ANIMAL WELFARE
Our Partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
WE STAND WITH TIGERS
The International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) tiger campaign aims to protect tigers in the wild, working on the front lines to combat poaching, end all trade in tiger body parts and products, secure vital habitat, and raise awareness about tigers and the threats they face.
David Rio is proud to be donating annually to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (www.ifaw.org) to Save the Last Tigers. In 2011, David Rio's donations helped IFAW alert Chinese authorities to the illegal trade of tiger bone wine at an auction house in Beijing, prompting the Chinese government to stop the sale. Our donations to IFAW continue to support the rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned tigers while providing them with the best natural resources and getting them safely back into the wild. After their release into the wild, IFAW uses satellite technology to ensure they are successfully re-acclimating into the wild.
Additionally, David Rio will be donating $2.00 from each sale of our NEW Commemorative Tin from our online and domestic sales to the continued support of IFAW's rehabilitation efforts of orphaned tigers.
Click here to watch IFAW's latest release of five rare Siberian tigers into the wild. IFAW worked with partners in far east Russia to rescue and rehabilitate these magnificent animals.
Click here to watch the release of Zolushka, a young Siberian who was left to fend for herself at 4 months old after her parents were likely killed by poachers.
WE STAND WITH ELEPHANTS
In 2015, David Rio is committed to supporting an elephant program with IFAW called the Amboseli Elephant Project, a three-year initiative to save the majestic elephants of Amboseli National Park located in the southern border of Kenya, close to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Cynthia Moss, from the National Geographic highlights these families of elephants quite often, known as the African Elephant. Currently, the park and its community need a lot of help. IFAW is working closely with the local Maasai community to protect 1,400 elephants in the area. There are several reasons why this is important to David Rio. Most notably, the fact that 1100 elephants will die if the land cannot be protected from human encroachment and poachers because of recent land reform, which is adversely impacting both the community and its elephants. With this recent reform, the land is, unfortunately, being sold and the community now has the legal right to sub-divide and own a piece of it. Some will be turned into factories, dilapidated buildings and none of the wildlife will be able to pass through anymore. The park is only large enough to keep 300 elephants alive.
IFAW is leasing 16,000 acres of the land for the next three years outside of the park in the Kitenden Corridor. The corridor is an ancient migration route that elephants follow in dry seasons to get from Amboseli Park to Tanzania to another protected park at Kilimanjaro. IFAW's two million dollar initiative to save Amboseli's elephants also includes preserving critical elephant habitat, securing migration corridors, as well as sustainable development and innovative poaching prevention. There are also 11,485 members of the Maasai community who will benefit from the clean water, schools, health clinic, etc. David Rio is proud to be donating annually to IFAW’s project to Save Amboseli's Elephants. To watch David Rio's Animal Welfare video reel, click here.
Click here to watch IFAW's 90 second Public Service Announcement for the elephants of Amboseli, directed and edited by actress Joely Fisher, and includes Matt Sorum, former drummer of Guns'N'Roses, and other animal-supporting celebrities.