Thank you for visiting my Just Giving page.

I'm excited to be running the London marathon for the WSPA (World Society Protection of Animals) as a gold bond runner. Im raising money for the bear sanctuary in Romania and for the 'Collars not Cruelty' dog campaign.

TEXT: HEID90 £(With the amount) to 70070 or click Donate.

What does WSPA do: Fantastic global work is being done in stopping exploitation of animals and preventing humans from causing suffering, educating them and the developing world, helping in disasters world wide as well as close to home, enforcing regulations; WSPA is the key supporter of the London Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit ( WCU ). It takes huge bravery to tackle these crimes. The crimes carried out you wouldn't believe could be true. There are many crimes that stick in my mind, one involving the capture and slaughter of baby elephants just days old in front of their mother, to marine life still breathing being held and sold from the boot of a car.

WSPA shows there is another way,

I'm an animal lover (or rather animal crazed lady) and I love to appreciate what nature created. I'm sure you would agree there is nothing better than to see wonderful sights of animals in their natural habitat. They have a high level of consciousness and yet live for now, regardless of their memories. They have only respect, loyalty and love to give. They have instinctual knowledge that humans will never surpass.

After witnessing and being in a situation abroad, I learnt the hard way that I physically couldn't stop something and that will haunt me forever more. Since that day I have been involved with The WSPA (now over 10yrs) During this time huge sustainable changes have happened. This time its about bears and dogs. 

Bears in the wild are fascinating. They are powerful, yet gentle, emotionally sensitive and beautiful, however...

BEARS: What happens to these creatures is incredibly cruel. Bears are kept in a cage, will have no teeth or claws, as have had their teeth knocked out, and claws ripped out as a cub, their beautiful coat is poor, and eyes hollow and lifeless, with a hole drilled through their nose for a chain.

       - Bears are held caged, starved and mentally destroyed, unable to move in order to attract tourists; An illegal event that still goes on.

       - Bear baiting - a bear having been through the horror of having its teeth and claws ripped out, is put in a pit along with a number of hunting dogs that tear the bear to pieces, all in front of people paying to watch.

       - Bile farming - A tube through the bear’s side which goes straight into its gall bladder, is used to extract bile. The bear is kept 24 hours a day in a cage with this happening; Pysically and mentally unimaginable. Bile is a non proven ingredient used in Chinese medicine, with over 50 man-made products that give the same ingredient. Under such severe mental stress and pain, bears can be kept like this for years until dying at age 5, when in the wild can live to 35.

      - Dancing bears - for tourists to pay to see. How they learn to dance is not something I can explain on this page, its cruel beyond words.

Your support will help us continue rescuing bears, and continue to develop the incredible bear sanctuary, as well as educating and preventing these acts. The bears in the sanctuary are able to live how they were meant to live in the wild. Some are very traumatised and take a very long time to heal mentally.  Like humans each bear is a unique character and its clear to see which ones have been most affected. The changes in the rescued bears after time, is an inspiration to see, but so much more progress is needed to be made in  sustaining changes. Its unimaginable, unessessary and could be happening as you read this page. Please understand what your five minute action of donating will do. (PLEASE SEE THIS VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSNq_DXtHB4)

DOGS: Loyal, trusting, givers of unconditional devotion, full of character, highly intelligent - our friends. 

Every year, millions of dogs are needlessly culled in response to the fear of rabies in a misguided effort to stop the spread of this deadly disease.

Mass dog culls are widely used because they are perceived as cheap, easy and effective.  In reality, there is no evidence that the mass culling of dogs works as a method of controlling rabies. 

Scientific evidence demonstrates that the only effective solution is the humane option: mass dog vaccination.

It is not correct of me to attach pictures, it is really too cruel.

The rabies programme 'Collars not Cruelty' is changing mass, cruel, ineffective culling, to mass vacination. We want a world without rabies not a world without dogs. WSPA has supported the Balinese and Sri Lankan governments (vast majority of culls are in Asia and Africa) and inspired by its success so far, these governments have commited their own resources to continuing mass dog vaccination. Every little you donate goes a long way in not only just rescuing dogs, but again preventing these acts.

We support a holistic approach that sees animal and human health as inextricably connected. By addressing rabies in dogs through humane mass dog vaccination we are tackling the primary source of rabies. As rabies decreases in dogs the number of human cases will also fall.

Also when coupled with WSPA's experience of humane dog population management and responsible pet ownership, other conflicts between people and dogs can also be mitigated, creating a co-existence without fear of disease. 

Our work shows how WSPA can be the catalyst for change by:

          - Moving governments around the world to change their policy and practice

         - Challenging people’s acceptance of the inhumane culling of dogs

        - Demonstrating that a humane alternative not only exists, but is actually the only effective method

Please see video:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l_2p3PdjGE

Donate: Giving in charity is not for an act of show, and personally am very private, however, with popular events its a time to attract supporters and support others in doing so. Like anything, nothing happens unless action is taken. Awareness to get funding is everything for us, so by doing sponsored events, we are potentially gaining other long-term supporters. It's always tough to ask for money BUT, even the smallest amount has an impact and goes towards progress!

Donate:Please donate as much as you can and pass on this page to all your family, friends, and business contacts so they can help too. You can donate via the page or:

TEXT: HEID90 £(With the amount)  to 70070.

For 1 second its tough to think of this, and pains much more than any running, and more so to stop (be it in the cold, dark, even rare occasions of rain!) Please help us. Thank you for your support!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Email:heidiloveridge@hotmail.com for any other information I've not mentioned on this page. Or visit www.wspa.org.uk

I know its supposed to be short! This was the short version!