Born Free Foundation

The Born Free Foundation

From small beginnings, the Born Free Foundation has grown into a global force for wildlife. But a personal passion for wild animals and desire for positive change remain at our heart. Described by The Times as ‘Big enough to make a difference, but small enough to care,’ Born Free is not a big anonymous organisation, but a family of like-minded people who share the same goals. Our work to prevent individual animal suffering, protect threatened species and keep wildlife in the wild sets us apart from the rest.

Rescue and Care
Born Free never forgets the individual. Every animal counts. Our 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, we find compassionate solutions so people and wildlife can live together. Educational activities inspire young and old alike to respect the wild.

Our campaigning spirit
Our high-profile campaigns take effective action and provide animals with a voice. We capture the public imagination, change attitudes, inform and persuade decision-makers, and get 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
Our 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 our Global Initiatives project we respond to emergency situations worldwide, participate in international coalitions such as the Species Survival Network, run the People & Wildlife project with Oxford University’s WildCru* department, and much much more.

Polar Bear Surrogacy
Churchill, Northern Manitoba, Canada

In the past, wildlife managers have had little option other than to either euthanize orphan cubs or place them in a zoo or compound. Now, working with Manitoba Conservation, Born Free is trying to develop a protocol that will allow these orphans to be united with a surrogate family, therefore giving them the second chance of a life in the wild.

As of September 2006, the success rate has been 25% and a review of the protocol is currently under way.

Article: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20011028/ai_n14541002

The Froster mum; For the first time in the wild, a polar bear
In a touching family scene, a mother polar bear snuggles up with two young cubs -blissfully unaware that one of them isn't hers.
Under normal circumstances she would reject the orphan bear...and maybe even eat it.
But this mother has been fooled into thinking both cubs are hers, thanks to her incredibly short memory and a liberal dose of strong- smelling Vicks VapoRub on their chests, under their noses and a dab behind each ear to disguise their scents.
This "happy family" scene is part of a ground-breaking experiment by wildlife scientist Kim Daley, who has launched the world's first polar bear surrogacy programme. She was attempting to unite the eight-month-old orphan male cub with a mother and her own female cub of the same age to give him his best chance of surviving in the wild.
First Kim, who is sponsored by British-based charity the Born Free Foundation, sedated all three bears.
Then using Vicks - a decongestant for colds usually rubbed on human chests - she disguised all the bears' sense of smell, which confused the mother into believing the new addition was her own.
Before the sedatives wore off, the new family were taken by helicopter from the bear compound in the sub-Arctic sea port of Churchill, Northern Canada, 30 miles up the Hudson Bay.
Kim and two colleagues freed them and observed from the helicopter as they regained consciousness.
"It was wonderful to watch," said Kim. "As the orphan came round, he nibbled the surrogate mum's ears and licked her face. Within minutes, he was nuzzling mum and feeding along with the female cub."
The orphan, known as Bear X17134, had been captured after stumbling into Churchill - which is in the middle of a polar bear migration route - in search of food on September 11, the day of the terrorist atrocities in America.
Every year dozens of polar bears - a physical threat to the 800- strong population of the town - are locked up in a compound.
Orphan cubs are usually put down or caged in a zoo. If they are returned to the frozen wastes of Canada, they are likely to be eaten by cannibalistic older bears or starve to death.
The programme to rescue stranded bears was launched last year by The Born Free Foundation and is backed by Hollywood star Ewan McGregor, who has travelled to Churchill to see the work in action.
Even though the bears look cuddly, their massive paws and razor sharp teeth can mean death to humans crossing their path.
American Kim, who has spent the last five winters in the Churchill monitoring bears, said the male orphan cub had been captured after being spotted on his own rooting around Churchill's only vegetable patch.
"He was in pretty good shape. He'd lost a bit of body fat but he was a bundle of energy. He was full of fun and lapped up the lard we fed him every couple of days. It was hard not to get attached to him."
He had been in the compound for two weeks when the 15-year-old mother bear and her female cub were caught in Churchill.
"The cubs were about the same age and we decided to see if we could get the mother to accept the orphan," said Kim.
"When you study polar bears in the wild the mothers appear maternal, watching out for their cubs. But the reality is they have little regard for kinship and incredibly short memories. It is the cubs that watch out for their mothers, not the other way round."
After releasing the new family into the wild with distinctive paint markings on their shoulders, Kim now regularly hops on a helicopter to check on their progress.
"We've watched mum teaching them to tap the ice and the two cubs playing happily together. The Hudson will freeze over within the month and they'll be off on the ice floes learning to hunt seals.
"Normally cubs remain with their mothers until they are three and they come back every year at this time.
"We're all hoping these three will come back together next year."