Why Born Free?
Retracing George Adamson's footsteps:
Download the Travel Itinerary (2012)
The Born Free Foundation works throughout the world to protect threatened species and help individual animals. With its headquarters in the UK, the Born Free Foundation also has a small team of seven who works from their office in Nairobi. Wildlife protection is crucial and Born Free Kenya supports the removal of animal snares through partner organisations such as the Bill Woodley Mount Kenya Trust and Youth for Conservation.
On policy and lobbying, Born Free Kenya are involved in campaigns for better conservation of wildlife, for example fighting the illegal downgrading of Amboseli National Park to a ‘National Reserve’. Born Free Kenya also sit on a government Steering Committee reviewing the country’s Wildlife Conservation and Management Policy.
Awareness-raising is being achieved in several ways, including the production of a film called Mizoga (‘Carcasses’) which promotes the Born Free Foundation's fight against the cruel and illegal bushmeat trade. The film is shown throughout Kenya, with the aim of reaching those with the influence to change attitudes and policies.
The Born Free Foundation’s thriving Global Friends programme is a community fund supported by individuals and institutions in the UK.The Global Friends project links African communities with neighbouring wildlife projects, so that local people learn about native species and discover how wildlife protection can directly lead to regional benefits. The Born Free Foundation provides African schools with vital resources and educational facilities, and encourages children to learn about and take action for wildlife. Born Free have undertaken school renovations and distributed emergency food aid and mosquito nets in the Shimba Hills and Amboselli; both areas where people come into conflict with wildlife. If each child can receive a good education, it gives them a great start to life and creates opportunities for the future.
Through the Mount Elgon Elephant Monitoring Project on the Kenya-Uganda border, the Born Free Foundation supports a team of rangers from the Kenya Wildlife Service using GPS to record elephant movements. Information is analysed to help better understand how to manage and protect this population of elephants, world-famous for their underground salt-mining."
During your visit you have the opportunity to:
Meet on-site staff at Born Free Kenya. Learn more about the work of Born Free Foundation, and how they work to improve animal welfare, help individuals and protect and conserve threatened species in their natural habitats.
To enjoy an after dinner talk by Born Free Kenya giving you the inside track on the organisations current and forthcoming projects.
Visit a Born Free de-snaring project, where you'll learn how to recognise snares and remove them.
Visit Elsamere and a talk by a representative from the Elsamere Conservation Centre.
The Born Free Foundation has a unique and very special history. In 1964, Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna travelled to Kenya to star in the classic wildlife film ‘Born Free’, based on the best-selling book by Joy Adamson. Released in 1966, the film told the true story of George and Joy Adamson’s fight to return Elsa the lioness to the wild.
The Adamson’s story was enjoyed by tens of millions around the globe, inspiring a generation, and changing the world’s attitude to lions forever. Making Born Free profoundly affected Bill and Virginia. Working with George and Joy influenced the rest of their lives. Their close contact with the lions sparked a lifelong commitment to wildlife and they realised that wild animals belong in the wild, not incarcerated in captivity.
The Born Free Foundation is a dynamic international wildlife charity, devoted to compassionate conservation and animal welfare. Born Free takes action worldwide to protect threatened species and stop individual animal suffering. Born Free believes wildlife belongs in the wild and works to phase out zoos. They rescue animals from lives of misery in tiny cages and give them lifetime care.
Rescue and Care: Born Free never forgets the individual. Every animal counts. Born Free's emergency teams rescue vulnerable animals from appalling lives of misery in tiny cages and give them lifetime care at spacious sanctuaries. Born Free saves orphaned big cats, great apes and elephants and provides their food and care.
Conservation and Education: As human populations expand, wildlife comes under increasing threat. Born Free is determined to try to halt the race to extinction by protecting rare species in their natural habitat. Working with local communities, Born Free finds compassionate solutions so people and wildlife can live together. Educational activities inspire young and old alike to respect the wild.
Campaigning Spirit: Born Free's high-profile campaigns take effective action and provide animals with a voice. Born Free captures the public imagination, changes attitudes, informs and persuades decision-makers, and gets results. Whether its fighting the ivory trade and ‘sport’ hunting, opposing killing wild animals for ‘bushmeat’, or challenging the exploitation of wild animals in zoos and circuses, Born Free takes action on the front line for animals.
Programmes and Projects: Born Free's major international projects are devoted to animal welfare, conservation and education, and protect lions, elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, tigers, polar bears, wolves, dolphins, turtles, sharks and lots more. Through Born Free's Global Initiatives project the organisation responds to emergency situations worldwide, participates in international coalitions such as the Species Survival Network, runs the People & Wildlife project with Oxford University’s WildCru* department, and much much more.
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