World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/reforestation-benefits-wildlife): Reforestation Benefits for Wildlife: Why Planting Native Trees Saves Endangered Animals.

## Briefing
Reforestation — the deliberate replanting of trees in degraded or cleared land — is one of the most effective interventions available for wildlife recovery.

When done with the right species, in the right places, and with sustained management, it can restore habitat corridors, recover biodiversity and give rescued and rehabilitated animals somewhere viable to return to.

Why reforestation matters for wildlife The loss of forest and natural habitat is the single largest driver of wildlife decline globally.

Reforestation directly addresses this by: Restoring habitat connectivity — linking isolated forest patches so that animals can move, find mates, access seasonal food sources and disperse genetically.

Recovering food sources — native fruiting trees, insect-supporting plants and nesting-site trees that animals need and cannot access in degraded land.

Reducing human-wildlife conflict — animals with adequate forest habitat are less likely to enter farmland in search of food, reducing the retaliatory killing that is a leading cause of death for many species WARN works to protect.

Creating viable release environments — rescued and rehabilitated animals can only be successfully released if there is functional habitat to release them into.

Without reforestation, rescue becomes a permanent sanctuary burden rather than genuine recovery.

Native trees vs monoculture plantations: why it matters Not all tree planting is equally valuable for wildlife.

The key distinction is between: Native species reforestation — planting the tree species that historically dominated the ecosystem, which support the specific insect communities, nesting sites and food sources that local wildlife evolved alongside.

In Borneo, this means dipterocarp forest species.

In East Africa, native acacia species.

In the Amazon, dozens of native canopy species.

Monoculture plantation forestry — fast-growing single-species plantations of non-native trees (eucalyptus, pine, oil palm) that produce timber or fibre but support far lower biodiversity and do not function as wildlife habitat.

WARN's habitat programme exclusively funds native species reforestation — planting the trees that the specific animals in each operational country need, not the trees that grow fastest.

How quickly does reforestation benefit wildlife?

The timeline varies by ecosystem and species, but the evidence is consistently encouraging: Camera-trap monitoring of reforestation corridor projects in Southeast Asia and East Africa routinely records initial wildlife use within 18–24 months of tree planting.

Insect diversity — the foundation of forest food webs — begins recovering within the first few years in native-species plantings.

For larger mammals, meaningful population recovery takes a decade or more, but population movement into restored corridors begins earlier.

Released orangutans have been documented using restored forest corridors within months of habitat planting beginning in adjacent areas.

The community-based model The most durable and cost-effective reforestation model is community-based: local people are employed as planters, patrollers and monitors, creating both an economic incentive and a community stake in the success of the restored habitat.

Communities that have participated in planting are far more likely to protect their investment against illegal clearance.

This is the model WARN's habitat appeal funds — working through locally-registered community forestry organisations in each of our partner-network countries.

Reforestation tied to rescue data What distinguishes WARN's approach from general reforestation is that it is data-driven.

The corridors and buffer zones we fund are selected based on where WARN's partner organisations rescue and release animals — matching habitat restoration directly to the animals that need it.

A rehabilitated orangutan released in Kalimantan needs a specific corridor to survive.

A snared lion released in Tanzania needs a specific savannah buffer.

WARN's habitat appeal funds the reforestation that closes those gaps.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/reforestation-benefits-wildlife): Reforestation Benefits for Wildlife: Why Planting Native Trees Saves Endangered Animals.

Help WARN restore the habitats our rescued animals need WARN's Restore Natural Habitats appeal funds native tree planting, forest corridor protection and reforestation projects across all of our partner-network countries — giving the animals we rescue somewhere safe to return to after rehabilitation.

Read the appeal or donate today to fund your first trees planted and your first corridor protected.

Every pound goes directly to on-the-ground habitat work in Borneo, the Amazon, East Africa or Southeast Asia.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/reforestation-benefits-wildlife): Reforestation Benefits for Wildlife: Why Planting Native Trees Saves Endangered Animals.

## What is the difference between reforestation and afforestation?
Reforestation is replanting trees in areas that previously had forest cover. Afforestation is establishing forest on land that has not historically been forested. For wildlife, reforestation of degraded former forest is usually more valuable because it restores habitat that local species evolved in.

## Does reforestation actually help wildlife?
Yes, when done with native species and actively managed long-term. Camera-trap data from reforestation projects consistently shows increasing wildlife use within 18–24 months of restoration. The key is using locally-appropriate native species rather than fast-growing monoculture plantations, which support far less biodiversity.

## What kinds of trees should be planted for wildlife?
Native species of the region are always preferred — they support the specific insect, bird and mammal communities that evolved alongside them. In Borneo, dipterocarp species are critical for orangutan food. In East Africa, native acacia species support lion and elephant habitat. Fast-growing non-native species like eucalyptus or pine plantations provide little wildlife benefit.

## How does WARN use reforestation in its animal rescue programmes?
WARN's Restore Natural Habitats appeal funds reforestation specifically tied to rescue and release data — planting native trees in the corridors and buffer zones that WARN's rehabilitated animals need to survive after care. The release data tells us where the habitat gaps are.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/amur-leopard-critically-endangered): The Amur Leopard: The World's Rarest Big Cat and What It Tells Us About Saving Endangered Species.

## Summary
The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is a Critically Endangered leopard subspecies native to the temperate forests of the Russian Far East and northeast China; it is the world's rarest big cat, with fewer than 130 estimated to remain in the wild — and although WARN does not operate in its range, the same threats it faces (poaching, snaring, habitat loss) drive the work we fund elsewhere.

## Excerpt
The Amur leopard is the world's rarest big cat, with fewer than 130 estimated to remain in the wild. It lives in the Russian Far East and northeast China — outside the countries WARN operates in — but its story is a global benchmark for what is possible when rescue, anti-poaching and protected-area work come together.

## Takeaway
The Amur leopard is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List — the highest category before Extinct in the Wild.

## Takeaway
Fewer than 130 individuals are estimated to remain in the wild, mostly within the Land of the Leopard National Park in Primorsky Krai, Russia.

## Takeaway
It is the only leopard subspecies adapted to deep snow, with thicker fur, longer legs and more widely-spaced rosettes than other leopards.

## Takeaway
Wild populations have actually grown — from around 30 in the 1990s to roughly 130 today — thanks to anti-poaching patrols, snare removal and protected-area expansion.

## Takeaway
The Amur leopard lives in Russia and China, which are outside WARN's partner-network countries. We highlight it here as a global benchmark for endangered-species recovery work.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/amur-leopard-critically-endangered): The Amur Leopard: The World's Rarest Big Cat and What It Tells Us About Saving Endangered Species.

## Briefing
The Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is the rarest big cat in the world.

Fewer than 130 are estimated to remain in the wild, almost all of them in a single protected area in the Russian Far East and a small adjacent population in northeast China.

It is one of the most striking and most quietly hopeful stories in modern wildlife conservation.

WARN is preparing to operate across Asia, Africa and South America.

Russia and China are not among our partner-network countries, and we do not currently fund work on Amur leopards.

We are writing this briefing for two honest reasons: because the species is one of the most-searched endangered animals on the internet and we want our supporters to find accurate information when they look it up, and because the same threats that almost wiped the Amur leopard out — poaching, snaring, habitat loss — are exactly the threats WARN's partner-network and planned programmes are designed to fight.

What the Amur leopard actually is The Amur leopard is one of nine recognised subspecies of leopard (Panthera pardus).

It evolved in the temperate broadleaf-and-conifer forests of the Russian Far East and is the only leopard subspecies adapted to live in deep winter snow.

Compared with African and Indian leopards, it has: A pale cream-gold coat that turns thicker and almost silvery in winter.

Widely-spaced, large dark rosettes — distinctive enough that individual cats can be identified from camera-trap photos.

Longer legs for moving through snow.

A heavier coat and a layer of body fat that lets it survive temperatures below -30°C.

Adults typically weigh 30-50 kg, with males larger than females.

They are solitary, mostly nocturnal, and territorial — a male's range can cover 250-500 km² of forest.

Where it lives Today the entire global wild population is concentrated in a single region: the Land of the Leopard National Park and surrounding protected areas in Primorsky Krai, Russia, with a small population spilling across the border into Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in northeast China.

This is a tiny range for a big cat — less than 5,000 km² of effective habitat.

The Korean peninsula population, which historically connected the Russian and Chinese populations, is functionally gone.

Why the Amur leopard is Critically Endangered The IUCN lists the Amur leopard as Critically Endangered.

The drivers are well documented: Poaching.

Amur leopards are killed for their spotted coats — one of the most desirable furs in the illegal trade — and for body parts used in some traditional medicine markets.

Snaring.

Wire snares set for deer (the leopard's main prey) and wild boar regularly catch leopards as bycatch.

This is the same snaring threat WARN's partner network tackles in Indonesia and Malaysia, with regions such as Cambodia and Kenya as wider context.

Prey depletion.

Subsistence and commercial hunting of sika deer, roe deer and wild boar reduces the leopard's food base.

Habitat loss.

Logging, road construction and fires fragment the leopard's remaining range.

Inbreeding.

A wild population of around 130 animals is genetically tiny.

Inbreeding depression — reduced cub survival, immune-system problems — is a real and measurable risk.

The hopeful part: the Amur leopard population is recovering This is the part of the story that gets less coverage than it deserves.

In the 1990s, formal surveys put the entire wild Amur leopard population at roughly 30 individuals.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/amur-leopard-critically-endangered): The Amur Leopard: The World's Rarest Big Cat and What It Tells Us About Saving Endangered Species.

By the early 2010s, the number had climbed past 50.

The most recent multi-year camera-trap surveys put the figure at around 100-130 wild individuals.

