PROJECTS
Our Commitment
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WWS UK is dedicated to raising awareness and supporting wherever it can, the conservation, education and research projects carried out by dedicated and committed individuals working to create a harmonious home for people and our natural world.
The Asian Elephant
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The Asian elephant is classified as endangered, with only approximately 50,000 in the world today. 50% of these are in India where they live in evergreen forests and grasslands, grazing for up to 15 hours a day. One of the biggest threats to the Asian elephant today is habitat loss driven by an expanding human population, often leading to conflicts between humans and elephants. Increasingly elephants and people are killed as a result of such conflicts. The long-term future of elephants inside and outside protected areas is linked to mitigating such human–elephant conflicts. This is one of the largest conservation challenges. Without urgent action elephants could disappear from the wild within a single generation.
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The Bannerghatta National Park is just 20 miles south of Bangalore, India, and is home to a number of Asian elephants and indigenous wild animals. Impressed at the dedication and commitment of a small team of conservation scientists and volunteers studying and working for the park's animals, particularly the elephants, WWS UK pledged to help.
​Our commitment is to raise funds to help with their ongoing work and hopefully help them achieve their dream to build an elephant care centre for rescued tourist elephants to be rehabilitated and released into the Park to live free for the rest of their lives.
ELEPHANT CARE CENTRE - a team of dedicated conservation scientists have a dream to buy land, build an elephant care centre, take in rescued captive elephants, rehabilitate and release them into the Bannerghatta National Park to live free. WWS UK fundraising is to help them realise this dream.
FIRE FIGHTING & PARK RANGERS - ​Equipment and clothing is required by the Bannerghatta National Park's wardens. The rangers need sturdy shoes and appropriate clothing when fighting fires or managing elephants when working every day to avoid human animal conflicts. WWS UK fundraising will help buy the important equipment required for the wardens to carry out their jobs.​
CHILLI/TOBACCO BARRIER - The smell from an oil, chilli and tobacco paste painted onto barrier fences has proven an effective deterrent securing farmlands from crop raids by elephants. The non-invasive chilli-tobacco barrier first used is a low cost solution which requires regular application and testing.
RESTORING FALLOW LAND - elephants will visit abondoned land that abuts the national park to forage and planting native trees and soil moisture conservation initiatives encourages more natural habitat for the elephants. This work is ongoing and our fundraising helps for it to continue.
Orangutans
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Orangutans are highly intelligent creatures, sharing 97% of human DNA. Known for their distinctive red hair they spend most of their time in trees, with long, powerful arms and grasping hands and feet allowing them to move through the branches with amazing ease.
Orangutans are native to Indonesia and Malaysia, their name translating to ‘Man of the Forest’ in Malay. They live in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra and are on the Critically Endangered list. Only 50 years ago it was estimated there were around 280,000 orangutans on our planet, with the latest figures of about 100,000 living today.
The main threats to wild orangutan populations include poaching, habitat destruction as a result of fires and deforestation for palm oil plantations, and the illegal poaching, logging and pet trades.
Most of their day is spent feeding, resting, and travelling. Orangutans start the day feeding in the morning, rest during midday then travel in the late afternoon. When evening arrives, they begin to prepare their nests for the night. They need their trees and healthy forests which are just as vital to the indigenous people of Indonesia and Malaysia and numerous other forest animals and plants.
WWS UK supports ongoing projects which work to care for and rehabilitate orangutans and buy and protect land for their release back to the wild.
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The image is of the majestic Montana, living amongst the trees. Sadly he was shot when a baby and carries injuries which means he can not be released into the wild. Thanks to the dedication and commitment of his carers and fundraisers who have enabled the building of a "ha-ha", after years of living in the middle a Borneo care centre, Montana has his own island of trees to live in as he was born to do.
It is not too late. Join us and act now. Let us be the generation who does something to make a difference.
“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney