA, Tony Blair became the first head of state ever to make a statement on the cruelty of whaling at the International Whaling Commission.

WSPA score victory against poor zoo conditions
As a result of campaigning by WSPA and other member societies the Canadian government has committed to strengthening zoo regulations, improving inspection programs and toughening Ontario’s animal cruelty law, which hasn’t been significantly revised in 88 years.

Bear baiting in Pakistan
The WSPA have employed teams to work with the Pakistani authorities and their member society, the Wildlife Society of Pakistan, to seek out and stop bear baiting activities in Sindh and Punjab provinces. They have stopped 112 out of 153 bear baiting events in 2007. They have also persuaded 235 out of 243 landlords to stop holding bear baiting events at their fairs and festivals. As an alternative attraction they have created a mobile unit designed to entertain local people and spread the word against bear baiting.

Progress in the call to ban bullfighting
It has been an active year in the anti-bullfighting campaign: WSPA and seven member societies attended an International Anti-Bullfighting Summit in Portugal, and many of WSPA’s member societies took part in a hugely successful anti-bullfighting demonstration in Barcelona in summer, which attracted over 5,000 supporters.

The WSPA have great plans for 2008, and will be focusing heavily on Long-distance transport and factory farming, both of which involve animal cruelty on a huge scale. Factory farming is simply the biggest single source of cruelty to animals in the world. Every year 61 billion farm animals are reared for meat, eggs and milk.

Plans for 2008

New campaign for 2008: Long distance transport
WSPA has completed an 18-month scientific investigation into the suffering of farm animals being transported long distances. This will be published by an academic publisher in May and forms the basis for the international Long Distance Transport campaign launching internationally in February 2008.

Exporting good ideas: model farms come to Brazil and China
We have started to train China’s first ever team of welfare experts to improve conditions in slaughterhouses, and we have signed agreements with academics and other partners in China and Brazil who will work with WSPA to promote humane and sustainable model farming alternatives.

>> Donate to the WSPA from just £6 a month

On the weekend of the 26-27 January 2008, the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch took place. Not only is it the world’s biggest bird survey it is also the RSPB’s biggest event of the year - and you don’t need to be have an RSPB membership to take part! In 2006 over 400,000 people took part by counting the birds in their garden for an hour and results for 2007 are showing 122,982 people taking part - and results have only been gathered for 3 days! We’ll keep you up to date as and when we get more info on the final numbers that took part - let’s hope they can beat that magic 4k mark!

The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch is a fantastic event as it’s so simple to take part in and you don’t have to be an Alan Partridge or Bill Oddie style bird expert to take part! Each participant needs to make notes over a period of just one hour, and record the highest number of each bird species seen in their garden (not flying over) at any one time. The RSPB provide a sheet to tally up results and send in to them so they can get their number crunchers beavering away on the rersults. This fantastic event enables bird lovers across the UK to help give the RSPB a vital snapshot of the UK’s birds each winter. The RSPB men in white jackets (or scientists as they preferred to be called! can then use the information and patterns in bird numbers to help prioritise their bird conservation work.

Did you take part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - if so we’d love to hear how you got on! You may also have found it a great way to get back in touch with nature and indeed birds - why not cement this with an RSPB membership? It will provide you with all of the below - but also a great way to help fund the great work carried out by the RSPB in protecting wildlife and the surrounding naturla habitat.

RSPB Membership Benefits :

>> Sign up for RSPB Membership today!

 We were recently contact by Laurence Jumbo Ekale from the Destinee Charity Foundation who a charity organisation based in Cameroon. Please read a little bit about tehir organisation below, including how you can help. If you would like to see your charity feature in our charity blog please get in touch!

“The Destinee charity foundation is a registered not for profit organization in Cameroon. Our main mission is to develop the poorest indigenous communites in kribi-South Cameroon by providing them with basic education, health, good drinking water, whilst also protecting the enviroment of the indigenous people and community. We also have an  agricultural (crops) programe that could help change their economic and social life.

We are looking for funding and donations from international organisations to help run the community health center and manage the community primary school. We accept medical donations, clothings, household utensils, food items, educational materials, computers, farm tools and machinery etc..

We urgently need mosquitos nets and funds to distribute them to the rural communites we serve.”

Please visit us here to help http://www.destineecharity.org/contact.html

Contact information :

Destinee Charity Foundation
Socapalm village1-Kribi, bp 411 Douala-Cameroon
Postal code : 00237
Tel : +23799232707
Fax : +23733432388

E-mail : info@destineecharity.org

Website : www.destineecharity.org