The population has more than tripled in roughly two decades.

What changed: The Land of the Leopard National Park was established in 2012, consolidating several smaller protected areas.

Anti-poaching ranger patrols were significantly expanded.

Snare removal across the core range became a routine, year-round operation.

Prey populations rebounded as deer and boar hunting was restricted inside the park.

Cross-border cooperation with China protected key corridors.

None of this means the species is safe.

A population of around 130 animals is still one disease outbreak, one major fire or one bad winter away from a serious setback.

But the trajectory is a real, measurable success — and it is the strongest evidence we have that endangered big cat populations can recover when the right work is funded for long enough.

How this connects to WARN's work WARN does not fund Amur leopard work.

We do, however, fund frontline work against the same threats in our partner-network countries: Snare removal — our planned work in Kenya and Tanzania supports ranger patrols that remove wire snares from protected areas, the same intervention that helped save the Amur leopard.

Big cat rescue — our planned tiger work supports rescue and rehabilitation for Sumatran, Malayan and Indochinese tigers and rescued circus tigers in Southeast Asia.

Sanctuary care — partner sanctuaries that take in confiscated big cats need long-term funding for veterinary care, enrichment and species-appropriate enclosures.

How you can help If you want to support Amur leopard work specifically, there are well-established organisations operating in Russia and northeast China that do exactly that — and we encourage you to back them.

If you want to support the same kind of work for the big cats in WARN's partner-network countries, a donation to WARN goes directly towards getting frontline animal rescue and animal sanctuary capacity on the ground.

Sources IUCN Red List — Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) assessment.

CITES — Appendix I listing for Panthera pardus.

Land of the Leopard National Park — published camera-trap survey results.

UNODC — World Wildlife Crime Report, big cat trafficking chapters.

We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work.

We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now.

Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.

Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation.

You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/giant-panda-conservation-status): The Giant Panda: Why Conservation Status Matters and What the Panda's Story Tells Us About Saving Species.

## Summary
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a bamboo-eating bear native to a small area of mountain forest in central China; it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List — downlisted from Endangered in 2016 thanks to decades of sustained habitat protection — and although WARN does not operate in China, the panda's recovery is a global benchmark for what is possible when endangered-species work is funded for long enough.

## Excerpt
The giant panda is one of the world's most recognisable endangered animals — and one of its quiet conservation success stories. It lives only in China, outside the countries WARN operates in, but its journey from Endangered to Vulnerable is the clearest evidence we have that the right work, sustained for decades, can save a species.

## Takeaway
The giant panda lives only in the temperate mountain forests of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in central China.

## Takeaway
Adults eat 12-38 kg of bamboo every day — roughly 99% of their diet — despite still having the digestive system of a carnivore.

## Takeaway
Wild population estimates rose from roughly 1,100 in the late 1970s to around 1,800 by 2014, leading IUCN to downlist the species from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2016.

## Takeaway
Giant pandas are listed on CITES Appendix I, prohibiting commercial international trade.

## Takeaway
Giant pandas live exclusively in China, outside WARN's partner-network countries. We feature them here because their story is the strongest available example of long-term endangered-species recovery.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/giant-panda-conservation-status): The Giant Panda: Why Conservation Status Matters and What the Panda's Story Tells Us About Saving Species.

## Briefing
The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most recognisable animals on Earth and one of the clearest examples of what long-term endangered-species work can achieve.

It is also one of the most-searched wildlife topics on the internet — and one of the most misunderstood.

This briefing summarises what the giant panda is, what its conservation status actually means, and what its recovery story tells us about the kind of work WARN funds elsewhere in the world.

WARN is preparing to operate across Asia, Africa and South America.

China is not among our partner-network countries and we do not currently fund any work on giant pandas.

We are publishing this briefing for two honest reasons: because pandas are one of the most-searched endangered species globally and we want our supporters to find accurate information when they look the species up, and because the panda's recovery is the strongest available evidence that the kind of long-term, sustained rescue and habitat protection work we are building WARN to fund actually works.

What the giant panda actually is The giant panda is a bear — a member of the family Ursidae — and one of only eight bear species in the world.

It is most closely related to the spectacled bear of South America (the species WARN's Andean Bear appeal is being built to support).

Adults typically weigh 70-125 kg, with males larger than females.

The black-and-white coat is unique among bears.

Physiologically, the giant panda is one of the strangest animals on Earth.

It still has the short, simple digestive tract of a carnivore — its evolutionary ancestors ate meat.

But its diet is roughly 99% bamboo.

It compensates for this poor match between gut and diet by eating enormous quantities of bamboo every day (12-38 kg) and spending 10-16 hours a day feeding.

To handle the bamboo stalks, pandas have evolved an enlarged wrist bone that functions as a "false thumb", letting them grip stems while they strip the leaves.

Where pandas live Wild giant pandas are found only in a relatively small area of the temperate broadleaf-and-bamboo forests of central China — primarily in Sichuan province, with smaller populations in Shaanxi and Gansu.

The total area of suitable habitat is estimated at roughly 25,000 km².

Within that, pandas are concentrated in the higher-elevation bamboo forests between roughly 1,500 and 3,000 metres above sea level.

What "Vulnerable" really means Giant pandas were formally downlisted from Endangered to Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List in 2016.

This is a downgrading of extinction risk, not a removal of it.

Vulnerable still means the species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild — it is just one category lower than Endangered.

The downlisting happened because successive national surveys in China showed a real, measurable population increase: from roughly 1,100 wild pandas in the late 1970s, to around 1,600 by 2004, to roughly 1,800 by 2014 (the most recent comprehensive national survey).

The downlisting was controversial.

Chinese authorities at the time noted that climate change projections for the panda's bamboo habitat were a major concern, and the species' very narrow habitat band makes it vulnerable to any shift in mountain ecology.

Most independent biologists agree the recovery is real but fragile.

What made the recovery possible This is the part of the story that matters most for everyone who works on endangered species elsewhere in the world.

The giant panda's recovery was not a single intervention — it was the result of decades of sustained effort across several different fronts: Habitat protection.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/giant-panda-conservation-status): The Giant Panda: Why Conservation Status Matters and What the Panda's Story Tells Us About Saving Species.

By the time of the 2014 survey, China had established more than 60 panda reserves covering most of the species' remaining range, with a national park unifying many of them in 2021.

Logging restrictions.

A 1998 ban on commercial logging in much of the panda's range removed one of the biggest threats to its bamboo forests.

Anti-poaching.

Pandas have been protected from hunting in China since the 1960s; enforcement has tightened steadily.

Captive breeding and reintroduction.

Captive breeding programmes in China produce cubs that, in some cases, are now successfully reintroduced to the wild — a milestone that took decades to achieve.

Bamboo corridor restoration.

Replanting bamboo to reconnect fragmented panda habitats was one of the slowest-paying but most consequential investments.

What this tells us about saving other endangered species The single most important takeaway from the giant panda's story is that endangered species recovery takes decades and requires sustained, multi-track work.

There is no single intervention that saves a species.

The panda recovery worked because habitat protection, anti-poaching, reintroduction and bamboo restoration all happened together, and all were funded for long enough to compound.

The animals WARN is being built to support — orangutans, tigers, pangolins, spectacled bears, elephants, parrots — face the same structural problem.

Each of them needs sustained multi-track work for decades, not single-issue campaigns.

Our appeals are designed to fund that long arc of work, not headline-driven moments.

How you can help If you want to support giant panda work specifically, there are well-established Chinese and international organisations that fund it directly, and we encourage you to back them.

If you want to support the same kind of long-term, multi-track endangered-species work in the countries WARN is preparing to operate in, a donation to WARN goes directly towards funding it.

Sources IUCN Red List — giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) 2016 reassessment.

CITES — Appendix I listing.

Published Chinese national panda surveys (1977, 1985, 2004, 2014).

UN Environment Programme — habitat-corridor reporting for the giant panda range.

We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work.

We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now.

Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.

Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation.

You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/white-tiger-truth-captive-breeding): The White Tiger: The Truth About the World's Most Misunderstood Big Cat.

## Summary
The white tiger is not a separate species or subspecies — it is a colour morph of the Bengal tiger caused by a recessive gene, and every white tiger alive today is the product of generations of deliberate inbreeding by the entertainment industry; there are no wild white tigers anywhere on Earth, and the welfare problems associated with their breeding are now widely recognised by wildlife biologists and the IUCN cat specialist group.

## Excerpt
There are no wild white tigers anywhere on Earth — and there have not been for decades. Every white tiger alive today is the product of generations of deliberate inbreeding for entertainment. This briefing explains what white tigers actually are, the welfare crisis behind them, and how WARN's tiger appeal in Southeast Asia fits into the global response.

## Takeaway
White tigers are colour-morph Bengal tigers, not a distinct species or subspecies on the IUCN Red List.

## Takeaway
The last verified wild white tiger sighting was in central India in the 1950s; the captive lineage descends from a single male cub taken from the wild in 1951.

## Takeaway
Every white tiger alive today is the product of generations of inbreeding, which produces extremely high rates of stillbirth, cleft palate, scoliosis, immune problems, neurological disorders and cross-eyes.

## Takeaway
The IUCN Cat Specialist Group and major zoo associations have explicitly stated that white tigers have no conservation value and that their breeding should not be supported.

## Takeaway
White tigers have no conservation value, so WARN does not fund white tiger breeding or display anywhere; our planned tiger work supports rescue and sanctuary for the surviving wild tiger subspecies in Southeast Asia and South Asia.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/white-tiger-truth-captive-breeding): The White Tiger: The Truth About the World's Most Misunderstood Big Cat.

## Briefing
White tigers are some of the most photographed animals on the planet — and some of the most misunderstood.

They are not a separate species.

They are not a subspecies.

They are not "magic", "spiritual" or "rare in the wild" in any meaningful sense.

They are colour-morph Bengal tigers, produced today almost exclusively by deliberate inbreeding for the entertainment industry.

This briefing summarises what the science actually says, and where the global response — including WARN's tiger work in Southeast Asia — fits in.

What the white tiger actually is White tigers are Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) carrying two copies of a recessive gene that disrupts the production of orange pigment (pheomelanin).

The result is a pale cream-to-white coat with dark brown or black stripes, pink nose pads and pale ice-blue eyes.

The genetic mutation involved has been identified — it is a single point mutation in the SLC45A2 gene.

It is the same kind of recessive colour variation that produces white morphs in many other species.

The white-tiger gene has always existed in low frequency in wild Bengal tiger populations in India.

But because two copies of the gene are needed to produce a white cub, and because tiger populations are spread thinly across forest, wild white tigers were always rare — and they are now functionally absent.

The last verified wild white tiger sighting was in central India in the 1950s.

The entire global captive white tiger population today descends from a single male cub, "Mohan", captured by the Maharaja of Rewa in 1951 and subsequently bred to his own offspring.

Why white tigers are a welfare problem, not a conservation success This is the part of the story that often gets lost.

White tigers are sometimes marketed as "endangered" or "needing to be saved".

They are not.

The IUCN Cat Specialist Group and the major zoo accreditation bodies — including the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums — have explicitly stated that: White tigers have no conservation value — they are not a distinct conservation unit and saving them does not help save wild tigers.

Their breeding is only achievable through inbreeding , because the small founding population means almost all white tigers alive today are closely related.

The inbreeding causes serious, documented welfare problems.

Documented welfare problems in white tigers include Stillbirth and infant mortality.

Survival rates for white tiger cubs are significantly lower than for normal-coloured Bengal tigers, with some independent reviews citing stillbirth and early-death rates approaching 80% in heavily-inbred lines.

Cleft palate — a serious craniofacial deformity that often requires hand-rearing and lifelong veterinary support.

Scoliosis and other skeletal deformities.

Crossed eyes (strabismus) — present in a very high proportion of white tigers because the white-coat gene is linked to optic-nerve development abnormalities.

Immune system problems and reduced disease resistance.

Behavioural and neurological disorders — including cases of mental retardation and movement disorders documented in multiple captive populations.

The "normal-coloured" siblings of white tigers — born to the same inbred parents — typically suffer the same problems.

The visible "white" cubs are simply the ones that have value in the entertainment industry and are kept alive.

Where white tigers live today There are several hundred white tigers alive today, almost entirely in captivity.

They are concentrated in roadside attractions, private collections, breeding facilities, "cub-petting" tourism operations and a small number of accredited zoos that hold older animals from historical breeding programmes.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/white-tiger-truth-captive-breeding): The White Tiger: The Truth About the World's Most Misunderstood Big Cat.

Sanctuaries that take in confiscated and abandoned white tigers are an important part of the global big cat rescue network — these are animals that cannot be released, cannot safely be bred again, and need decades of lifetime sanctuary care.

How WARN's tiger work fits in WARN does not fund white tiger work anywhere.

White tigers are a captive inbred colour morph of the Bengal tiger, not a wild conservation target — there are no white tigers left in the wild — so funding their breeding or display does nothing for tiger conservation.

Our in-network tiger focus is Indonesia and Malaysia, home to the Critically Endangered Sumatran and Malayan tigers; the wider wild tiger range — the Indochinese tiger across Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia and the Bengal tiger in India and Nepal — remains important educational context as all face acute threats from poaching, snaring and the illegal trade in tiger parts.

The connection between white tigers and our work is the global big cat captive welfare problem.

Tigers used in entertainment — including white tigers, cub-petting tigers and circus tigers — eventually need somewhere to go.

Sanctuary capacity for confiscated and surrendered big cats is one of the most consistently underfunded parts of the global tiger response, and our partner-network work in Southeast Asia is being built to support exactly this kind of placement.

How you can help If you want to help tigers in general, the most useful things you can do are: Do not pay for tiger experiences.

Cub-petting, tiger selfies and "swim with tigers" attractions exist because of paying customers.

The supply chain for those experiences is the same one that produces white tigers.

Support frontline anti-poaching and sanctuary work.

Wild tiger recovery in Southeast Asia depends on snare removal, ranger patrols and sanctuary capacity for confiscated animals.

Support WARN's planned tiger work with an unrestricted donation — to help us fund this work in our partner-network countries.

Sources IUCN Red List — Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) assessment.

IUCN Cat Specialist Group — published statements on the white tiger and the conservation value of colour morphs.

CITES — Appendix I listing for Panthera tigris.

Published veterinary literature on inbreeding-related disorders in captive tigers.

UNODC — World Wildlife Crime Report, tiger trafficking chapters.

We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work.

We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now.

Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.

Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation.

You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/endangered-species-warn-countries): Endangered Species: The Animals Closest to Extinction Across the Countries WARN Works In.

## Summary
Endangered species are animals at high risk of extinction in the wild, as defined by the IUCN Red List — and the countries WARN is preparing to operate in are home to some of the most iconic endangered animals on Earth, including orangutans, tigers, pangolins, sun bears, spectacled bears, river dolphins, macaws, jaguars and African elephants.

## Excerpt
From orangutans in Indonesia and Malaysia to spectacled bears in Colombia and Peru, this is a country-by-country guide to the endangered species that frontline rescue, sanctuary and shelter work can still help — backed by the IUCN Red List and CITES.

## Takeaway
The IUCN Red List uses seven categories of extinction risk; 'Endangered' (EN) and 'Critically Endangered' (CR) are the two highest before 'Extinct in the Wild'.

## Takeaway
More than 47,000 species are currently assessed as threatened on the IUCN Red List globally, and that number rises every year.

## Takeaway
Every WARN country holds globally significant endangered species — from Sumatran orangutans and Malayan tigers in Southeast Asia to African elephants and Grevy's zebra in East Africa.

## Takeaway
CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) regulates the international trade of more than 40,000 species and is one of the few enforceable global tools for protecting endangered animals.

## Takeaway
Frontline animal rescue, partner shelter and sanctuary work is one of the most direct, evidence-based ways supporters can help endangered species today.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/endangered-species-warn-countries): Endangered Species: The Animals Closest to Extinction Across the Countries WARN Works In.

## Briefing
Endangered species are animals at high risk of extinction in the wild.

The authoritative global definition comes from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which publishes the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The Red List uses seven categories of extinction risk, from Least Concern through to Extinct.

The two categories most people mean when they say "endangered" are Endangered (EN) and Critically Endangered (CR) — the two highest categories before Extinct in the Wild.

This briefing summarises the endangered species that live in the countries World Animal Rescue Network (WARN) is preparing to operate in across Southeast Asia, South Asia, South America and Africa.

Almost every one of them holds globally significant endangered animals, and almost every one is reachable by the kind of frontline animal rescue, animal shelter and animal sanctuary work that supporter donations can directly fund.

What "endangered" actually means The IUCN Red List categories, in order of increasing extinction risk, are: Least Concern (LC) — widespread and abundant.

Near Threatened (NT) — close to qualifying as threatened.

Vulnerable (VU) — high risk of extinction in the wild.

Endangered (EN) — very high risk of extinction in the wild.

Critically Endangered (CR) — extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

Extinct in the Wild (EW) — only surviving in captivity.

Extinct (EX) — no surviving individuals.

The other global tool worth knowing about is CITES — the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

CITES is a treaty signed by 184 countries that regulates the international trade in more than 40,000 species.

Appendix I lists species threatened with extinction whose commercial trade is prohibited; Appendix II lists species whose trade is regulated to prevent over-exploitation.

Endangered species in WARN's Southeast Asian countries Indonesia and Malaysia Indonesia and Malaysia together hold a stunning concentration of endangered species: Sumatran orangutan — Critically Endangered (IUCN).

Fewer than 14,000 estimated to remain in the wild.

Bornean orangutan — Critically Endangered.

Tapanuli orangutan — Critically Endangered; only formally described as a species in 2017, the rarest great ape on Earth.

Sumatran tiger — Critically Endangered.

Malayan tiger — Critically Endangered.

Sumatran rhino — Critically Endangered; fewer than 80 estimated to remain.

Sunda pangolin — Critically Endangered; the most trafficked mammal on the planet.

Sun bear — Vulnerable; targeted for the bile and pet trades.

Helmeted hornbill — Critically Endangered, killed for its solid casque ("red ivory").

Hawksbill turtle — Critically Endangered.

Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia Asian elephant — Endangered.

Wild populations in all three countries.

Indochinese tiger — Endangered; possibly already extinct in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Saola — Critically Endangered; one of the rarest large mammals on Earth, found only in the Annamite mountains between Vietnam and Laos.

Pygmy slow loris — Endangered.

Asiatic black bear (moon bear) — Vulnerable; targeted for bile farming.

Siamese crocodile — Critically Endangered; tiny wild population in Cambodia.

Irrawaddy dolphin (Mekong population) — Critically Endangered.

Endangered species in Pakistan Pakistan is less often mentioned in endangered-species lists but holds globally important populations: Snow leopard — Vulnerable; wild population in the northern mountains.

Indus river dolphin — Endangered; one of the world's few freshwater dolphin species.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/endangered-species-warn-countries): Endangered Species: The Animals Closest to Extinction Across the Countries WARN Works In.

Markhor — Near Threatened; Pakistan's national animal.

