World Elephant Day

Hi PetPals!

Today is World Elephant Day. It's a day to celebrate and raise awareness of these majestic, huge mammals. 

To mark this day I thought today I would share 10 fun facts about Elephants that you might not know:

1. There are two types of Elephants- the African Elephant and Asian Elephant

2. Elephants are the biggest and largest land mammals

3. Both female and male African elephants have tusks but only the male Asian elephants have tusks.      They use their tusks for digging and finding food.

4. Female elephants are called cows. They start to have calves when they are about 12 years old and they are pregnant for 22 months.

5. An elephant can use its tusks to dig for ground water. An adult elephant needs to drink around 210 litres of water a day.

6. Elephants have no natural predators. However, lions will sometimes prey on young or weak elephants in the wild. The main risk to elephants is from humans through poaching and changes to their habitat.

7. The elephant’s trunk is able to sense the size, shape and temperature of an object. An elephant uses its trunk to lift food and suck up water then pour it into its mouth.

8. An elephant’s trunk can grow to be about 2 metres long and can weigh up to 140 kg. Some scientists believe that an elephant’s trunk is made up of 100,000 muscles, but no bones.  

9.Female elephants spend their entire lives living in large groups called herds. Male elephant leave their herds at about 13 years old and live fairly solitary lives from this point.

10. Elephants can swim – they use their trunk to breathe like a snorkel in deep water. 

Just to reiterate fact number 6, Elephants are at risk of extinction. They are hunted and killed for their tusks which some cultures believe have medicine inside them. This is strictly not true, elephant tusks are simply made up of Keratin, the same stuff that our hair and nails are made from. Keratin has no medicinal property at all!! In other words, these elephants are dying for no purpose whatsoever!

Humans are the biggest threat to these animals. We can change that. Share a photo of an elephant and let others know the struggles they are facing. Every 15 minutes, 8 elephants are poached. We can stop that. Make others aware and/or donate to the WWF/ an Elephant charity and help save them.

Happy World Lion Day!

Hi PetPals!

Today is World Lion Day. It's a day to celebrate and raise awareness of there magnificent animals.

Lions are iconic species and their picture or structure are often found guarding our temples, adorning our flags, decorating our coins and capturing our hearts. On almost every continent, and in thousands of cultures, the lion can be found demonstrating man’s fascination with this magnificent beast.

Despite the lions’ symbolic importance throughout the ages, today they are suffering from a silent extinction across Africa and India.  Knowledge of the King of Beasts’ plight is little known.

The lion population in Africa has been reduced by half since the early 1950s. Today, fewer than 21,000 remain in all of Africa. It's estimated that Lions could be extinct by 2020- that's in just 5 years time! Crazy! The reason for their decline is habitat loss, prey loss and poaching. Poaching and Trophy Hunting of Lions is a huge problem at the moment. Just over 2 weeks ago, the world was shocked by the unlawful hunting of Cecil who was lured away from the safety of his reserve park, shot and left to suffer for 40 hours before having his head cut off. Absolutely disgusting. Sickening. 

That is why it is so important to support World Lion Day. We don't want a repeat of Cecil. 

World Lion Day is the first global campaign to celebrate the importance of the lion worldwide. Since the dawn of man the lion has played an integral role in our lives: symbolically, religiously, culturally, economically and biologically. To lose the lion from our world would be to lose part of our global heritage. 

To support lions and their conservation, share a picture of a lion and let everyone know the struggle they are facing. Donate if you can, any amount can help save their lives. 

Also read this interesting article:

http://www.defenders.org/magazine/fall-2010/can-we-save-lions

Hope

Hi PetPals! 

How cute is this baby Rhino?! 

Not only is he the cutest thing I have ever seen but he's a fighter and a survivor! Unfortunately, his mother was cruelly attacked by poachers whilst she was pregnant with him but thanks to the amazing work of the 'Rhino Angels' (the nickname the rangers are given) they were BOTH saved! 

Even though, she went through a horrific ordeal and lost her horn, it is so heartwarming to see her look after her baby. Just look how happy they both are! 

For me, this baby Rhino represents Hope. Hope that in the future poaching and trophy hunting of these beautiful animals will stop and they will rise into a new world. A world without cruelty to animals. 

The time to act is now. Save these animals so that we can see more cute photos like the ones above. You can help either by donating or just sharing a post to raise awareness of endangered animals. 

What Beauty Brands are not Cruelty Free?

Hi PetPals!

