Research on animal charities for project.

WWF:  

"For a living planet"

 

 The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organisation that works on issues to do with the conservation, research and restoration of the environment. The organisation was founded in April 1961 in Switzerland. The trust was originally called the World Wildlife Fund and is still called this is Canada and America. 

This is the world's largest independent conservational organsisation. It has over 5 million supporters worldwide and works in more than 90 countries. The trust supports around 1300 conservational and environmental projects around the world. The WWF is a charity, with 60% of its funding coming from donations by private individuals. 45% of the fund's income comes from the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.

The group states that their mission is to "halt and reverse the destruction of our environment". Currently, much of their work focuses on the conservation of forests, freshwater ecosystems and oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned with endangered species, pollution and climate change.

PETA:

"Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment"

 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is an Americal animal rights organisation formed in Norfolk, Virginia in 1980. It is a non-profit corporation with 300 employees and over two million members and supporters worldwide. It claims to be the largest animal rights charity in the world.

This organisation first caught the publics attention in 1981 during a widely reported dispute about experiments conducted on nearly 20 macaque monkeys in the Institute of Behavioural Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. This case lasted 10 years, and involved the only police raid on an animal lab in the USA and triggered an amendment in 1985 to that country's Animal Welfare Act, and established PETA as an internationally known organisation. Since then, the group have focused their campaigns and undercover investigations on four core issues: opposition to factory farming, fur farming, animal testing and animals in entertainment - though it also campaigns against fishing, the killing of animals regarded as pests, the keeping of chained backyard dogs, cock fighting and bullfighting.

Greenpeace:

"Ensure the ability of  Earth to nuture life in all its diversity"

Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organisation with offices in over 40 countries and with an international co-ordinating body in Amsterdam. Greenpeace states that they focus their work on worldwide issues such as global warming, deforestation, overfishing, commercial whaling and anti-nuclear issues. The trust use direct action, lobbying and research to achieve their goals. The global organisation does not accept funding from governments, corporations or political parties, relying on nearly 3 million individual supporters and foundation grants.

Greenpeace evolved from the peace movement and anti-nuclear protests in Vancouver, British Columbia in the early 1970s. In 1971 the newly founded Dont Make a Wave Committee sent a chartered ship, named Greenpeace for the protest from Vancouver to oppose the USA testing of nuclear devices in Alaska. The committee then adopted the name Greenpeace.

In just a few years, Greenpeace spread to several countries and started campaigning on other environmental issues such as commercial whaling and toxic waste. In the late 1970s the different Greenpeace groups formed Greenpeace International to oversee the goals and operations of the regional organisations globally. The group received international attention during the 80s when the French intelligence agency bombed the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour, one of the most well-known vessels operated by Greenpeace, killing one. In the following years Greenpeace evolved into one of the largest environmental organisations in the world.

Greenpeace is known for its direct actions and has been described as the most visible environmental organisation in the world. Greenpeace has raised environmental issues to public knowledge, influenced both the private and the public sector. Greenpeace has also been a source of controversy; its motives and methods have received criticism and the organisation's direct actions have sparked legal actions against Greenpeace activists.

Amnesty International:
"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness"

Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation. Their stated mission is to "conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."

Founded in 1961, Amnesty draws attention to human rights abuses and campaigns for compliance with international laws and standards. They work to mobilise public opinion to exert pressure on governments that perpetrate abuses. The organisation was awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its "campaign against torture", and the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights in 1978.

In the field of international human rights organisations (of which there are over 300), Amnesty has the longest history and broadest name recognition, and "is believed by many to set standards for the movement as a whole".