Marine turtles — green turtle (Endangered), olive ridley (Vulnerable), and others nest on Sindh and Balochistan beaches.

Houbara bustard — Vulnerable; under pressure from falconry trade.

Endangered species in Colombia and Peru Colombia and Peru sit across the Amazon basin and the tropical Andes — two of the most species-rich regions on Earth: Spectacled (Andean) bear — Vulnerable; South America's only bear.

Jaguar — Near Threatened globally, with declining Amazon populations.

Pink river dolphin (boto) — Endangered.

Tucuxi — Endangered.

Giant otter — Endangered.

Yellow-eared parrot — Vulnerable.

Military macaw — Vulnerable.

Brown-headed spider monkey — Critically Endangered.

Cotton-top tamarin — Critically Endangered; one of the world's most threatened primates.

Andean condor — Vulnerable.

Endangered species in Kenya and Tanzania East Africa is the global poster region for endangered megafauna, but the list is far longer than most supporters realise: African elephant (savanna) — Endangered (the African forest elephant is Critically Endangered).

Black rhino — Critically Endangered.

Eastern white rhino — functionally extinct in the wild.

Grevy's zebra — Endangered; mostly restricted to northern Kenya.

Hirola — Critically Endangered; possibly the most threatened antelope on Earth.

African wild dog — Endangered.

Cheetah — Vulnerable, with declining sub-populations.

Mountain bongo — Critically Endangered.

African pangolins — multiple species, all Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.

Marine turtles — green turtle, hawksbill, olive ridley nest on the coast.

What is driving extinctions in WARN countries The IUCN's analysis of extinction drivers is remarkably consistent across our partner-network countries.

The same five threats appear again and again: Habitat loss — deforestation in the Amazon and the Indonesian/Malaysian rainforests, dryland conversion in East Africa, coastal development across Southeast Asia.

Illegal wildlife trade — pangolins and tigers in Asia; parrots and primates in South America; ivory, rhino horn and pangolin scales in East Africa.

UNODC's World Wildlife Crime Report is the authoritative global summary.

Climate change — coral bleaching, glacier loss, drought-driven mortality (see our separate climate briefing).

Snaring and bycatch — wire snares in Cambodia and Kenya, ghost nets and longlines for marine species.

Conflict with humans — retaliatory killing of predators like jaguars, lions, leopards and elephants.

What animal rescue work does for endangered species Animal rescue, animal shelter and animal sanctuary work is not a substitute for habitat protection or law enforcement — but it is an indispensable part of the response.

Every confiscated pangolin needs triage.

Every orphaned orangutan needs years of rehabilitation.

Every snared elephant needs a veterinary team.

Every trafficked macaw needs a flight-conditioning aviary.

This is where supporter donations actually land: Mobile veterinary care for injured and confiscated endangered animals.

Partner animal shelters in cities and partner sanctuaries in forest and savanna for animals that cannot return to the wild.

Soft-release programmes for rehabilitated animals where habitat still exists.

Snare-removal patrols that remove tens of thousands of wire snares from protected areas every year.

Forensic and seizure support for CITES and UNODC enforcement work.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/endangered-species-warn-countries): Endangered Species: The Animals Closest to Extinction Across the Countries WARN Works In.

Where WARN fits in World Animal Rescue Network is a launch-stage global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation preparing to fund frontline rescue, shelter and sanctuary work across all of the countries listed above.

Our appeals are organised by species and region — orangutans, parrots, Andean bears, working horses, Karachi dogs and more — and an unrestricted donation lets our directors direct funding wherever endangered animals need it most urgently.

Sources IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — category definitions and assessments for all species listed above.

CITES — Appendix I and II listings.

UNODC — World Wildlife Crime Report.

WOAH — animal disease surveillance affecting endangered species.

We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work.

We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now.

Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.

Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation.

You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/pink-river-dolphin-colombia-peru): The Pink River Dolphin: Why the Amazon's Most Unusual Mammal Is Endangered.

## Summary
The pink river dolphin (boto, Inia geoffrensis) is a freshwater dolphin native to the Amazon and Orinoco river basins of South America — including the rivers of Colombia and Peru — and is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List because of bycatch, deliberate killing for fish bait, mercury contamination from gold mining and drought-driven mass mortality.

## Excerpt
The pink river dolphin — the boto — is one of only a handful of freshwater dolphin species left on Earth. It lives in the rivers of Colombia and Peru, and it is now formally listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. A briefing on what it is, why it is in trouble, and what frontline rescue work can still do.

## Takeaway
The pink river dolphin is one of only six recognised freshwater dolphin species in the world.

## Takeaway
Adult botos can reach 2.5 metres long and weigh up to 185 kg, making them the largest river dolphin on Earth.

## Takeaway
Their distinctive pink colour develops with age — calves are grey, and adults turn pink as scar tissue and blood vessels show through their thin skin.

## Takeaway
The species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and protected under CITES Appendix II.

## Takeaway
The 2023 Amazon drought caused mass dolphin die-offs across the basin as river levels collapsed and water temperatures rose to lethal levels.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/pink-river-dolphin-colombia-peru): The Pink River Dolphin: Why the Amazon's Most Unusual Mammal Is Endangered.

## Briefing
The pink river dolphin — known locally as the boto or bufeo — is one of the most unusual mammals on Earth and one of the most threatened.

It lives in the freshwater rivers of the Amazon and Orinoco basins, including the rivers of Colombia and Peru where WARN's South American programme is being built.

This briefing explains what the species is, why the IUCN now lists it as Endangered, and where frontline rescue and partner sanctuary work fits into the response.

What the pink river dolphin actually is The Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) is one of only six freshwater dolphin species recognised in the world today.

Adults can reach 2.5 metres long and weigh up to 185 kg, making it the largest river dolphin on Earth.

Calves are born grey; the famous pink colour develops gradually with age, and scientists believe it comes from scar tissue and exposed blood vessels showing through their unusually thin skin.

Males are often pinker than females, and the brightest pink individuals tend to be the most scarred — usually older males who have spent decades sparring with each other.

Pink river dolphins have features that set them apart from their ocean cousins.

They have unfused neck vertebrae, which means they can turn their heads sideways — useful for navigating flooded forest.

Their long beaks and bristle-like sensory hairs help them locate fish in dark, sediment-heavy water.

And during the high-water season, they swim straight into the flooded várzea forest, hunting fish among submerged trees in a way no other dolphin on Earth does.

Where they live Pink river dolphins range across roughly 7 million km² of South American freshwater — the entire Amazon basin (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia) and parts of the Orinoco basin (Venezuela, Colombia).

Within Colombia and Peru, they are concentrated in the main Amazon channel, its major tributaries — the Caquetá, Putumayo, Napo, Marañón, Ucayali — and the seasonally flooded lakes and oxbows along these rivers.

Why the pink river dolphin is endangered The IUCN lists the Amazon river dolphin as Endangered , a sharp uplisting from its previous "Data Deficient" status as long-term population monitoring caught up with the reality on the ground.

The threats are well documented: Bycatch and deliberate killing Pink river dolphins are entangled in fishing nets across the Amazon.

Worse, in some parts of the basin they are deliberately killed for use as bait in the piracatinga (a scavenger catfish) fishery — a practice that has been banned in Brazil but is difficult to enforce in remote river reaches.

Bycatch and deliberate killing together are the largest known driver of decline.

Mercury contamination from gold mining Illegal and informal gold mining — particularly in the Peruvian Madre de Dios region and parts of Colombian Amazonia — uses mercury to extract gold from river sediment.

The mercury enters the food chain, accumulates in fish, and concentrates in the apex predators that eat them.

Pink river dolphins have been found with mercury levels that are among the highest ever recorded in any freshwater mammal.

Climate-driven drought The 2023 Amazon drought caused catastrophic die-offs.

River levels collapsed to record lows, water temperatures in some lakes exceeded 39°C, and dolphins were stranded in shrinking, overheating pools.

Hundreds of pink river dolphin carcasses were documented in a single event in Brazil's Lake Tefé, with the cause linked to thermal stress and oxygen collapse.

The 2023 drought was not an isolated event — the Amazon has experienced multiple severe droughts over the past two decades.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/pink-river-dolphin-colombia-peru): The Pink River Dolphin: Why the Amazon's Most Unusual Mammal Is Endangered.

Dams and habitat fragmentation Hydropower dams across the Amazon basin fragment the river system and block the movements that pink river dolphins depend on for seasonal feeding and breeding.

What animal rescue work can do Pink river dolphin rescue is one of the harder forms of animal rescue — these are wide-ranging wild animals in remote terrain.

But the work is real and it matters: Stranding response.

During drought events, mobile teams can move stranded dolphins from drying lakes back to the main river channels.

This work happens at the limits of logistics and budget.

Bycatch reduction.

Working with local fishing communities on gear changes and net-tending practices that reduce dolphin bycatch.

Mercury monitoring.

Independent monitoring of fish and dolphin tissue is what makes the case for tighter enforcement of illegal mining.

Habitat protection.

Supporting the legal protection of key oxbow lakes and seasonally flooded forest where dolphins concentrate.

Where WARN fits in World Animal Rescue Network is preparing to support partner organisations in Colombia and Peru that work on freshwater wildlife — including pink river dolphin response during drought emergencies and the broader rescue and rehabilitation network for Amazon animals.

We are a launch-stage not-for-profit, so this work depends on supporter funding to begin.

If this briefing has changed how you think about the pink river dolphin, the most useful thing you can do is back our launch with a donation.

Every gift goes towards getting animal rescue capacity on the ground in the countries where endangered animals like the pink dolphin need it most.

Sources IUCN Red List — Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) assessment.

CITES — Appendix II listing for Inia geoffrensis.

