Sophie Tea’s Solo Art Show ‘Extinction’ at Noho Studios, was an official supporter of WWF UK. In aid of this we auctioned off three of Sophie’s art works on the night. The pieces included a standard framed print, a hand finished framed print and an original Rhino painting. All three sold and in total we raised £2,500 which is amazing!
WWF UK do so much for our planet and animals so we felt they were a perfect fit for the charity we wanted to donate to. We think it’s important that people know what is going on so that we can do our best to protect the earth and create a sustainable future. We asked WWF UK to let us know about some* of the animals they protect and here’s what they told us:
*If you’d like to learn more about all of the animals they help, pop over to their website for some more information.
African Rhinos – Black Rhino critically endangered (around 5,000 remain) and White Rhino critically endangered (around 20,000 remain
“The rhinoceros is Africa’s armoured giant – like a tank on legs – and has been on our planet for millions of years. But right now, they need our help. Poaching of rhinos for their horns and habitat loss are huge threats to both white and black rhinos.
White rhinos (the name doesn’t come from their colour but originally a reference to their ‘wide’ mouths) have had mixed fortunes. Sadly, there are no ‘northern’ white rhinos left in the wild, and only a handful in captivity. But the ‘southern’ white rhino is a conservation success story – it’s been helped back from under 100 in 1895 to over 20,000 in the wild today.
For the black rhino (slightly smaller, with a more pointed top lip) the worst period was between 1970 and 1992, when around 96% of them were lost to wide-scale poaching. Only 5,000 are left in the wild today.”
African Elephant – Vulnerable (around 415,000 remain)
“Huge numbers of these unique-looking, intelligent animals are being brutally killed to fuel the growing demand for their ivory.
Around 90% of African elephants have been wiped out in the past century – mainly due to the ivory trade. Elephant poaching, even though it’s illegal, has been getting dramatically worse in parts of Africa in the last 10 years – mostly because of growing demand for ivory in China and the Far East. Around 20,000 African elephants are being killed every year for their ivory - that's around 55 every day.”
Tiger – Endangered (around 3,900 remain)
“The beautiful, awe-inspiring tiger is one of our planet’s most iconic animals. But here’s the shocking truth. Wild tiger numbers dropped by more than 95% since the beginning of the 20th century. Now, for the first time in conservation history, their numbers are on the increase.
We aim to help double the number of wild tigers to over 6,000 by 2022 – the next Chinese year of the tiger. In recent years, conservation work and the commitment of various governments has halted the decline in global tiger numbers. But there’s a lot more work to do.”
To put it into perspective about how even small donations can make a drastic change, here’s an idea of what our help can do:
As little as £10 could buy 40 seedlings for forests in Tanzania
£25 could pay for a rhino ranger’s salary for 10 days
£100 could pay for a hand-held GPS to map turtle nests
£2,000 could help to restore 40 hectares of grassland in the Terai Arc Nepal (an area over 100 football pitches in size) where grassland habitat is vital for tiger prey such as chital and sambar
Give them a follow on Instagram to keep up with the great things they’re achieving and for up to date news on these amazing animals.
