Make a pledge today to save the red squirrels

Time is running out, don't delay, make a pledge today!

You can save Britain's red squirrels - make a pledge today!

You have a rare chance to support Wildwood where your donation could be worth more than four times its original value, and will unlock the vital funds needed to save the red squirrels from extinction! Only your pledge today will unlock the funds in the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign. You can make us lottery winners with a pledge today!   MAKE A PLEDGE   »   With £11.3 million up for grabs, your donation is vital to unlock these funds for our project saving red squirrels. You can do this today by becoming a pledger. Your support really is essential to save the red squirrel and ensure this iconic British species doesn’t disappear from our countryside.     Red squirrel numbers have been devastated over the past century and will continue to decline towards extinction unless urgent action is taken. We face the risk of this beautiful creature disappearing completely from our countryside and must act now to safeguard their future. The red squirrel is our only native squirrel species, now vastly outnumbered by the invasive grey squirrel. It has been extinct in Kent since the 1960s and without immediate conservation, the species is expected to be completely wiped out in Britain by 2030. Your support will make the difference as to whether or not future generations will be able to see this animal back in the wild.   "How can we just do nothing while witnessing the disappearance of one of this country’s most endearing species, now you can join with Wildwood Trust and give red squirrels a fighting chance for survival" - Chris Packham   Wildwood’s good friend and supporter Chris Packham is supporting this appeal   MAKE A PLEDGE   »   Wildwood has been leading the return of red squirrels back into the UK, with important and successful release programmes across Anglesey and mainland Wales. This success has formed a buffer population of red squirrels and has regained lost ground. We have been successfully breeding red squirrels in captivity for over 15 years and send up to 10 juveniles every year for release. Watch the video to find out more about what happened after Wildwood's Red Squirrels were released into the wild last year.        To continue our efforts to rescue the red squirrel, we desperately need to expand our breeding facilities, renovate old enclosures and add more breeding pairs. It is also important that the squirrels receive an enriched diet, mimicking what they would feed on naturally in the wild. This will result in larger litters, and those being released having a head start as they are already adapted to the diet. We are aiming to raise £3,750 in Pledge Promises from our supporters to unlock further match funds from a Champion funder secured by the Big Give, but we only have a until 31st August to reach that target. Your support really is essential to save the red squirrel and ensure this iconic British species doesn’t disappear from our countryside. Would you consider making a pledge to help us reach our target? It will only take a few minutes of your time and with your help, we can save the red squirrel from extinction.   MAKE A PLEDGE   »   For full information, please see how it works here and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your support. Kind regards, Peter Smith Director Wildwood Trust  Additional information: how does it all work? As a Pledger, you commit a pledge promise to our matching pot which is conditional on our performance in the campaign and payable after the campaign has ended. If we don’t use all of your promised funds then we would ask you for a pro rata amount of the pledge. Your funds will be used to match online donations when the campaign is live (27th Nov - 4th Dec). Research shows that 84% of donors are more likely to give in a match funding campaign and that donations are on average 2.5 times bigger. By committing a pledge promise you will help us to inspire donors to support us and make your own donation go much further. Please note that you cannot donate online to us if you have committed a pledge promise. Full Terms & Conditions are available for you to read when you complete the form.

Wildwood Trust Herne Common Herne Bay Kent CT6 7LQ   Registered Charity No: 1093702 Wildwood Kent: 01227 712 111 Wildwood Devon: 0404 822 188 appeals@wildwoodtrust.org   Unable to view this email properly? Click here to view it in your browser To no longer receive emails from us please follow this link

Make a pledge today to save the red squirrels

Time is running out, don't delay, make a pledge today!

You can save Britain's red squirrels - make a pledge today!

You have a rare chance to support Wildwood where your donation could be worth more than four times its original value, and will unlock the vital funds needed to save the red squirrels from extinction! Only your pledge today will unlock the funds in the UK’s biggest online match funding campaign. You can make us lottery winners with a pledge today!   MAKE A PLEDGE   »   With £11.3 million up for grabs, your donation is vital to unlock these funds for our project saving red squirrels. You can do this today by becoming a pledger. Your support really is essential to save the red squirrel and ensure this iconic British species doesn’t disappear from our countryside.     Red squirrel numbers have been devastated over the past century and will continue to decline towards extinction unless urgent action is taken. We face the risk of this beautiful creature disappearing completely from our countryside and must act now to safeguard their future. The red squirrel is our only native squirrel species, now vastly outnumbered by the invasive grey squirrel. It has been extinct in Kent since the 1960s and without immediate conservation, the species is expected to be completely wiped out in Britain by 2030. Your support will make the difference as to whether or not future generations will be able to see this animal back in the wild.   "How can we just do nothing while witnessing the disappearance of one of this country’s most endearing species, now you can join with Wildwood Trust and give red squirrels a fighting chance for survival" - Chris Packham   Wildwood’s good friend and supporter Chris Packham is supporting this appeal   MAKE A PLEDGE   »   Wildwood has been leading the return of red squirrels back into the UK, with important and successful release programmes across Anglesey and mainland Wales. This success has formed a buffer population of red squirrels and has regained lost ground. We have been successfully breeding red squirrels in captivity for over 15 years and send up to 10 juveniles every year for release. Watch the video to find out more about what happened after Wildwood's Red Squirrels were released into the wild last year.        To continue our efforts to rescue the red squirrel, we desperately need to expand our breeding facilities, renovate old enclosures and add more breeding pairs. It is also important that the squirrels receive an enriched diet, mimicking what they would feed on naturally in the wild. This will result in larger litters, and those being released having a head start as they are already adapted to the diet. We are aiming to raise £3,750 in Pledge Promises from our supporters to unlock further match funds from a Champion funder secured by the Big Give, but we only have a until 31st August to reach that target. Your support really is essential to save the red squirrel and ensure this iconic British species doesn’t disappear from our countryside. Would you consider making a pledge to help us reach our target? It will only take a few minutes of your time and with your help, we can save the red squirrel from extinction.   MAKE A PLEDGE   »   For full information, please see how it works here and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your support. Kind regards, Peter Smith Director Wildwood Trust  Additional information: how does it all work? As a Pledger, you commit a pledge promise to our matching pot which is conditional on our performance in the campaign and payable after the campaign has ended. If we don’t use all of your promised funds then we would ask you for a pro rata amount of the pledge. Your funds will be used to match online donations when the campaign is live (27th Nov - 4th Dec). Research shows that 84% of donors are more likely to give in a match funding campaign and that donations are on average 2.5 times bigger. By committing a pledge promise you will help us to inspire donors to support us and make your own donation go much further. Please note that you cannot donate online to us if you have committed a pledge promise. Full Terms & Conditions are available for you to read when you complete the form.