UN Environment Programme — Amazon drought and mercury contamination reporting.

WOAH — climate-linked freshwater mammal mortality.

We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work.

We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now.

Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.

Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation.

You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/kinkajou-rainforest-mammal): The Kinkajou: The Rainforest Mammal Most People Have Never Heard Of.

## Summary
The kinkajou (Potos flavus) is a small, nocturnal rainforest mammal in the raccoon family that lives in the canopies of Colombia, Peru and the wider Amazon basin — and despite its IUCN Least Concern status, local populations are increasingly under pressure from deforestation and the international exotic pet trade.

## Excerpt
The kinkajou is a small, golden-brown rainforest mammal with a prehensile tail and enormous dark eyes. It lives in the forests of Colombia and Peru. Its biggest threats are habitat loss and the exotic pet trade — and that is exactly where rescue and sanctuary work can help.

## Takeaway
Kinkajous are not monkeys, sloths or red pandas — they are members of the raccoon family (Procyonidae).

## Takeaway
They are almost entirely arboreal and nocturnal, with a fully prehensile tail that they use like a fifth limb.

## Takeaway
They feed on fruit, nectar and the occasional insect, and they are important pollinators of rainforest trees.

## Takeaway
The IUCN currently lists the kinkajou as Least Concern globally, but flags habitat loss and the pet trade as growing threats with significant regional declines.

## Takeaway
Kinkajous are listed on CITES Appendix III for Honduras, and the international exotic pet trade is a documented driver of capture across their range — including in Colombia and Peru.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/kinkajou-rainforest-mammal): The Kinkajou: The Rainforest Mammal Most People Have Never Heard Of.

## Briefing
The kinkajou (Potos flavus) is one of the most charming and least-known mammals of the South American rainforest.

It is sometimes called the "honey bear" because of its love of nectar and its golden-brown fur, but it is not a bear and it is not closely related to monkeys, sloths or red pandas — it is a member of the raccoon family (Procyonidae), and it has been quietly going about its business in the rainforest canopy for millions of years.

WARN is preparing to operate in Colombia and Peru, the two South American countries that hold significant kinkajou populations.

This briefing explains what the species is, why it is increasingly turning up in rescue cases, and how supporters can help.

What the kinkajou actually is Adult kinkajous are about 40-60 cm long in the body, with a tail of similar length and a typical weight of 1.5-4.5 kg.

Their fur is short, dense and golden-brown to honey-coloured.

They have rounded faces with large, dark eyes adapted for night vision, small rounded ears, and a long pink tongue that can extend up to 13 cm to drink nectar from flowers.

The most important feature, biologically, is the tail.

Kinkajous have a fully prehensile tail — the only member of the raccoon family with this trait, and one of only a small number of mammals worldwide that can hang from its tail like a fifth limb.

They also have rotating hind feet that let them run head-first down a tree trunk, the same trick that squirrels and certain monkeys can do.

How kinkajous live Kinkajous are almost entirely arboreal (canopy-dwelling) and nocturnal (active at night).

They sleep in tree hollows during the day, usually alone or in small family groups, and emerge at dusk to forage.

Their diet is roughly 90% fruit, with the remainder made up of nectar, flowers and the occasional insect or small vertebrate.

Because they move from flower to flower drinking nectar, they are documented pollinators of several rainforest tree species — making them part of the basic engineering of the forest itself.

They are found from southern Mexico down through Central America and across the Amazon basin to Bolivia and southern Brazil.

The Colombian and Peruvian populations are part of one of the largest contiguous strongholds for the species.

Why kinkajous turn up in rescue work The IUCN currently lists the kinkajou as Least Concern globally, which means the species is not at immediate risk of extinction.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that the same assessment flags two growing threats: Habitat loss Kinkajous are canopy specialists.

They do not survive in fragmented or cleared forest.

The Amazon basin has already lost roughly 17% of its original forest, and the pace of clearance in the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon — driven by cattle ranching, illegal gold mining and small-scale agriculture — continues.

Every patch of cleared canopy removes a kinkajou territory.

The exotic pet trade Kinkajous are appealing to look at and slow-moving in the day, which makes them targets for the wildlife trade.

Across South America, the United States and parts of Europe, kinkajous are kept as exotic pets despite being highly unsuitable for it: they are nocturnal, long-lived (up to 25 years in captivity), territorial, and inflict serious injuries when stressed.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/kinkajou-rainforest-mammal): The Kinkajou: The Rainforest Mammal Most People Have Never Heard Of.

The trade also poses a public-health risk — kinkajous can carry the roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis, which can cause severe disease in humans.

Confiscated kinkajous regularly turn up at South American wildlife rescue centres needing veterinary care and lifetime sanctuary placement, since most cannot be released back to the wild after years of inappropriate captivity.

What animal rescue work for kinkajous looks like Triage of confiscated animals.

Kinkajous seized from the illegal pet trade in Colombia and Peru need veterinary checks, deworming, and weeks to months of behavioural rehabilitation.

Sanctuary care.

Animals that have been kept as pets for years are usually not releasable — they need lifetime sanctuary placement with appropriate housing.

Soft release.

Animals confiscated early in their captivity, and orphans rescued from logging, can sometimes be returned to protected forest with the right pre-release work.

Public education.

Reducing demand for kinkajous as pets in source countries is one of the most effective long-term interventions.

Where WARN fits in World Animal Rescue Network is preparing to support partner rescue centres and sanctuaries across Colombia and Peru that handle confiscated wildlife — including kinkajous, primates, parrots and the wider Amazon caseload.

We are a launch-stage not-for-profit, so this work depends on supporter funding to begin.

If this briefing has introduced you to a species you did not know existed, the most useful thing you can do is back our launch with a donation.

Every gift goes towards getting animal rescue and animal sanctuary capacity on the ground in the rainforest countries where it is needed.

Sources IUCN Red List — kinkajou (Potos flavus) assessment.

CITES — Appendix III listing for Honduras.

UNODC — World Wildlife Crime Report, exotic pet trade chapters.

WOAH — zoonotic disease risk from Baylisascaris and related parasites.

We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work.

We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now.

Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.

Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation.

You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/capuchin-monkey-colombia-peru): The Capuchin Monkey: The Tool-Using Primate at the Heart of the South American Pet Trade Problem.

## Summary
Capuchin monkeys are small, highly intelligent New World primates found across the forests of Colombia, Peru and the wider Amazon basin — and several species are now formally threatened on the IUCN Red List, primarily because of habitat loss and capture for the illegal pet trade.

## Excerpt
Capuchin monkeys are among the most intelligent primates in the Americas — and one of the most heavily trafficked. They live across the forests of Colombia and Peru, and they are a regular caseload at rescue centres dealing with the South American illegal pet trade.

## Takeaway
Capuchins are divided into two genera — Cebus (untufted, including white-faced capuchins) and Sapajus (tufted, including the bearded capuchin).

## Takeaway
They are among the most intelligent non-ape primates and have been documented using stone tools in the wild to crack nuts.

## Takeaway
Several capuchin species are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

## Takeaway
All capuchin species are listed on CITES Appendix II, and several are on Appendix I, meaning international commercial trade is restricted or prohibited.

## Takeaway
Capuchins are among the most commonly confiscated primates in the South American illegal pet trade — Colombia and Peru rescue centres handle hundreds of confiscated capuchins every year.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/capuchin-monkey-colombia-peru): The Capuchin Monkey: The Tool-Using Primate at the Heart of the South American Pet Trade Problem.

## Briefing
Capuchin monkeys are small, highly intelligent primates native to the forests of Central and South America.

They are some of the most familiar monkeys to anyone who has seen wildlife footage from the Amazon, and they are also among the most commonly trafficked.

WARN is preparing to operate in Colombia and Peru — two countries that hold significant capuchin populations and that handle a large share of South America's confiscated-primate caseload.

This briefing explains what the species are, why they are in trouble, and where frontline rescue and sanctuary work fits in.

What capuchin monkeys actually are "Capuchin" is a common name covering two related genera of New World monkeys: Cebus — the "gracile" or untufted capuchins, including white-faced (white-fronted) capuchins.

They are slimmer, with cream-coloured faces and dark caps.

Sapajus — the "robust" or tufted capuchins, including the bearded capuchin and the black-striped capuchin.

They have heavier builds and characteristic tufts of hair on top of the head.

Adult capuchins typically weigh 1.5-4 kg, with a body length of 30-55 cm and a long, semi-prehensile tail roughly equal in length to the body.

They are highly social, living in troops of 10-35 individuals led by an alpha pair, and they are active during the day in the middle and upper levels of the forest canopy.

Why capuchins are remarkable Capuchins have repeatedly surprised scientists with what they can do.

Wild bearded capuchins in South America have been documented using stones as hammers and anvils to crack open hard-shelled nuts — a feat of tool use comparable to anything seen outside the great apes.

They have also been observed using sticks to extract insects, applying medicinal plants to their fur, and showing complex social behaviours including food sharing, alliance formation and what researchers describe as a fairness response.

Their brain-to-body ratio is one of the highest among non-ape primates.

Where they live in WARN countries Colombia and Peru together hold multiple capuchin species: Colombian white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus) — Colombia.

Ecuadorian (Colombian) white-fronted capuchin (Cebus aequatorialis) — Critically Endangered, very limited range.

Guianan weeper capuchin (Cebus olivaceus) — northern Amazonia.

Large-headed capuchin / Peruvian black capuchin (Sapajus macrocephalus) — Peruvian and Colombian Amazon.

Brown / tufted capuchin (Sapajus apella) — widespread across the Amazon basin.

Other capuchin species range across Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela and the Guianas, with the highly threatened Cebus aequatorialis being one of the most endangered primates in the Americas.

