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The Aspinall Foundation

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The Aspinall Foundation
Formation1984; 40 years ago (1984)
FounderJohn Aspinall
Registration no.326567
Legal statusCharity
PurposeWildlife conservation
Websitewww.aspinallfoundation.org

The Aspinall Foundation (formerly The John Aspinall Foundation) is a British charity (Registered Charity 326567) which works to promote wildlife conservation. It was set up by casino owner John Aspinall in 1984 and runs the two zoos he established, Port Lympne Wild Animal Park and Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent, England. It also runs conservation projects overseas to protect endangered species and return captive animals back to the wild. The charity is now run by Damian Aspinall, son of the founder.

In addition to running the zoos, which breed rare and endangered animals, the Foundation campaigns on wildlife issues, such as opposing Chinese attempts to relax the rules governing the trade in products made from tigers.[1] As of 2002, the twin zoos were home to 14 hybrid, Siberian and Sumatran tigers. The Foundation set up a project for gorillas orphaned by bushmeat poachers in the Republic of Congo in the late 1980s and in 1998, created an orphan gorilla project in the neighbouring state of Gabon.[2] It supports the 'Project Protection des Gorilles Gabon' which is based in Franceville in Gabon and seeks to reintroduce gorillas in the Batéké Plateau National Park.[3] In 2013 the foundation launched a programme to breed Scottish wildcats, with plans to create a breeding centre on the island of Càrna, off the west coast of Scotland.[4]

In November 2019, The Aspinall Foundation rescued 11 elephants, 19 buffalo, 29 wildebeest and 4 giraffe from Blaauwbosch Private Reserve in South Africa's Eastern Cape after the SPCA were granted a warrant for the animals' removal following years of neglect.[5]

In February 2020 The Aspinall Foundation became the first organisation in the world to send captive bred cheetahs from the UK for rewilding in South Africa. Damian Aspinall personally released the two male cheetah, who were born at Port Lympne, into their new home close to Cape Town.[6]

In March 2021, The Charity Commission announced that they had opened a statutory inquiry into The Aspinall Foundation over serious concerns about the charity’s governance and financial management.[7] The Guardian reported an item in its accounts in November 2021 suggesting the foundation had paid £150,158 to Victoria Aspinall, the wife of Damian Aspinall, to be used in 2020 as fees for "interior design services".[8] Damian Aspinall was asked to stand down as chairman and trustee in June 2022 over financial irregularities it had discovered during its inquiry, but Aspinall had been granted time to challenge the ruling.[9]

Tara Stoinski of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund 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.[10][11]

In 2022, the Aspinall Foundation announced that 13 elephants, born in captivity, would be returned to Africa, for release in the wilds of Kenya. 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 with a statement that it "has a 30-year history of successful rewilding projects around the globe".[12]

References

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  1. ^ "The John Aspinall Foundation joins campaign against lifting Chinese ban on tiger parts". WebWire. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  2. ^ "Lesio-Louna and Mpassa". 22 September 2002. Archived from the original on 22 September 2002. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Primate Info Net". WNPRC. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Kent Aspinall Foundation sets up wildcat breeding base". BBC News. 23 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  5. ^ "Damian Aspinall rescues starving elephants from private game reserve in South Africa". The Times. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  6. ^ Carpani, Jessica (22 January 2020). "Two cheetahs born in the UK are to be sent to Africa and released in the wild". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  7. ^ "Charity regulator opens statutory inquiry into the Aspinall Foundation".
  8. ^ Mason, Rowena (13 November 2021). "Charity that employs Carrie Johnson faces further questions over finances". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 June 2022. The wildlife charity that employs Carrie Johnson is facing further questions over its finances, after its latest accounts show it paid more than £150,000 in "interior design services" to the chairman's wife last year. The Aspinall Foundation ... took in just over £1,500,000 in donations from the public and corporate donors – while in the same year they paid £150,158 in fees to Victoria Aspinall, the wife of Damian Aspinall, the chairman of the charity's trustees.
  9. ^ Walters, Simon (28 June 2022). "Head of wildlife charity that employs Carrie Johnson 'asked by Charity Commission to step down'". The Independent. Retrieved 8 July 2022.
  10. ^ "The Horrifying 60 Minutes Story Activists Beg You Not to See". Awesome Ocean. 18 March 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  11. ^ "Back to the Wild - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 15 March 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  12. ^ "'Ridiculous' plan to rewild 13 elephants from Kent zoo to Africa 'doomed to fail'". Metro News. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
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