“This year was one no one will forget. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a dire warning of the potential costs of ignoring pressing environmental issues, such as climate change, deforestation, and wildlife trade. All these factors increase the risk of the evolution and spread of new diseases, and we hope that COVID-19 generates renewed energy and commitment to address them with the urgency they deserve.”— Peter Knights
To mitigate human-elephant conflict in Africa, we increased the number of trial sites for our nontoxic scent-based elephant repellent to six and realized an overall success rate of over 80%. We also expanded the trials to Asia.
After five years of WildAid campaigns, the Chinese government upgraded pangolins’ protection status from Class II to Class I, with a penalty of 10 years imprisonment for those convicted of hunting, killing, smuggling, or trading them.
In a survey of people who watched our latest PSAs, 81.7% said they would never purchase rhino horn.
Our 2020 consumer awareness survey showed a 45.5% decline since 2017 in those who would consider buying sea turtle products in Chinese cities where our campaign appeared. Over the past year, we worked with local rangers and volunteers in coastal Ecuador to protect 1,300 sea turtle nests, including eight rare leatherback turtle nests, and 20,000 sea turtle hatchlings.
Taiwan enacted new legal protection for whale sharks and increased the jail time and fines for anyone found guilty of disturbing or capturing them, following our two decades of campaigning.
In 2020, for the ninth consecutive year, WildAid received Charity Navigator’s highest four-star rating, which is reserved for the most accountable, transparent, and financially healthy of the nonprofits it rates. WildAid also earned GuideStar’s Platinum Seal of Transparency.
