The Aspinall Foundation (formerly The John Aspinall Foundation) is a British charity that promotes
wildlife conservation
Wildlife conservation refers to the practice of protecting wild species and their habitats in order to maintain healthy wildlife species or populations and to restore, protect or enhance natural ecosystems. Major threats to wildlife include habita ...
. It was set up by casino owner
John Aspinall in 1984 and runs the two zoos he established,
Port Lympne Wild Animal Park
Port Lympne Hotel & Reserve near the town of Hythe, Kent, England is set in and incorporates the historic Port Lympne Mansion, and landscaped gardens designed by architect Sir Herbert Baker, for Sir Philip Sassoon.
The estate with an Edwardi ...
and
Howletts Wild Animal Park
Howletts Wild Animal Park (formerly known as Howletts Zoo) in the parish of Bekesbourne,Edward Hasted, 'Parishes: Bekesborne', in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 9 (Canterbury, 1800), pp. 266-27/ref> near Canter ...
in
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
,
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It also runs conservation projects to protect endangered species and rehome captive animals in the wild. The current chairman is
Damian Aspinall, son of the founder, and is likely to be succeeded by his daughter, Freya Aspinall, an
Internet celebrity
An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...
who uses
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
to increase exposure for the charity and runs the charity's U.S. based affiliate.
The foundation owns approximately 1 million acres in
Gabon
Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...
, into which it reintroduces gorillas.
In 2020, the foundation received £1,500,000 from corporate and private donors.
[
]
History
In 2002, in Gabon
Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...
, the foundation was the first to reintroduce captivity-born young gorillas into the wild.
In 2006, 5 gorillas that were rehabilitated by the foundation and released into the wild after they were orphaned due to the bushmeat trade and then sold into the illegal pet market were relocated to an island after wandering into nearby villages searching for love.
In 2007, the charity publicly opposed Chinese attempts to relax the rules governing the trade in products made from tigers.
Since 2008, the foundation has spearheaded conservation efforts to save the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur. The estimated population size of the greater bamboo lemur has risen since 2009 from 100 to 1,000 individuals. As a result of the efforts of the foundation, the greater bamboo lemur was removed from the list of 25 most threatened primates in the world.
In 2010, a video of Aspinall tracking Kwibi, a celebrity gorilla released in 2005 at age 5 in Gabon
Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...
, became widely viewed on YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.
The foundation started the Javan Primate Project in 2012 and has since released more than 135 primates including Javan langurs, moloch gibbons and grizzled leaf monkeys into protected sites in Java. The animals include those rescued from the local illegal pet trade
Wildlife smuggling or wildlife trafficking concerns the illegal gathering and trade of endangered species and protected wildlife, including plants and byproducts or products utilizing a species. Research on wildlife smuggling has increased, howeve ...
and rewilded from Aspinall's two UK wildlife parks.
In 2013, the foundation launched a programme to breed European wildcat
The European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') is a small wildcat species native to continental Europe, Great Britain, Turkey and the Caucasus. Its fur is brownish to grey with stripes on the forehead and on the sides and has a bushy tail with a bl ...
s, with plans to create a breeding centre on the island of Càrna
Carna or Càrna is an island in Loch Sunart, an arm of the sea, close to the Ardnamurchan peninsula, on the west coast of Scotland.
Geography
Carna lies wedged across the mouth of Loch Teacuis in the middle of Loch Sunart, forming two narr ...
, off the west coast of Scotland.
By 2014, according to the foundation, it had "successfully reintroduced more than 50 gorillas back into the wild since 1996".
In October 2019, the foundation – alongside an international team of conservationists – rescued 11 elephants
Elephants are the Largest and heaviest animals, largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian ele ...
, 4 giraffe
The giraffe is a large Fauna of Africa, African even-toed ungulate, hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa.'' It is the Largest mammals#Even-toed Ungulates (Artiodactyla), tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on ...
, 19 African Buffalo
The African buffalo (''Syncerus caffer)'' is a large sub-Saharan African bovine.
The adult African buffalo's horns are its characteristic feature: they have fused bases, forming a continuous bone shield across the top of the head, referred to ...
and 29 wildebeest
Wildebeest ( , ,), also called gnu ( or ), are antelopes of the genus ''Connochaetes'' and native to Eastern and Southern Africa. They belong to the family Bovidae, which includes true antelopes, cattle, goats, sheep, and other even-toed ...
from Blaauwbosch, South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, after a sustained period of drought and neglect at a mismanaged game reserve.