Why capuchin monkeys are in trouble The illegal pet trade Capuchins are one of the most commonly trafficked primates in South America.

They are small, intelligent and appear "cute" to buyers — a deadly combination from the animals' perspective.

The trade works like this: hunters shoot adult females in the forest canopy, and the orphaned infants — often clinging to their dying mothers — are taken to be sold.

For every infant capuchin that reaches a market alive, multiple adults are dead.

UNODC's World Wildlife Crime Report documents the South American primate trade as one of the largest illegal wildlife flows on the continent.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/capuchin-monkey-colombia-peru): The Capuchin Monkey: The Tool-Using Primate at the Heart of the South American Pet Trade Problem.

Once taken, captive capuchins suffer enormously.

They are social animals who need their troop.

Isolated as pets, they develop severe stereotypic behaviours, aggression and chronic stress.

Most pet capuchins are abandoned, surrendered or confiscated within a few years — and that is where rescue centres pick up the caseload.

Habitat loss Capuchins are canopy specialists.

Deforestation in the Amazon and Andean foothills — driven by cattle, mining and small-scale agriculture — removes the forest connectivity they need to maintain breeding populations.

Conflict with farmers Where forest is fragmented, capuchin troops sometimes raid crops, and farmers respond with shooting and trapping.

This is a classic human-wildlife conflict where the long-term solution is habitat restoration and conflict mitigation, not lethal control.

What animal rescue work for capuchins looks like Triage.

Confiscated infant capuchins arrive at rescue centres dehydrated, malnourished and often suffering from human-transmitted diseases (capuchins are vulnerable to influenza, herpes and tuberculosis from human contact).

Long rehabilitation.

Rehab is measured in years, not months.

Orphans need to be raised, socialised with other capuchins, taught to forage and reintegrated into a functional troop before any release can be considered.

Soft release where possible.

Where viable habitat exists, rehabilitated troops can be soft-released back to the forest.

Where it does not, sanctuary care for life is the alternative.

Sanctuary capacity.

A significant fraction of confiscated capuchins cannot be released and need lifetime sanctuary placement in species-appropriate enclosures with companionship.

Where WARN fits in World Animal Rescue Network is preparing to back partner rescue centres in Colombia and Peru that handle the full primate caseload — capuchins, spider monkeys, woolly monkeys, tamarins and titi monkeys among them.

Veterinary care, enrichment, enclosure expansion and soft-release programmes all cost money, and rescue centres in source countries are chronically underfunded.

We are a launch-stage not-for-profit, so this work depends on supporter funding to begin.

If this briefing has changed how you think about the South American pet trade, the most useful thing you can do is back our launch with a donation.

Every gift goes towards getting animal rescue and animal sanctuary capacity on the ground in the countries where capuchins and other trafficked primates need it most.

Sources IUCN Red List — assessments for Cebus and Sapajus species discussed.

CITES — Appendix I and II listings.

UNODC — World Wildlife Crime Report, primate trafficking chapters.

WOAH — zoonotic disease risk from human-primate contact.

We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work.

We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now.

Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.

Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation.

You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/amazon-rainforest-animals-colombia-peru): The Amazon Rainforest: How Its Decline Is Reshaping Animal Life in Colombia, Peru and Beyond.

## Summary
The Amazon Rainforest holds an estimated 10% of all known species on Earth and roughly 40% of the planet's remaining tropical forest, and its ongoing loss to deforestation, fire and drought is now the single largest driver of species decline across Colombia and Peru — directly affecting jaguars, macaws, spectacled bears, river dolphins, sloths and the trafficked wildlife WARN's South American programmes are being built to support.

## Excerpt
The Amazon Rainforest holds roughly 10% of all known species on Earth. As deforestation, drought and fire chip away at it, the animals WARN's South American programmes are designed to support — macaws, jaguars, spectacled bears, river dolphins, howler monkeys — are paying the price first.

## Takeaway
The Amazon Rainforest covers around 6.7 million km² across nine countries; Colombia and Peru together account for roughly 20% of that area.

## Takeaway
The IUCN identifies habitat loss in the Amazon basin as a primary threat for thousands of species, including jaguars, giant otters, pink river dolphins, spectacled bears and at least 30 species of macaws and parrots.

## Takeaway
Around 17% of the original Amazon Rainforest has already been lost, and scientists warn that crossing roughly 20-25% loss could push parts of the basin into a self-reinforcing drying loop ('Amazon dieback').

## Takeaway
The 2023 Amazon drought left river levels at record lows, stranded freshwater dolphins in overheating pools, and was followed by record fire seasons in 2024.

## Takeaway
CITES Appendix I and II listings cover most of the Amazon's most-trafficked species — macaws, parrots, jaguars, river otters, primates — meaning the wildlife trade and rainforest loss compound each other.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/amazon-rainforest-animals-colombia-peru): The Amazon Rainforest: How Its Decline Is Reshaping Animal Life in Colombia, Peru and Beyond.

## Briefing
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest tropical forest on Earth and the single most important wildlife habitat in the western hemisphere.

It covers roughly 6.7 million square kilometres across nine countries and holds — by most credible estimates — around 10% of all known species on the planet.

Two of those countries, Colombia and Peru, are where WARN is preparing to operate.

This briefing summarises what the credible evidence shows about how the decline of the Amazon Rainforest is affecting the animals WARN's South American programmes are being built to support — and what frontline rescue, sanctuary and partner-shelter work can still do.

What the Amazon Rainforest actually is The Amazon Rainforest is not a single ecosystem.

It is a mosaic of terra firme upland forest, seasonally flooded várzea and igapó forest, white-water and black-water river systems, swamp forest, and high-altitude Andean cloud forest at its western edge.

That structural variety is what supports the staggering species count: at least 40,000 plant species, more than 1,300 bird species, 430 mammal species, 1,000 amphibian species and 3,000 freshwater fish species have been described, and IUCN assessments make clear that the real total is far higher because new species are still being formally described every year.

Colombia and Peru together hold roughly a fifth of the Amazon Rainforest by area.

Colombia's share — the "Amazonas" department and surrounding lowlands — is one of the most biodiverse stretches of the entire basin.

Peru's share includes the Madre de Dios region, the headwaters of the Amazon river itself, and some of the most intact remaining lowland forest in South America.

Why the Amazon Rainforest matters for animals From an animal welfare and conservation standpoint, the Amazon Rainforest does five things almost nowhere else on Earth does at this scale: Habitat scale.

Wide-ranging species like jaguars, harpy eagles and giant otters need vast, connected forest to survive.

The Amazon is one of the last places on Earth that still provides that scale.

Climate stability.

The forest generates much of its own rainfall through evapotranspiration.

That stable rainfall is what allows amphibians, fish, river dolphins, primates and forest birds to survive at the population sizes they do.

Refuge from trade.

The deepest interior remains the hardest place for traffickers to reach.

Forest loss makes wildlife more accessible and therefore more vulnerable to capture for the illegal pet trade.

Connection to the high Andes.

The western edge of the Amazon Rainforest grades into Andean cloud forest, the habitat of the spectacled bear and many high-elevation amphibians and hummingbirds.

Freshwater nursery.

The Amazon river system holds the world's richest freshwater fish fauna and the only freshwater dolphins in South America — both pink river dolphins (boto) and tucuxi.

What is happening to the Amazon Rainforest Roughly 17% of the original Amazon Rainforest has been lost, with most of the deforestation concentrated in Brazil but with significant and growing losses in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

The drivers are well documented in independent assessments: cattle pasture expansion, soy cultivation (mostly outside Colombia and Peru), illegal gold mining (a major driver in the Peruvian Madre de Dios), road expansion, and small-scale agricultural clearance.

The forest is also under increasing pressure from climate-driven drought and fire — the 2023 drought in the Amazon basin left river levels at record lows, and the following year saw record fire seasons across multiple Amazon countries.

Climate scientists have repeatedly warned that the Amazon Rainforest has a tipping point.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/amazon-rainforest-animals-colombia-peru): The Amazon Rainforest: How Its Decline Is Reshaping Animal Life in Colombia, Peru and Beyond.

As losses accumulate and the forest's ability to generate its own rainfall weakens, parts of the basin could shift into a drier, more savanna-like state.

Estimates of the tipping point vary, but the most cited range is around 20-25% cumulative forest loss.

The IUCN's Red List assessments treat this trajectory as a primary threat for an enormous number of Amazon species.

Animals on the front line — what is being lost and what can still be rescued Macaws and parrots The Amazon Rainforest is home to at least 30 species of macaws and Amazon parrots, including scarlet macaws, blue-and-yellow macaws, red-and-green macaws, and the IUCN-vulnerable military macaw.

These birds suffer a double pressure: habitat loss from forest clearance, and capture for the illegal pet trade — both of which intensify when the forest is fragmented and easier to reach.

CITES lists the entire macaw genus on Appendix I or II, but enforcement at the source is patchy.

Tens of thousands of macaws, parakeets and Amazon parrots are estimated to enter the illegal pet trade every year across Colombia and Peru.

Many die in transit; the survivors need triage, quarantine and a slow path back to soft release in protected forest.

Jaguars The jaguar is the apex predator of the Amazon Rainforest and one of the most directly threatened large cats in the western hemisphere.

IUCN lists the jaguar as Near Threatened and treats habitat loss and fragmentation in the Amazon basin as a primary threat.

As road networks open up previously inaccessible forest, jaguars come into more frequent conflict with cattle ranchers and gold miners, and a parallel illegal trade in jaguar teeth, claws and skins is now documented across the Amazon.

