Flash
18/11/25
Animal Conservation
During half term I enjoyed a trip to Howletts Wild Animal Park and it made me want to learn more about the Aspinall Foundation and the work they do to help animal conservation.
But I wonder…what is animal conservation?
Animal conservation is incredibly important. It is the protection of animal species that are endangered or vulnerable to becoming endangered. This conservation desperately tries to stop precious species of animals becoming extinct and dying out forever. Animal conservation also helps protect natural habitats as without these wild animals cannot survive.
Unfortunately many species are endangered because of the actions of humans. Species become endangered for many reasons but often it is because of habitat loss, climate change, pollution or because humans are hunting them for different reasons.Â
The Aspinall Foundation
The Aspinall Foundation works with its partners Howletts Wild Animal Park and Port Lympne Safari Park, somewhere else I have enjoyed visiting too! It was founded by John Aspinall in 1984 and is now run by his son Damian Aspinall.
While allowing visitors to see these amazing animals is a big part of what they do, they are also working to try and conserve and breed these species to help towards maintaining and increasing their numbers.
The Aspinall Foundation also works around the world, helping animals in the wild and in protected reserves.
They even have a Back to the Wild program, where they are returning animals back to where they belong in the wild. That’s the bit I was really interested in when I visited Howletts!
The Aspinall Foundation has already sent many animals back to the wild from Howletts and Port Lympne which is just incredible. They have also rescued animals from other areas in the wild and protected them from harm.
Hover over these pictures to learn more about just some of the animal species they have been able to help…
8 Black Rhinos have been rehomed, with 3 sent to South Africa and 5 to Tanzania. So far there have been over 25 rhino born from these rhinos and they are successfully repopulating the areas they made home. These rhinos have tracking devices so keepers know where they are and can protect them.
In 2020 the Aspinall Foundation rewilded the first ever cheetahs! 2 cheetahs were sent together and given time to get used to their new surroundings and develop their hunting skills. When they were ready they were released into a massive but protected area to truly live in the wild! They have now rehomed 9 cheetahs.
7 Painted Dogs have been sent from Kent to a protected area in Africa too. There they are fed and protected in their natural habitat.
Over 280 primates have been taken back to live in the rainforests in Indonesia. Many of these are Javan Langurs.
43 Javan Gibbons have been reintroduced to rainforests in Java.
Now they are working on getting their 13 beautiful elephants that currently live at Howletts back to where they belong. Sadly elephants do not thrive in captivity. Elephants in the wild actually live longer so the Aspinall Foundation are hoping to return the elephants back to the wild soon.
In Africa the foundation helps to protect a one million acre area where animals can live in their natural habitat but with some protection. Incredibly over 75 Western Lowland Gorillas have been rehomed there where they have thrived and continued to breed, 26 of which are from Kent!
Another endangered species they are hoping to send back to the wild are servals. This will be the first time this has been attempted for this species. They are hoping they will be able to be sent to Zimbabwe. Once they have had time to get used to their new home, and learnt to hunt successfully they will then be released into the wild with anti-poaching teams protecting them.
3 more beautiful rhinos are due to be rewilded from Port Lympne to Tanzania soon...how exciting!
Photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots and Public Domain Images.