Who are the WSPA?

Like many people, I have been reading countless articles regarding the devastating earthquakes in Japan… one in particular caught my eye as it mentioned a group that was doing wonderful work rescuing animals.

This group is called the WSPA, and I had my students do some research to find out a little more about them. The results of their research is presented here, separated into 7 parts: “Who They Are”, “Main Objective”, “Where They Are”, “Main Activities”, “Recent Projects”, “Any Controversial Activities?” and “Others”.

They do amazing work around the world, helping animals through legislative changes… this method is highly effective, influential and respectable.

Do take a look at their profile below and tell me what you think about them.

Tsem Rinpoche

WSPA PROFILE

1. Who They Are

The WSPA or the World Society for the Protection of Animals are a non-profit animal welfare organization. The WSPA was founded in 1981, resulting from the merger of 2 animal welfare organizations – the World Federation for the Protection of Animals (WFPA) and the International Society for the Protection of Animals (ISPA).

2. Main Objective

They state on their website that their main objective is: to build a global animal welfare movement.

3. Where They Are

Their main office is in London. They also have offices in 13 different countries around the world: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Tanzania, Thailand, United States and United Kingdom.

They also have 900 member organizations (or member societies) in over 150 countries.

A Member Society is an independent animal welfare organization that is a part of WSPA’s global network. The WSPA Member Society Network is the largest international alliance of animal welfare organizations in the world.

The member societies in Malaysia are: Ipoh SPCA, SPCA Sarawak (SSPCA) and SPCA Selangor.

The high number of member societies that they have seems to tie in with their main objective. With a coordinated number of “bases” throughout the world, they can get to disasters fast, attend to emergency cases and affect global change.

These societies can be anything from large national organizations to small specialist groups. They all work on animal welfare issues, but under different areas of influence.

On the WSPA website, it says:
“In all aspects of its work, WSPA aims to collaborate with and support animal welfare groups through the WSPA Member Society Network. WSPA believes that the Network is an international force that governments and decision makers cannot fail to listen to, and this is helping to create a momentum of positive change for animals worldwide.” ~ FAQ section http://www.wspa-usa.org/aboutus/FAQ/default.aspx.

4. Main Activities

WSPA’s animal welfare programs include a mix of direct fieldwork, campaigning, education and training, and member society development. Their work around the world focuses primarily on the following issues:

Companion Animals

• Stray Control

• Working horses and donkeys

• Veterinary clinics

Commercial Exploitation of Wildlife

• Bear Bile Farming (Asia)

• Bear Baiting (Pakistan)

• Bear Dancing (India and Pakistan)

• Commercial Whaling

• Dolphins in entertainment

Emergency Disaster Relief

Farm Animal Welfare

Education

• Concepts in Animal Welfare – for veterinary students

• International Animal Welfare Education

• Pet Respect

Legislation

• The Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare

Extracted from their website: http://www.wspa-international.org/wspaswork/default.aspx

5. Recent Projects

 Their main recent activities include:

• The rescue of 3 bears in Pakistan who were used for bear-baiting. WSPA had opened a bear sanctuary in Pakistan in 2010.
• The withdrawal of plans to farm 8,100 cows intensively in England. WSPA UK launched its “Not in my Cuppa” campaign a year ago against the proposed changes in the direction of British dairy farming. These plans were withdrawn on Wednesday 16 February:. They have a video for Not-in-my-Cuppa too.

Here is a video on WSPA’s 2010 achievements. It’s a very good video, and it covers the main works that achievements for last year. This includes works in Haiti, Pakistan, South Korea etc.

Or view the video on the server at: http://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/WSPA-2010-Achievements-in-Animal-Welfare.flv

6. Any controversial activities?

We have not found any controversial WSPA activities on the Internet. What we did find was something that was written on a forum, and we think that it sums up WSPA quite well:

They look like “PETA for reasonable people.” I might argue with some of what they say, but not on the grounds of inconsistency between their mission statement, their policies, and their “Subject Specific Policies.” They do not advocate violence, rather legislation and litigation. These are legitimate means of pursuing their goals.

Overall, as an environmentalist who is aware of the needs of science and medicine, but also aware of cruelty, I would say that they look pretty good to me. They look especially good compared to PETA, which not only engages in violence, but has been shown to have members who have serious ethical problems.

Extracted from: http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=75247

7. Others

• They have consultative status at the United Nations and the Council of Europe. As an example, WSPA have written scientific reports on issues which were used in WHO conferences in Mexico.

• They produce subtle and tasteful videos. This is a good video example, it is of the mass reindeer killings in Sweden/Finland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zqba2hyuzs

• They do protests on dolphin slaughters and Icelandic whaling, but so far its peaceful

• One of their spokespersons is Leona Lewis, a British celebrity with a good reputation