News & Updates

Born Free will launch a 15-point plan designed to protect and ensure the future welfare of the millions of wild animals kept in captivity in the UK - in zoos, circuses and as exotic pets. The priorities will be unveiled at Beyond the Bars: The Welfare of Captive Wild Animals in the UK - a high-profile event involving Members of Parliament, animal welfare experts, conservationists, veterinarians, wildlife NGOs and special guests - in Westminster this evening.

Not one, but three good news stories from our colleagues at GRI- ZPP. Zambia Primate Project have had a busy few days! First off, our troop of rescued vervet monkeys are free at last. All victims of the illegal bush meat and pet trades in Zambia, they are looking fit and healthy back in the bush at our release site in Kafue National Park. They are being monitored daily by our dedicated team of field researchers - Caribou, Dalliso and Matthews, to support them in their transition back to a truly wild life after, for some, years on the end of a short chain at the hands of humans. How good it must feel to be free at last!

On the eve of a high-profile event at Westminster, international wildlife charity, the Born Free Foundation, has today sounded the alarm over the viability of current regulations for monitoring and inspecting the UK’s more than 250 zoos.

New report highlights South African government’s role in the bloody, commercial lion body part trade Report provides shocking insights into the development of South Africa’s controversial captive lion breeding industry

Tipango ole Sakimpa, a pastoralist from the Maasai community in Mbirikani Group Ranch in the Amboseli ecosystem, is a happy man yet again.

Over the past six months, there have been numerous incidents of animals escaping from zoos, including a red panda at Virginia Zoo; an orangutan at Chester Zoo; a gorilla at London Zoo; and a lion from Leipzig Zoo. Reports have emerged in the last couple of days of yet more animal escapes from zoos.

In 2007, with the support of the Born Free Foundation, the Lilongwe Wildlife Trust (LWT) launched their flagship project, the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre. Since then, and with our ongoing support, LWT has gone from strength to strength – today it stands as Malawi’s leading wildlife welfare and conservation charity.

Last week, while the global community was celebrating World Wildlife Day, the Born Free’s Border Point project team in Ethiopia was hard at work delivering training to over 1,300 police officers and trainees from the Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) counter terrorism unit. These officers play a crucial role in tackling illegal activities in the Amhara region, including illegal wildlife trade.

The depths to which some people are prepared to stoop to make money at the expense of wild animals reached a new low with the news that a white rhinoceros named Vince had been killed for his horn at a zoo near Paris. Reports suggest that one or more poachers broke into Thoiry Zoo to the west of Paris on the night of Monday 6th March, shot the rhino in the head several times, then cut off his horn with a chain saw.

The rare Ethiopian wolves are beginning to recover from three tough years in their stronghold in the Bale Mountains. This is Africa’s most threatened carnivore and the world’s rarest canid (dog family). Latest reports from the field have revealed that wolf packs in the Web Valley, Sanetti Plateau and Morebawa in the Bale Mountains of southern Ethiopia are thriving, with 28, 22 and 10 pups recorded respectively. The news is particularly welcomed because the last three years have been incredibly hard for these packs, following deadly outbreaks of rabies and canine distemper virus, as well as a serious drought.