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Meeting up with Horsham charity
LAST Friday I visited the Born Free Foundation which is based in Foundry Lane, Horsham.
I contacted the charity after reading a letter from their chief executive, Will Travers, in this newspaper. Not only were they celebrating their 25th anniversary but they had also launched an appeal to save the lives of 25,000 animals – endangered wild species and animals in captivity.
I also realised that I've never visited the charity's HQ but thankfully they were amenable to me pitching-up to learn more – both as Horsham's MP and because charities are part of my Shadow Cabinet portfolio.
The film Born Free will be familiar to lots of readers. It told the true story of the lioness, Elsa, and Joy and George Adamson's fight to return her to the wilds of Kenya.
The film starred Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers – Will Travers' parents. They were so taken with the plight of captive animals that, to cut a long and involved story short, in 1984, along with Will, they established the charity Zoo Check. This evolved into the Born Free Foundation.
These days the charity works all around the world. They strive to protect threatened species; they rescue suffering animals and provide long-term care; they focus on conservation and education and at any one time have a number of campaigns – on the ivory trade or zoos and circus animals, for example.
They are world leaders in what they do, which covers much more ground than can easily be set out in one Footnote.I learnt a great deal, most significantly that there is a real lack of dialogue between the Department for International Development and NGOs that work in places such as Kenya. They're all working towards the same ends but there's no communication and that results in duplication and bad prioritisation.
I'm aiming to set up a meeting between Andrew Mitchell, the Shadow International Development Secretary and Will at Born Free – it's important that we learn from what the Born Free Foundation have experienced for years.
And Nick Herbert, the Shadow Environment and Rural Affairs Secretary and of course, MP for Arundel and the South Downs, wants to meet Will.Nick is passionate about these issues, especially the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which has a big meeting in a few weeks time.I'm keen for them to talk about Born Free's work on the ivory trade and the plight of exotic animals in British circuses.
As with so many organisations, I'm proud that the Born Free Foundation is based in my constituency and I'm pleased to be able to share their sterling work with my colleagues.
I'd also like to grab this opportunity to encourage people to have a look at www.bornfree.org.uk – you can find out lots more about their work and also how to adopt one of the animals they care for!
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Weather for Horsham
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Thunderstorm
Temperature: 14 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