Wildwood Trust Herne Common Herne Bay Kent CT6 7LQ   Registered Charity No: 1093702 Wildwood Kent: 01227 712 111 Wildwood Devon: 0404 822 188 appeals@wildwoodtrust.org   Unable to view this email properly? Click here to view it in your browser To no longer receive emails from us please follow this link

Happy 20th Birthday Wildwood Bears

Happy birthday to our bears!

Wildwood is celebrating the 20th birthday of our brown bears, Fluffy and Scruffy, who were rescued from an abandoned Bulgarian breeding centre in 2014. The bears only survived the first 15 years of their life because of the generosity of local villagers, who fed them their main diet of hardened blocks of porridge. Just four years later they're eating specially prepared 'cake' full of their favourite foods, in the middle of a huge woodland home.  They certainly deserve it after all they have been through. Happy birthday boys!

The story of our bears

The early years... The bears had lived their entire lives in small, barren concrete pits in an abandoned bear breeding centre called Kormissosh, in Bulgaria. Kormissosh was used to breed bears to be shot by hunters until 1993 when bear hunting was outlawed. As a result, Kormissosh was abandoned, leaving the bears to a life of misery and neglect. Only the kindness of local villagers saw the bears being fed, their main diet being hardened blocks of porridge. As Kormissosh was a breeding centre, the males and females were not separated when the centre was abandoned and the bears continued to breed. Our bears (males, both now aged around 17yrs) were born at Kormissosh and had never been outside of their concrete pens before being rescued by Wildwood. To rescue the bears, Wildwood worked in partnership with Bears In Mind, a Netherlands based charity which works to rescue bears around the world. After a desperate push to raise the £50,000 needed for their transportation and quarantine enclosure, Wildwood managed to bring the bears to their site in Kent in November 2014. The rescue operation was in fact brought forward by 5 months as it was feared that the bears might not survive the winter.

A new life at Wildwood... After arriving at Wildwood, the bears lived in their smaller quarantine enclosure whilst their larger woodland enclosure area was completed. As soon as it was ready, the bears were allowed out to explore their new home one at a time until they were both familiar with their surroundings. The bears had never seen each other when at Kormissosh, and were gradually introduced through the enclosure wires over a period of time. It was felt that 'discussions' took place during this period, so when they did eventually meet 'face-to-face' in March 2016, there was no altercations and they still get on very well.

The future... Our aim is for the bears in our charge to live as natural as life as possible, and to make sure that their physical and mental health are as perfect as we can achieve. To this end, our expert keepers are continuing to use behavioural husbandry; closely monitoring their weight and reactions to their diet and environment. We're hoping for them to approach a full natural rhythm by the end of Summer, 2018. With our large enclosure having the capacity to comfortably fit five bears and we may also look towards supporting more bears at Wildwood dependant on whether we deem it beneficial for our exisiting bears. Watch this space!     CONTACT Wildwood Trust: +44(0)1227 712 111 Peter Smith: peter@wildwoodtrust.org or 07986 828229 Dan Farrow: dan.farrow@wildwoodtrust.org or 01227 209617   Wildwood Trust, Herne Common, Herne Bay, Nr Canterbury, Kent CT6 7LQ Registered Charity No. 1093702   FOLLOW US Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewildwoodtrust Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WildwoodTrust Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/thewildwoodtrust   ABOUT WILDWOOD Wildwood Trust opened in 1999 as a centre of excellence for the conservation of British wildlife, and was established as a registered charity in 2002. Wildwood is Kent's best British wildlife park. Home to over 200 native animals, past and present and set in 40 acres of beautiful ancient woodland where visitors can see bears, wolves, bison, deer, owls, foxes, red squirrels, wild boar, lynx, wild horses, badgers and beavers plus many more. As one of the leading British animal conservation charities in the UK, Wildwood Trust is dedicated to saving Britain's most threatened wildlife. Wildwood Trust have taken part in many ground-breaking conservation programmes to date, which include, saving the water vole, using wild horses to help restore Kent's most precious nature reserves, bringing the extinct European beaver back to Britain and returning the hazel dormouse & red squirrel to areas where they have been made extinct.

Wildwood Trust Herne Common Herne Bay Kent CT6 7LQ Registered Charity No: 1093702 Wildwood Kent: 01227 712 111 Wildwood Devon: 01404 822 188 info@wildwoodtrust.org