The Aspinall Foundation is a world leader in rescuing, rewilding and protecting wild animals and the places they call home. The global conservation agency, based in the leafy English countryside, are unique in their approach and protect more than one million acres of precious wilderness around the world, including an area of pristine gorilla habitat the size of Kent on the Batéké Plateau in central Africa.
More than 1,000 at-risk animals in 13 countries have been saved by The Aspinall Foundation’s dedicated international teams since the charity was founded in 1984. Despite the decades-long record of success, The Aspinall Foundation remains one of the only organisations in the world to consistently rewild animals from captivity.
The Aspinall Foundation is world renowned for their successes with Western lowland gorillas In Congo and Gabon, where they operate two of the only gorilla reintroduction projects in the world. These projects have helped to halt the local trade in gorilla infants stolen from the wild and have seen over 70 gorillas returned to areas of protected wilderness from both in and ex situ populations into the wild, and over 35 births to released animals to date.
The Aspinall Foundation recently made conservation history when reintroduced gorillas, Djongo and Mayombe, were spotted with a tiny bundle of joy - the first ever birth to captive-born gorillas in the wild. This year, the teams in Congo and Gabon have continued to provide vital care and monitoring for the gorillas they protect and have also rescued crocodiles and vervet monkeys from the illegal wildlife trade, releasing them back into the lush wilderness of the Batéké Plateau.
In 2023 alone, The Aspinall Foundation team in Southern Africa have rescued, rewilded or relocated over 100 animals, with recent interventions including; removing snares from young elephants close to Kruger National Park, releasing captive-born side-striped jackal at Gorongosa in Mozambique to re-establish the wild population, the first ever translocation of a honey badger born in the UK to Mpumalanga Province, treating grievously injured rhinos, fitting new state of the art tracking devices to crocodiles and rescuing and relocating multiple big cats from truly appalling conditions.
A major operation this year saw The Aspinall Foundation team partner with WildlifeVets.com and The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MPTA) to respond urgently to a huge group of at-risk elephants. The 72 strong herd had moved into the buffer area of Songimvelo Nature Reserve, putting both the elephants and the local communities at risk. Thanks to previously fitted tracking collars, The Aspinall Foundation team and partners were able to quickly locate the elephants and divert them from the crosshairs of hunters using a helicopter.
Damian Aspinall, Chairman of The Aspinall Foundation, commented: “I am deeply proud of the trailblazing success of The Aspinall Foundation. Our team are the best in the world at what they do and I cannot name another organisation which even comes close to our success. Over 1,000 animals rescued or rewilded is an incredible number which stands in stark contrast to the pitiful efforts made by zoos around the world who talk about conservation but do nothing to support it.
We will continue with our vital work, ensuring that animals have someone on their side to correct the imbalance in nature caused by mankind running roughshod over the natural world for generations, with no thought given to the consequences.”
These recent successes just touch the surface of The Aspinall Foundation’s 39-year history of leading the way in ground-breaking conservation and rewilding projects. To date, the foundation has relocated, rescued or rewilded more than 70 gorillas, 8 black rhino, 9 cheetahs, more than 280 primates in Indonesia, 12 European bison, 20 mandrill, 11 Przewalski horses, 1 Sumatran rhino, 1 brown hyena, 2 lions, 7 African painted dogs, 3 zebra and hundreds more animals to protected areas of their ancestral homelands.
The Aspinall Foundation expanded their work In Southern Africa in 2019 and has been working tirelessly on rescue, rewilding and emergency translocation projects. Together with partners, the Foundation team in Southern Africa have protected a total of 565 animals including rhino, crocodiles, elephants, hippos, pangolins and many more species.
For more information on The Aspinall Foundation and how to support their vital conservation projects, visit aspinallfoundation.org/support