In February 2020, the foundation became the first to send captive bred cheetahs from the UK for rewilding in South Africa. Damian Aspinall personally released the two male cheetahs, who were born at Port Lympne, into their new home close to Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
.
In May 2024, research by the charity found 3,000 violations of standards set by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria
The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) is an organisation for the European zoo and aquarium community that links over 340 member organisations in 41 countries. EAZA membership is open to all zoos and aquaria across Europe that compl ...
at zoos in Europe.
Controversies
Payment of £150,158 to wife of chairman, conflicts of interest
Between 2019 and 2020, the foundation paid £150,158 to Victoria Aspinall, the wife of chairman Damian Aspinall, as fees for "interior design services". In 2020, the amount paid to Aspinall represented 10% of donations taken that year. The charity also paid £124,231 for accountancy work from a firm of which another trustee was a director. The charity owns a 30-room mansion in Kent; it was rented to chairman Damian Aspinall for £2,500 a month in 2019 and £10,000 per month in 2020.
In March 2021, the Charity Commission for England and Wales
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's Government that regulates Charitable organization, registered charities in En ...
opened a statutory inquiry into the foundation over concerns about the charity's governance and financial management after reports of possible conflicts of interest
A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations in whi ...
and related-party transactions. In June 2022, as a result of financial irregularities discovered, Damian Aspinall was asked to stand down as chairman and trustee. Robin Birley and Ben Goldsmith
Benjamin James Goldsmith (born 28 October 1980) is an English financier and environmentalist. The son of financier James Goldsmith and Lady Annabel Goldsmith, he is founder and CEO of London-listed investment firm Menhaden, which focuses on en ...
resigned as trustees.
Hiring of Carrie Johnson, lobbying activities
In January 2021, the foundation hired Carrie Johnson
Caroline Louise Beavan Johnson (' Symonds; born 17 March 1988) is an English media consultant and is married to Boris Johnson. She is the daughter of Matthew Symonds, co-founder of ''The Independent.''
Symonds worked as a Conservative Party m ...
, wife of Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
, as director of communication months after it asked Zac Goldsmith
Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park, (born 20 January 1975) is a British politician, life peer and journalist who served as Minister of State for Overseas Territories, Commonwealth, Energy, Climate and Environmen ...
, Minister of State for Climate, Environment and Energy, for government support to buy a wildlife reserve in South Africa.
Effectiveness of sending zoo-born animals into the wild
Tara Stoinski of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund (originally the Digit Fund) is a charity for the protection of endangered mountain gorillas. The Digit Fund was created by Dian Fossey in 1978 to finance her anti-poaching patrols and prevent further poaching of the mo ...
made this comment on the television program 60 Minutes (aired 15 March 2015): "I think that humans have a very romantic notion of what the wild is like, and the wild is not a place where it is safe, and animals get to roam free and make choices". She wonders about the value of sending zoo-born animals to Africa and believes that it would be wiser for Aspinall to use his funds to save gorillas already in the wild.
In 2021, the charity was criticized by the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife of Kenya for not notifying it of plans to rehome a herd of 13 elephants in Kenya.
Deaths of gorillas reintroduced into the wild
Several of gorillas introduced into Africa died quickly, possibly due to having been primed to humans and being unable to care for themselves in the wild and attacks by other gorillas.[ One report in 2014 stated that a family of ten zoo-born silverback gorillas were sent to Gabon and at least five were killed, an outcome many had predicted.][
In a 2016 interview, chairman Damian Aspinall blamed one gorilla that the foundation had released for killing the five others in 2014. He also criticized the negative publicity about the event stating, "What about the 60 we released that survived? There's no glory if you get it right. We get no press, no publicity – but boy, if anything goes wrong, they jump on you."
]
Stress to animals from hazardous journeys
In February 2022, the foundation announced that 13 elephants, born in captivity, would be returned to Kenya and released into the wild. Some experts questioned the wisdom of this strategy, citing issues such as the stress caused by "a hazardous journey", low temperatures at night in Africa, as well as "unfamiliar surroundings, foraging for food, predators and illness". Some concern was also expressed about water quality and the risk of conflict with the human population. The Foundation replied that it "has a 30-year history of successful rewilding projects around the globe".
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspinall Foundation
1984 establishments in England
Animal charities based in the United Kingdom
Charities based in Kent
Foreign charities operating in Gabon
Foreign charities operating in the Republic of the Congo
Organizations established in 1984