Wildwood Trust: Double your donation today #givingtuesday

Time is running out to save the pine marten - we must act now!

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One donation, twice the impact
to help bring the pine marten back from the brink of extinction!

Donate today to help save the pine marten

The Big Give Christmas Challenge, the UK's biggest online match funding campaign starts today!
#Giving Tuesday

Double your donation

For one week only, from 12pm (midday) today until 12pm Tuesday 10th December, all donations given through the Big Give will be DOUBLED. This means your gift will make twice the difference towards our vital conservation work to save the pine marten!

The European pine marten was once widespread in the UK. Sadly, centuries of persecution (including poisoning and hunting for their furs) and the gradual disappearance of suitable habitat, has led this beautiful animal to the brink of extinction in Britain.

Having a good understanding of pine marten ecology and breeding behaviour is very important for any future re-introductions. Unfortunately, pine martens are very difficult to breed in captivity, but thanks to the expertise of Wildwood's keeper team, we are one of the most successful breeders of pine marten in Britain.

Due to their complex breeding behaviour careful observation needs to be made as new animals are paired. To allow more natural behaviour, in 2006 Wildwood's keeper team came up with a unique design, linking the pine marten territories (enclosures) by a series of tunnels that could be opened and closed as required, mimicking the territories they would have naturally in the wild.

Double your donation

Thanks to this ingenious design our pine martens first mated successfully in summer 2009. They have a delayed implantation period of up to 210 days to enable offspring to be born at the best time of year for survival, which meant our first kit was born at Wildwood in spring 2010.

Wildwood have now bred twelve pine marten as part of our captive breeding programme, some of which have been suppllied to other conservation projects to help increase their numbers even further, but we really need your help to continue this vital work.

Wildwood is very proud of our achievements to date in pine marten conservation, but we urgently need your help to replace Wildwood's facilities for breeding them. The existing breeding enclosures have become severely degraded over time and are in need of a complete rebuild in order to continue this vital work.

Your donation will help us to rebuild the enclosures, giving us the opportunity to build on our current knowledge and ensure a continued successful breeding programme. We will refine the tunnel system and build a range of specially designed nesting boxes to encourage them to breed. A camera system will be installed within the tunnels and nest boxes giving us the unique opportunity of monitoring the Pine Marten breeding 24 hours a day without causing them any undue, unnecessary stress or disturbance.

Double your donation

In addition, we also need to source and introduce new pine martens to those already at Wildwood to improve our breeding programme further and ensure the best possible genetic diversity. This can be a very expensive process with high transportation costs and vets bills, so your donation will really help us achieve so much more.

The pine martens' recovery in the UK could help to restore the country's natural balance, as with all native species, the pine marten play an important role in the ecosystem. They disperse seeds, lower the risk of diseases by removing carrion, and studies have shown that they could also provide a natural way of reducing grey squirrel numbers, helping red squirrels to re-establish their populations.

All donations do have to be processed through the Big Give website to unlock the match funds available, but if you're unable to make a donation online, please call 01227 712111 and we will be happy to help you. Alternatively, you can make a donation when you visit the park or post a cheque, but these donations will not be doubled.

Thank you in advance for your continued support and please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions relating to this appeal.