Dear Friends,
Friends of Animals marked a milestone this year—we turned 60, which means that for six decades, we’ve been confronting and stopping animal cruelty and exploitation, wherever it occurs. Because of your membership support, we’ve made a lot of progress. Just this year:
Friends of Animals and the Zimbabwe Conservation Force are once again stepping up to safeguard elephants in Zimbabwe. The two groups have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C. challenging U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s hurried, irrational decision to reverse its three-year policy on prohibiting U.S. hunters from importing elephant trophies from Zimbabwe. Learn more.
Our nationwide low-cost spay and neuter program—the first of its kind, and largest—passed the 2.7 million mark; not only the does spay and neuter improve the long-term health of our beloved cats and dogs, it also prevents millions from perishing in America’s shelter system.
Our Wildlife Law Program just won its ninth lawsuit filed against the federal government to protect America’s national treasure: wild horses. Indigenous to the American landscape and a keystone species, wild horses have been under siege; violently rounded-up, treated with experimental contraceptives, sold to private citizens without the means to care for them and even sent to slaughter. Friends of Animals is the leading organization working to protect wild horses from roundups and experimental birth control that studies have shown harms them physically and destroys herd cohesiveness.
Our primate sanctuary in Texas, Primarily Primates—the first in the nation, which turns 40 in 2018—took in several new residents, continuing its mission of rescuing and rehabilitating monkeys and great apes. Currently, we provide life-long care for 350 animals including chimpanzees, baboons, gibbons, macaques, spider monkeys, capuchins, birds in two aviaries and three wild horses—not to mention wildlife who reside at the 78-acre refuge. Our primates were saved from labs, circuses, the exotic pet trade and roadside zoos. We also educate people about how they can stop the exploitation of primates.
We launched a powerful nationwide anti-trophy-hunting campaign, “Money Doesn’t Make It Ok.” The goal of the short film and posters is two-fold: To shatter the myth perpetrated by trophy hunters that without them there would be no money for conservation in Africa. And to raise awareness about one of the tools we are using to end the importation into the U.S. of trophy hunted animals from Africa—legislation we drafted called Cecil’s Law. We are the only international group unequivocally opposed to hunting and we are bolstered by the recently released U.S. Fish & Wildlife Survey that reports the number of hunters in America fell to 5 percent versus 35 percent of Americans who are wildlife-watchers.
We’ve connected the dots between animal agriculture, human overpopulation and climate change... one of the most pressing issues of our time. We share our gutsy message and thoughtful solutions through presentations at national conferences, vegetarian and vegan festivals, schools, gardening clubs and through articles in our quarterly magazine Action Line. We launched an award-winning “flip off fur” campaign to raise awareness about how millions of animals suffer endlessly for fashion, and to educate the public about animal-friendly alternatives. Our newest campaign will launch about the time you hold this letter in your hand.
The Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project—an island sanctuary located in the River Gambia National Park in Africa—continues to protect approximately 107 critically endangered chimpanzees.
Our ongoing project to bring scimitar-horned oryxes back from extinction in Africa continues to be successful. It is with great pride we can say there are currently 330 oryxes thriving within two expansive (over 4,600 acres), fenced, fully-protected reserves in Senegal. Of course, there is always more work to be done.
Can we count on your help us as we head into 2018? Wildlife and critical habitat protection will once again be at the core of our animal advocacy in the months ahead.
Please make a donation today and consider being a monthly donor—a way to make your gift stretch throughout the year. With your donation, you’ll also receive another year of Action Line — our quarterly magazine, which highlights our current work and offers our readers a fascinating look at diverse topics related to animals and the ways all of us can take action to help them. We don’t take your support for granted; we know that many groups are doing wonderful things to make the world a better place for humans and animals alike. Friends of Animals remains a leader because of you.
