OUR HISTORY

In 1964, actress Virginia McKenna and her husband, actor Bill Travers, went to Kenya to make and star in what would become a wildlife classic, Born Free. The film was based on Joy Adamson's best-selling book of the same name – the extraordinary tale of how she and her husband George raised Elsa, an orphaned lion cub, before releasing her into the wilderness of Kenya.

Learning about the plight of wild animals during the making of the film was a life-changing experience for Virginia and Bill, who went on to make a number of wildlife films and documentaries together, including An Elephant Called Slowly with a young wild-caught elephant calf called Pole Pole. After filming, Pole Pole was gifted to London Zoo by the Kenyan government despite Virginia and Bill’s protests. Years later, Virginia and Bill went to the zoo to visit Pole Pole. Seeing her distress, they launched a campaign for her release but Pole Pole died in 1983, aged just 16.

POLE POLE REMEMBERED

Pole Pole’s death led Virginia and Bill to become tireless campaigners for animal welfare and conservation.

1990

Into the Blue launched. The conservation coalition successfully returned three of the UK’s last captive dolphins to the seas off Caribbean’s Turks & Caicos Islands.

We helped the Iberian Wolf Recovery Centre in Portugal to rescue rare Iberian wolves, under threat due to habitat loss and human persecution.

1991

Zoo Check became the Born Free Foundation, drawing together all our animal campaigns under one umbrella, with the aims of undertaking animal welfare, conservation and public awareness campaigns to keep wildlife in the wild.

1992

A global ivory ban was upheld by CITES, backed by another major press campaign and 1.9 million-name petition collected by Elefriends.

1993

Following six years of intense campaigning, UK dolphinaria were banned.

The Zoochotic Report investigated and exposed severely disturbed animal behavior in zoos worldwide.

We helped establish the Species Survival Network (SSN), the leading coalition of wildlife organisations working within the CITES framework. With Will Travers as President, SSN began its work to prevent exploitation of animals by reducing the impact of international trade.

1995

With Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, we helped develop the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme, a major initiative to protect the world’s rarest canid

1998

We helped develop a significant chimpanzee sanctuary and education centre on Ngamba Island, Uganda, amid 100 acres of rainforest, where orphan chimps live in a community.

We supported the development of the Colobus Trust on the southern coast of Kenya, working with local people to protect rare black and white colobus monkeys and their coastal forest habitat.

A report into the welfare of UK circus animals finds inadequate legislation; we called for a ban on wild animals in circuses.

1999

EU Zoos Directive passed, requiring zoo registration and imposing conservation, welfare and education criteria following a campaign which we started in 1988.

2010

Following months of lobbying, MEPs voted in favour of an EU Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals to ensure improved standards for all animals in captivity.

InfoCircus coalition launched by Born Free with Spanish organisations, ANDA and FAADA, to highlight plight of wild animals in circuses in Spain with the aim of a total ban.

2011

With ENDCAP, we helped authorities develop an EU Policy for Animal Welfare to improve standards for all wild animals in captivity in Europe.

We supported ABTA and tour operators in adopting a policy to reduce tourism’s impact on animal welfare and phase out ‘bad practices’.

2012

Will Travers was appointed OBE for ’services to wildlife conservation and animal welfare’.

Virginia McKenna received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from Nottingham Trent University for her dedication to wildlife.

2013

Alongside partners FIAPO and others, we successfully ended the construction of dolphinaria and keeping of cetaceans in captivity in India.

Born Free received the World Tourism Award for impact saving wildlife and working with local communities across the globe.

2014

We celebrated our 30-year anniversary.

After 30 years of lobbying, Virginia McKenna and Will Travers discussed wildlife protection with Prince Charles ahead of the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade 2014.

We launched an appeal and campaign to protect elephants in Babile Elephant Sanctuary in eastern Ethiopia.

We launched an extensive lion conservation project in Meru National Park in Kenya, the stunning landscape where Elsa the lioness was returned to the wild.

We helped the Giraffe Conservation Foundation protect West African giraffes in Niger, the most endangered sub-species in the world.

2015

Virginia McKenna granted an Honorary Doctorate of Art at Bedfordshire University for her ‘outstanding contribution to acting and conservation’.

Born Free merged with wildlife charity Care for the Wild, a new alliance uniting two of the leading names in wildlife protection.

2016

After our successful campaign, a four-year funding grant is confirmed for Britain’s National Wildlife Crime Unit.

We joined Wildlife and Countryside Link – a coalition of British wildlife organisations to chair work on wildlife crime and trade.

We published a report reviewing 10 years of the UK’s Animal Welfare Act and calling for amendments to better protect animals used in circuses and the exotic pet trade.

2017

We supported a black and white rhino conservation project in Meru National Park, Kenya.

With our support, a small group of cheetah were successfully relocated from South Africa to Malawi’s Liwonde National Park, 20 years after local extinction.

We donated funds to support a conservation project protecting Ghana’s last viable chimpanzee population.

2018

We sponsored Mali Elephant Project in West Africa, protecting one of only two populations of rare desert elephants.

We supported a project in Guinea-Bissau to develop a country-scale conservation strategy for western chimpanzees and other primates.