Category: Conservation

Published on: May 10th, 2019

Here at Knowsley Safari, we’re proud to announce our support for the incredible work done by the Wild Camel Protection Foundation! Camels are one of the world’s most easily recognisable animals, with only two subspecies – the single-humped ‘Dromedary’ camel, which is now extinct in the wild, and the two-humped Bactrian camel.

WCPF is the only charity in the world dedicated to the wild camel, a species that has been classified as Critically Endangered and placed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There are currently only four recorded populations of these amazingly rare animals across their native homelands of China and Mongolia, and wild populations are facing a decimation of up to 80% in the next 50 years alone!

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We kickstarted our efforts to aid the charity in May 2016, as staff at Knowsley Safari took part in the Park to Peak cycling event. Travelling 56 miles across the Trans Pennine trail from the Safari gates to Crag Hall, further than two back-to-back marathons, our amazing team donated £700 to the charity’s cause – but that’s just the beginning!

The Wild Camel Protection Foundation has set out on a mission to save this remarkable creature and its fragile and unique habitat in the Gobi and Gashun Gobi deserts. The goal is to protect and build upon the only 1400 wild Bactrian camels currently living in Central and Northern Asia. Central to this effort has been the establishment of a captive wild camel breeding programme in a centre in Mongolia. Not only does this location provide a unique opportunity to study this under-researched species, the captive population is a safeguard against the extinction of the wild camel. Camels bred at the centre may also be released into the wild, to bolster the population. Two bull camels were successfully released in 2013.

 

There’s still time to save the wild camel from extinction. You can learn more about the amazing work undertaken by the Wild Camel Protection Foundation here.

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