12 things we're thankful for from 2016

By Rosie Bell, Fundraising Copywriter at World Animal Protection UK

By continuing to sign petitions, writing to legistlators and putting pressure on decision makers, our supporters are helping to end cruelty to wild animals in tourism and entertainment. Thanks to over 558,000 signatures, the travel company Tripadvisor will stop selling tickets to some of the world’s cruellest tourist attractions.

Supporters are helping to create Better lives for dogs across the world – fighting rabies and violent mass killings. In Kenya, we administered the one millionth rabies vaccination since our work began to protect animals and communities against this deadly virus.

Local teams rescued 15 more bears from captive cruelty in Romania and Pakistan – including the beautiful Maya (pictured). Our supporter-funded partner sanctuaries are collectively home to 127 rescued bears – and every rescue brings us one important step closer to ending cruel practices like bear dancing, and the vicious blood-sport bear baiting.

Our supporters were there for animals when disaster struck – and enabled us to aid over 650,000 animals in 10 countries hit by floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and other disasters this year; coordinating relief and delivering food, shelter, emergency treatment and mobile vet care.

Together we influenced the international community to acknowledge the importance of animal welfare in reducing disaster risk, helping ensure that countless animals are protected in the future through the UN’s Sendai disaster disk reduction framework.

At the Rio 2016 Olympics, we trained staff to handle animals who strayed onto the sites, rescuing and rehoming animals during construction and throughout the games.







Our campaign to make a Change For chickens kicked off with over 300,000 signatures demanding action to improve welfare in fast food supply chains…



 …and years of lobbying and hard work paid off when the Committee on Food Security of the United Nations endorsed policy recommendations to improve animal welfare in farming systems.



Our supporters helped save the National Wildlife Crime Unit when the UK government threatened it with closure – helping ensure that those who abuse and exploit wildlife still face justice.



Thanks to the great generosity of supporters, injured orangutans will soon have a new forest home at the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation…



…a water source has been built to protect precious wildlife in the Yangudi Rassa National Park, Ethiopia…



…and through the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, solutions are underway to stop lost and abandoned fishing gear causing deadly injury to marine animals. We’re also training and assisting rescue teams to save entangled animals around the world.

This year showed us that there are many people willing to stand up for animal welfare – and that the movement continues to gather strength. Together, we’ll create the change that protects countless animals from cruelty and suffering in 2017 and beyond.



On behalf of World Animal Protection and all the animals you’re helping to protect, THANK YOU. And wishes for a happy and healthy 2017.