It can be really mind boggling trying to find makeup that is cruelty free and not tested on animals. I often find myself going into stores such as Superdrug and Boots and wandering around trying to find products that are cruelty free by looking for these symbols:

It's quite surprising how many products in stores are not cruelty free. I know for a fact Superdrugs own brand products are cruelty free as they always have the bunny logo on the back. I understand that sometimes cruelty free products are a little more expensive especially if you're on a budget however for me personally, I would much rather pay that little bit extra knowing full well that the product I am using hasn't caused an animal to suffer. I'm sure you would all agree too?

The following brands STILL test on Animals and therefore are NOT cruelty free:

There are a few on that list that I'm surprised at such as Avon and Clinique. Avon is a well known brand that is affordable for everyone which means a lot of people are buying it and almost funding the animal testing. Clinique is supposed to be great at looking after your skin yet I feel it defeats it motive if it's testing these products on animals. 

If like me you're still unsure what brands are cruelty free, PETA have an app called 'Bunny Free' which lets you check. You can download it by going on the PETA website. 

I hope this has helped some of you. I will be doing a post on alternative brands so stay tuned for that! 

International Tiger Day!

Hi PetPals!

Did you know today is International Tiger Day?

International Tiger Day is an annual event and is both an awareness day as a celebration. It was founded at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in 2010. This was done because at that moment wild tigers were too close to extinction. Many animal welfare organisations pledged to help these wonderful creatures and are still helping to raise funds to reach this goal. The goal of Tiger Day is to promote the protection and expansion of the wild tigers habitats and to gain support through awareness for tiger conservation.

We have lost 97% of our Wild Tigers in just 100 years!  Instead of 100,000, as few as 3000 live in the wild today, last year it was 3200! The figures show that in just 1 year, we have lost 200 Wild Tigers. It's horrifying to think that if we carry on at that rate, we will loose these beautiful creatures in just 1 year! 

It's so important that we make an effort to conserve these animals. We must change our attitude towards animals and understand that they have a right to live too. Our actions and behaviour has an impact on them.

It's not about donations but raising awareness. If we all share a picture or a post about International Tiger Day then we can make a difference. By sharing a post, you could be informing and educating someone who perhaps didn't realise just how critically endangered these animals are.

For more information, please Click here.

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Swimming Guineapigs- Cute or Cruel?

Hi PetPals!

Over the weekend, a video of two Guineapigs swimming in a swimming pool went viral over social media.

The video (Click here) shows an owner placing his Guineapigs into a very big and deep swimming pool and letting them swim. Whilst the majority of people who have shared this video think it's ''cute'', in reality and when you think of Animal Welfare, it's not.

Guineapigs are not designed to swim. They are land animals and in the wild would live in groups on grassy plains. They would never choose to go swimming and often avoid rivers and lakes. They are not adapted for the water and nor do they have the strength to swim.

Guineapigs hold most of their weight in the bottom half of their body which means if you place them in water, they will just sink. The only reason they start ''swimming'' is because they have no choice. It's either sink or swim, death or life.

Placing your Guineapig in unnatural surroundings such as water will also cause them considerable stress. Their heart and lungs are small and located just under their front legs. Making them swim is putting major pressure on their breathing system.

Another thing that is significantly bad about making your guinea-pigs swim is the temperature of the water. What might feel warm to you will actually be freezing for your Guineapig. Again, it's not good to mess with your Guineapigs temperature as this can cause all kinds of illnesses.

I know a lot of you will be shouting at the screen ''What about baths?''. Well, Guineapigs should only be bathed when necessary AND the water should be very shallow and warm enough for your Guineapig.

The video make look ''cute'' but in actual fact, both Guineapigs are very stressed out. One is circling and the other is desperately looking for a way out but the sides are far too high for him to climb. In short, the water is way too deep, the sides are far too high and the Guineapigs are extremely stressed by it all.

And so is it Cute or Cruel? the verdict is...... Cruel.

Guineapigs are not designed to swim and should never be put in a situation where they are forced to. If you see this video on any social media, please do not share. Instead, share this post. The worst thing about the video going viral is the amount of owners who will try make their Guineapigs swim. Lets try and prevent that.

Meet the Penguins

Hi PetPals!

With August just around the corner, it's time for yet another cute animal series to start on ITV. This year, ITV have brought us 'Meet the Penguins'.

The documentary follows the Penguins at London Zoo and their keeper, Adrian. Adrian who has worked with the Penguins at London Zoo for over a decade takes a once in a lifetime trip to Peru to see where his beloved Humboldt Penguins originated from.

The series is sure to be a fantastic and heart warming.

It starts tonight on ITV1 at 7pm! You'll be silly to miss it