CITES Appendix I protects the species in international trade; rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned and confiscated jaguars depends on long-term sanctuary capacity.

River dolphins The Amazon basin holds two of the world's only freshwater dolphin species — the pink river dolphin (boto, Inia geoffrensis) and the tucuxi.

Both are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Their threats include bycatch in fishing gear, deliberate killing for fish bait, mercury contamination from gold mining, and — most starkly — drought.

The 2023 Amazon drought stranded large numbers of dolphins in shrinking, overheating pools and resulted in mass mortality events in Brazilian and Peruvian waters.

Spectacled bears The Andean (spectacled) bear lives at the western edge of the Amazon Rainforest, where the basin grades into Andean cloud forest.

It is South America's only bear species, listed as Vulnerable by IUCN, and the species WARN's Andean Bear appeal is being built to support.

As Amazonian deforestation pushes upslope and Andean farmland creeps higher, the bear's habitat is squeezed from both sides.

Orphaned cubs and bears displaced from cleared cloud forest are increasingly turning up in conflict situations near rural communities — a classic case where partner sanctuary capacity is the difference between life and death for an individual animal.

Howler monkeys, sloths and primates The Amazon Rainforest holds an extraordinary primate fauna — howler monkeys, capuchins, woolly monkeys, spider monkeys, titi monkeys, marmosets, and tamarins.

Many are forest-canopy specialists who simply cannot persist in fragmented habitat.

Howler monkey heat-stress die-offs have been documented during the most severe recent droughts.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/amazon-rainforest-animals-colombia-peru): The Amazon Rainforest: How Its Decline Is Reshaping Animal Life in Colombia, Peru and Beyond.

Sloths — slow-moving, arboreal, dependent on intact canopy — are particularly vulnerable when forest is cleared piecemeal, and orphaned and injured sloths are now a steady caseload for partner rescue centres in the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon.

Reptiles and amphibians The Amazon Rainforest holds the highest concentration of amphibian species on Earth, and amphibians are among the most climate-sensitive vertebrates.

Chytrid fungus — itself a disease whose spread is shaped by temperature and humidity — has already devastated frog populations across the Andes and is documented in the Amazon basin as well.

River turtles, including the IUCN-listed yellow-spotted river turtle, are under pressure from egg collection and habitat disturbance.

How wildlife trafficking and Amazon Rainforest loss feed each other The illegal wildlife trade across the Amazon basin — already one of the largest and most under-policed in the world according to UNODC's World Wildlife Crime Report — gets worse, not better, as the forest is opened up.

New roads built for logging, ranching and mining are the same roads that traffickers use to reach previously inaccessible parrot nests, primate troops and jaguar territories.

CITES enforcement and rescue capacity at the source are the two interventions that can slow this loop down: confiscated animals need triage and rehabilitation; trafficked nestlings need a sanctuary; mothers killed for the pet trade leave orphans that need lifetime care.

What animal rescue, animal shelter and animal sanctuary work look like here The Amazon Rainforest cannot be saved by rescue work alone — that requires long-term policy, enforcement and land-use change well beyond what any single animal charity can deliver.

But the animal-side of the response is indispensable, and the work breaks down into four parts: Triage and rehabilitation.

Mobile veterinary capacity for confiscated parrots, primates, jaguars and bears coming through customs and law-enforcement seizures.

Partner animal shelters and sanctuaries.

The Peruvian and Colombian Amazon already has a small number of experienced rescue centres that hold confiscated wildlife.

They are chronically underfunded.

The single most useful thing an international charity can do is back their veterinary, food and enclosure costs.

Soft release programmes.

Once an animal is rehabilitated, returning it to protected forest is a multi-month process — flight conditioning for macaws, troop integration for primates, large pre-release enclosures for jaguars and bears.

Data and evidence.

Necropsy results, seizure records and rescue case data are what drive the CITES and UNODC enforcement work that ultimately changes the trade itself.

Where WARN fits in World Animal Rescue Network is a launch-stage global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation.

Our planned South American programme — covering Colombia and Peru — is being designed to back exactly this kind of frontline work in the Amazon Rainforest and the Andean cloud forest that fringes it: partner rescue centres for confiscated parrots and primates, support for spectacled bear rehabilitation, and the veterinary and enclosure costs of running sanctuary care for animals that cannot return to a forest that is itself in retreat.

Every WARN programme depends on supporter funding to begin.

If you want your support to land specifically in the Amazon Rainforest, our Parrot and Andean Bear appeals are the most direct routes; if you would prefer our directors to direct funding wherever the need is most urgent across our partner-network countries, an unrestricted gift does that.

Sources IUCN — Red List assessments for jaguar, pink river dolphin, tucuxi, spectacled bear, military macaw and other Amazon species discussed.

CITES — Appendix I and II listings for macaws, Amazon parrots, jaguars, river otters and primates.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/amazon-rainforest-animals-colombia-peru): The Amazon Rainforest: How Its Decline Is Reshaping Animal Life in Colombia, Peru and Beyond.

UNODC — World Wildlife Crime Report, including chapters on South American parrot, primate and big-cat trafficking.

UN Environment Programme — assessments of Amazon deforestation, the 2023 Amazon drought and subsequent fire seasons.

WOAH — assessments of climate-driven shifts in animal disease distribution, including amphibian chytrid fungus.

Support our Amazon work Back the rescue work the Amazon Rainforest needs Our Parrot appeal funds frontline rehabilitation and soft-release work for trafficked macaws and Amazon parrots in Colombia and Brazil, with other range states such as Peru as wider context.

Our Andean Bear appeal supports spectacled bear sanctuary capacity in Colombia at the western edge of the Amazon.

An unrestricted donation lets our directors direct funding wherever the need is most urgent.

Back the Parrots Back the Bears Donate


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/climate-change-effects-on-animals): Climate Change and Animals: How a Warming Planet Is Reshaping Wildlife Across the Countries WARN Works In.

## Summary
Climate change is already driving measurable losses for animals across all the countries WARN is preparing to work in — coral bleaching and rising seas in Southeast Asia, glacier loss and extreme flooding in South Asia, drought-driven mortality in East Africa and habitat shifts in the high Andes — and the IUCN now identifies climate change as one of the top accelerating threats on its Red List.

## Excerpt
Climate change is no longer a future threat for animals — it is already reshaping habitats, food chains and survival rates across Southeast Asia, South Asia, South America and East Africa. A country-by-country briefing on what the science shows and where rescue work fits in.

## Takeaway
The IUCN Red List identifies climate change as one of the fastest-growing threats to species worldwide, alongside habitat loss and illegal trade.

## Takeaway
Coral reefs in the Coral Triangle (Indonesia, Malaysia, parts of the Philippines) have suffered repeated mass bleaching events as sea surface temperatures rise.

## Takeaway
The 2022 Pakistan floods displaced an estimated 33 million people and devastated livestock and working animals — climate-linked extreme rainfall events are becoming more frequent in South Asia.

## Takeaway
East Africa has experienced its worst multi-season drought in 40 years, with WHO and humanitarian agencies reporting major impacts on both livestock and free-roaming wildlife.

## Takeaway
Sea turtle populations face a 'feminisation' problem because the sex of hatchlings is determined by sand temperature — warmer beaches now produce overwhelmingly female clutches across multiple monitored sites.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/climate-change-effects-on-animals): Climate Change and Animals: How a Warming Planet Is Reshaping Wildlife Across the Countries WARN Works In.

## Briefing
Climate change is often discussed in terms of glaciers, sea level and economic damage.

It is talked about less often in terms of the animals — wild and domestic — whose survival depends on stable temperatures, predictable rainfall and intact habitats.

This briefing summarises what the credible evidence shows about how a warming planet is already affecting animals in the countries WARN is preparing to operate in.

The framing is deliberately practical: where the harm is, what species are most exposed, and where rescue, sanctuary and shelter work fits into the response.

The headline finding from IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) — which produces the Red List of Threatened Species, the authoritative global assessment of extinction risk — now identifies climate change as one of the fastest-growing threats to wildlife, sitting alongside habitat loss and illegal trade.

IUCN's analyses show climate-related threats appearing in the Red List assessments for thousands of species, including a high proportion of corals, amphibians and marine mammals.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) has also formally recognised climate change as a driver of shifting animal-disease patterns, with vectors like ticks and mosquitoes moving into new territories as temperatures rise.

Southeast Asia: coral, plastic, heat Indonesia and Malaysia — the Coral Triangle Indonesia and Malaysia sit at the heart of the Coral Triangle, the most biodiverse stretch of ocean on the planet.

The reefs of this region support more than 600 species of reef-building coral and an estimated 75% of all known coral species globally.

They are also among the most heat-exposed reefs in the world.

Repeated mass bleaching events — driven by sustained sea surface temperatures above coral thermal tolerances — have been documented across Indonesian and Malaysian waters, with the most severe global events recorded in 1998, 2010 and the 2014-2017 multi-year bleaching episode.

IUCN Red List assessments for reef-building corals now show climate-driven bleaching as a primary threat.

Reef collapse is not only a biodiversity story.

The fish that depend on reefs are the foundation of food security for hundreds of millions of coastal people across Southeast Asia; reef loss is a chain reaction that runs from coral polyps to fish, to seabirds, to coastal communities and back again.

Sea turtles and the feminisation problem Sea turtles nest on beaches across Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Malaysia in WARN's current partner network, plus wider educational search contexts such as Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

The sex of sea turtle hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the sand the eggs incubate in: warmer sand produces females, cooler sand produces males.

As sand temperatures rise, monitored nesting beaches across the tropics are now producing overwhelmingly female clutches.

Some long-term studies report female ratios above 90% in the warmest beaches.

