Charity urges support for Vulture and Birds of Prey Conservation Projects

British charity Wildlife Vets International (WVI) is asking animal and wildlife lovers to support vital bird of prey conservation projects in Bulgaria, India and South Africa through its participation in online fundraiser The 2017 Big Give Christmas Challenge.

Vultures and other birds of prey are persecuted throughout the world, either through hunting and the poisoning of carcasses, or indirectly through injuries caused by kite strings or wind turbines and the use of certain drugs in livestock which are poisonous to them. Numbers of some species of vultures have experienced a drop of 99.9% in recent years.

Through its Raptor Rehabilitation Progamme, WVI is working to ensure that as many injured birds as possible survive and are successfully reintroduced to the wild. Its veterinary teams are already working in India to increase the survival rate of injured birds and to increase their fitness at release. They are also training local vets and rehabilitation staff in pre- and post-surgical treatment and in surgical techniques. However, to ensure that its conservation plans for 2018 can go ahead fully and that it can expand its activities into Bulgaria and South Africa, two more countries in which these birds are under particular threat, WVI needs to raise £18,000.

WVI’s Raptor Rehabilitation programme has been selected for The Big Give Christmas Challenge, the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign. The Challenge goes live on #GivingTuesday, 28 November 2017 and, if the charity can raise £3,000 in online donations by 5 December, it has the opportunity to have its donations doubled through match funding from donors, including veterinary companies Virbac UK and Vetronic Services Ltd, the Kirkleatham Owl Centre and The Reed Foundation.

Commenting, Olivia Walter, WVI Executive Director, said: “They may not be cute and cuddly, but vultures and birds of prey are an ecologically vital group of birds that face a range of threats which are causing their numbers to plummet. We must act quickly and our Raptor Rehabilitation Programme will significantly increase their chance of survival in some parts of the world.

“We hope that animal and wildlife lovers everywhere will get involved and support our fundraising campaign. #Giving Tuesday - Tuesday 28 November – marks the start of The Big Give’s Christmas Challenge. Donations made between then and 5 December will attract match funding, enabling us to double the total value of donations received. Our target is to raise £3,000 through online donations during the week of the Christmas Challenge.

“If we were lucky enough to do this, we would receive a further £3,000 in match funding, making a total of £6,000. This would make a huge contribution to the £18,000 we need to enable us to deliver our conservation plans to help to protect these iconic birds.”

For further information, please contact WVI at info@wildlifevetsinternational.org or visit its website.

For further information:

Rebecca George

Tel: 01449 737281/07974 161108