So I was watching the Invictus Games tonight on the TV and just wanted to tell you about something which caught my eye. 

Introducing Bravehound...

Dogs can help heal invisible wounds.

Bravehound looks to provide companion dogs to veterans and then support the dog and veteran over the dogs’ life.  They try to match suitable veterans with companion dogs and where possible, they willl re-home dogs from an animal welfare charity.  Veterans are supported with pet insurance, feeding and equipment.    

Dogs are really at providing companionship, and encouraging owners to take exercise and have a routine.  They also make it easier for people to talk to each other.  

Scottish based Bravehound is the canine wing of Glen Art, and they support former servicemen and women and their families 

This is really quite a charity and they have already been voted Best Voluntary/Charity Project in the National Lottery Awards.   You can make a donation to help them in their work here. 

There's some amazing work being done by animals all over the world to help people.

A fantastic example is that of donkeys.   The Donkey Sanctuary donkeys are at work in the UK, Sri Lanka and in Italy helping children through donkey therapy.

In the Donkey Sanctuary's newsletter this Spring 2017, we heard about the charity's most recent project.

At the Mannar Assocication for Rehabilitation of Differnently Abled People (MARDAP) in Sri Lanka, children are benefitting from donkey interaction.

The Director of MARDAP, Sister Josephine, noted that in the beginning a child called Murika was reluctant to interact with other children.  But with the help of the donkeys, that began to improve.  And Murika has shown a great love for animals.  Her bond with the donkeys has changed her from a nervous child to a happy, confident one, with a smiling face and a child who loves coming to school.  A child with hand co-ordination issues was seen grooming a donkey.  

The children love to hug the donkeys.  They feed, groom and talk to the donkeys.  It all helps to improve their emotional and physical development.  And adults have benefitted too.

The donkeys have been helped by Bridging Lanka, a charity which works with the large feral donkey population in Sri Lanka.  

The project brings together children at MARDAP’s school with donkeys helped by Bridging Lanka, a charity which works with the large feral donkey population in Sri Lanka. 

Bluto, a rescued donkey at the Donkey Sanctuary's Italian centre, sharies many special moments with residents of a nearby care home.  They love spending time with him - and he enjoys his visits to see them.  

It's wonderful to see the great work so many of these donkeys are doing to help young and old.   Many have been rescued from terrible situations.   There are many ways you can support the Donkey Sanctuary to do their work - find out more here

It's always wonderful to read about schools helping with fundraising towards wildlife and environmental causes.

Reading through my copy of the excellent "Rainforest Review 2017" from Rainforest Concern, I was really excited to see a number of schools supporting the charity.  

Cake sales, farmer's markets, a raffle and rainforest calendars were just a few of the ways in which young people raised funds for this charity. 

The charity reported on 10 schools who did their bit for Rainforest Concern and raised funds - it would be great to see more schools getting involved.

One young supporter raised a very impressive £553, which saved 11 acres of rainforest!  And Angharad is only eight years old!  She ran 20 km over 4 weeks.   A big well done to her :-) 

There some great teacher resources for schools on Rainforest Concern's website which you can find here, and there are even Amazonas Comics for the children too!

It costs £50 to sponsor one acre of rainforest.  If you sponsor an acre, Rainforest Concern will give you a personalised certificate recording your sponsorship and regular updates on their progress.  Your sponsorship will protect many plants and animals who need rainforest to live in.  Click here for more information.

Snow leopards live high in the mountains of Central Asia.

There are only about 4,000 of these wonderful big cats left, due to habitat loss, retaliating killings and poaching.  On average, a snow leopard is killed a day by poachers or local communities trying to protect their livestock.  Much of the big cats' home is at risk because of development and exploitation.

Back in 2013, the leaders from all 12 countries in the snow leopard habitat pledged to secure at least 20 snow leopard landscapes of Asia by 2020.

And in August 2017, the 12 countries are all meeting for Kyrgyzstan for the International Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Forum. 

This high-level event aims to do two things, according to the website:

1. To further strengthen the range countries’ ongoing effort to protect the snow leopard, and
2. To galvanize international support for their ambitious plan of securing 20 snow leopard landscapes by the year 2020.

They need to act to save snow leopards before it is too late.  It's vital to secure snow leopard landscapes with the support of local communities, to tackle illegal trade and make sure we build a future in which snow leopards can survive.

There is a petition, on Care2.com's Petitions website, urging the snow leopard country leaders to pledge concrete action when they meet in August.  

Sign the petition to pledge these leaders to take concrete action to save snow leopards at their August meeting. 

So yesterday I was having a canter around the BBC website and having a browse and I came across a video made by the Wild Horses of Alberta Society.

The Society is "committed to the preservation of these magnificent animals in their natural environment" and they have a number of videos on their You Tube page which I must say I did enjoy.  

As well as informing the public about the history of these wonderful horses, the Society  is also working with the government to establish reasonable and achievable wild horse population management solutions, and also another objective I particularly like is their work to promote the welfare of wild horses by rescuing, gentling and rehoming of wild horses providing veterinary care.

They also have a wild horse adoption programme.

Of course, being a horse lover I had to have a look, and the video was just wonderful!   The wilds of Alberta, the care the people took of these wild horses and the spirit of the horses was just - for me - really moving.  

Here's one of their videos, A Year with the Wild Horses - do take a look!

The organisation entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the province of Alberta back in November 2014 - a 5 year agreement.  It means WHOAS can run 2 programmes in a large area of the Sundre Equine Zone - 

1. Firstly, a contraception program for wild horse mares - this should help manage horse populations
2. Secondly, an adoption program so that WHOAS can rescue wild horses in trouble on private land or that are found abandoned or injured.

It's always interesting to see how people are working to help animals and I do wish the Society well in its work.

Click here to visit the Wild Horses of Alberta Society's website