The long-term consequences for population genetics are serious, and the issue compounds the existing pressures of plastic ingestion and ghost-gear entanglement covered elsewhere in our Indonesia briefing.

Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia — heat stress and changing monsoons Across mainland Southeast Asia, climate change is showing up as more variable monsoons, more frequent extreme heat events, and shifting flood-and-drought cycles.

For free-roaming dogs and cats in cities like Hanoi, Bangkok and Phnom Penh — populations WARN's cat and dog programmes are designed to support — extreme heat days drive measurable spikes in heatstroke and dehydration in unprotected animals.

For working animals in rural areas, more erratic rains mean more variable crop calendars and longer periods of overwork.

South Asia: Pakistan's compound emergencies Pakistan is one of the most climate-exposed countries on Earth despite contributing a comparatively small share of global emissions.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/climate-change-effects-on-animals): Climate Change and Animals: How a Warming Planet Is Reshaping Wildlife Across the Countries WARN Works In.

The country sits between melting Himalayan glaciers in the north and rising sea levels on the Sindh coast, and is repeatedly identified in independent climate-risk assessments as one of the ten most affected countries by extreme weather over the past two decades.

The catastrophic 2022 floods — which the United Nations estimated displaced 33 million people — also killed or displaced an estimated 1.1 million livestock and working animals according to Pakistan's own national assessments.

Working donkeys, mules, horses, cattle and goats were drowned, separated from owners or lost their pasture and clean water.

Dogs and cats in the affected areas — many of them already free-roaming — lost the food scraps and informal feeders they depend on, and the resulting concentration of stressed animals fed measurable spikes in disease transmission.

Karachi specifically — the focus of WARN's flagship dog appeal — is highly exposed to compound climate risk: extreme heat events, urban flooding, and sea-level rise on the Arabian Sea coast.

The city's enormous free-roaming dog population is at the sharp end of each of these stresses.

South America: the Andes and the Amazon Colombia and Peru — the high Andes The tropical Andes are one of the world's most biodiverse mountain systems and one of the most climate-sensitive.

The IUCN-listed Andean (spectacled) bear — South America's only bear species and the focus of WARN's Andean Bear appeal — depends on a narrow band of cloud forest and páramo habitat that is being pushed upslope by warming temperatures.

As that band thins out at the top of the mountains, the available habitat shrinks.

The same pattern affects high-elevation amphibians, hummingbirds and pollinators across Colombia and Peru.

Lower in the system, the Amazon basin is showing repeated severe drought events — including the historic 2023 drought that left rivers at record-low levels and stranded freshwater dolphins and turtles in shallow, overheating pools.

Howler monkeys and other primates are documented dying of heat exhaustion during the worst events.

The Amazon as a carbon system The Amazon stores an enormous amount of carbon.

Its capacity to keep doing so depends on the forest staying intact and the rainfall cycle staying stable.

Climate-driven changes in rainfall — combined with deforestation pressure — risk pushing parts of the basin into a self-reinforcing drying loop.

The animals at the front of that loop are the ones already living at the edge of their thermal range: amphibians, fish in seasonal pools, and the parrots WARN's anti-trafficking appeal is designed to support.

East Africa: the longest drought in living memory Kenya and Tanzania — the focus of WARN's Elephant Appeal and our planned East African veterinary programmes — have lived through the worst multi-season drought in roughly 40 years.

WHO and UN humanitarian agencies have repeatedly described the situation as a compound emergency: failed rainy seasons, mass livestock deaths, falling wildlife populations and rising human-wildlife conflict as animals concentrate around the remaining water sources.

The animal welfare impacts have been severe and well documented: Elephants.

Kenya Wildlife Service has reported significant drought-related elephant deaths during recent drought cycles, with calves the most exposed.

Wildebeest, zebra, giraffe.

Major drought-linked mortality has been reported in multiple national parks and conservancies.

Livestock.

Pastoralist communities in northern Kenya and central Tanzania have lost a substantial share of their cattle, sheep, goats and camels.

WHO has reported on the cascading nutrition and zoonotic-disease consequences.

Free-roaming dogs and cats.

Drought-stressed animals concentrate around towns, increasing competition for food and the risk of rabies and other disease spillover.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/climate-change-effects-on-animals): Climate Change and Animals: How a Warming Planet Is Reshaping Wildlife Across the Countries WARN Works In.

Climate change does not act alone here — it intersects with poaching, snaring and habitat loss to produce far greater harm than any one threat would on its own.

Snare removal patrols, mobile veterinary care and protected animal sanctuary capacity all become more important, not less, in a drier and more unstable savanna.

Diseases on the move The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) tracks the movement of animal diseases globally.

Its assessments note that climate change is already shifting the geography of tick-borne diseases, mosquito-borne diseases (including those affecting livestock and wildlife) and fungal diseases of amphibians.

For working donkeys in Pakistan, that means new heat-and-vector pressure.

For Andean and Amazonian amphibians, climate-driven shifts in chytrid fungus exposure remain one of the most serious extinction drivers ever documented.

For free-roaming dogs across the WARN region, warmer winters mean longer flea, tick and parasite seasons.

What animal rescue and animal sanctuary work looks like in a warming world None of this means rescue work is futile.

The opposite: climate-stressed animal populations need more rescue capacity, not less.

In practical terms, the animal welfare response to climate change looks like: Disaster-ready field teams.

Mobile veterinary units that can deploy fast into flood or drought zones — to treat injured wildlife, evacuate livestock and feed displaced free-roaming animals.

Stronger animal shelters.

Partner shelters in cities like Karachi and Nairobi need climate-resilient buildings, shade, reliable water, and the capacity to absorb surge intake during heatwaves and floods.

Animal sanctuary capacity for the unreleasable.

Climate displacement means more animals — orphaned orangutans, snared lions, injured raptors — who cannot be returned to a habitat that is itself in retreat.

Sanctuaries for lifetime care are part of the climate response.

Marine response.

Ghost-gear cutting, sea turtle triage, stranded cetacean response — work that gets more, not less, urgent as fishing pressure compounds with thermal stress on the reefs.

Data work.

Every necropsy, every rescue record, every drought-mortality count contributes to the global picture that IUCN and others use to drive policy.

Where WARN fits in World Animal Rescue Network is a launch-stage global not-for-profit animal welfare organisation.

We are not a climate organisation, and we will not pretend we can solve climate change.

What we can do — and what we are being built to do — is fund the animal-side of the response in the countries where the consequences are landing hardest.

Coral Triangle marine response.

East African veterinary outreach during drought.

Pakistan flood and heat response for working animals and street dogs.

South American partner sanctuaries for animals displaced from forests that are themselves in retreat.

Every WARN programme depends on supporter funding to begin.

If this briefing has changed how you think about the animal cost of climate change, the most useful thing you can do is back the appeals that get animal rescue and animal sanctuary capacity on the ground in the countries that need it most.

Sources IUCN — Red List of Threatened Species and climate-change threat assessments for corals, sea turtles, Andean (spectacled) bear, and other species discussed.

World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) — assessments of climate-driven shifts in animal disease distribution.

World Health Organization (WHO) — humanitarian reporting on the East African drought and the 2022 Pakistan floods, including livestock and zoonotic-disease impacts.

UN Environment Programme — assessments of coral bleaching in the Coral Triangle and freshwater stress in the Amazon basin.

National wildlife authorities in Kenya and Pakistan — published drought- and flood-mortality figures for elephants and livestock respectively.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/climate-change-effects-on-animals): Climate Change and Animals: How a Warming Planet Is Reshaping Wildlife Across the Countries WARN Works In.

We need your support to make this happen World Animal Rescue Network is at the launch stage of this work.

We do not yet have rescue numbers to share — and that is exactly why your support matters now.

Every donation helps us put trained teams on the ground, secure veterinary supplies and equipment, and reach the first animals before they are lost.

Donate today to fund our first deployments, or sponsor an animal to back a specific species through rehabilitation.

You can also join the network as a volunteer, fundraiser, or monthly supporter.


World Animal Rescue Network (https://worldanimalrescuenetwork.org/newsroom/indonesia-plastic-waste-marine-animals): Indonesia's Plastic Tide: How Marine Waste Is Killing Whales, Turtles and Dugongs.

## Summary
Indonesia is one of the largest sources of ocean plastic globally, and the documented impact on its marine wildlife includes a sperm whale found in Wakatobi National Park with 5.9 kg of plastic in its stomach, sea turtles ingesting plastic across all major Indonesian nesting beaches, and ongoing entanglement of dolphins, turtles and dugongs in abandoned fishing gear.

## Excerpt
Indonesia is one of the world's largest emitters of ocean plastic, and the toll on its marine wildlife is now well-documented. From the 5.9 kg of plastic recovered from a sperm whale in Wakatobi to entangled sea turtles in Bali, here is what the evidence shows — and what rescue work can do.

## Takeaway
IUCN identifies marine plastic as a major and growing threat to ocean wildlife, with Southeast Asian rivers among the largest contributors to ocean plastic globally.

## Takeaway
In 2018 a sperm whale washed up in Wakatobi National Park, Sulawesi, with 5.9 kg of plastic inside it — including 115 plastic cups, 25 plastic bags, four plastic bottles and two flip-flops.

## Takeaway
All six sea turtle species found in Indonesian waters are CITES Appendix I-listed; plastic ingestion and entanglement are recognised threats on their IUCN Red List assessments.

## Takeaway
Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear ('ghost gear') is one of the most lethal forms of marine plastic and one of the most rescue-actionable — entangled animals can often be cut free.

## Takeaway
The Citarum river in West Java has been described by UN Environment as one of the most polluted rivers in the world, with documented effects on fish populations and the wildlife that depend on them.