Donations from December’s Santa’s Grotto at Lakeside Village Outlet Shopping have raised almost £3,000 for the WildLife Foundation.
Located in the heart of Doncaster, Lakeside Village is a successful outlet centre that carries over 45 famous retail brands, such as M&S Outlet, Clarks, Gap Outlet and Sports Direct. Last December, they teamed up with WildLife Foundation and Yorkshire Wildlife Park to bring Christmas magic to families and friends visiting the outlet during the festive season. This included a visit from Santa in his snowy igloo located in the Winter Green.
The funds, contributed by customers in lieu of an entrance fee for the igloo grotto experience, totalled £2,963.02 and were presented by Lakeside Village to the WildLife Foundation team at Yorkshire Wildlife Park last week.
The funds are a vital contribution to WildLife Foundation’s projects and campaigns supporting animal welfare and conservation around the world.
As the Grotto featured an Arctic vista complete with Polar Bears, the donation from Lakeside Village will specifically go towards our work with Polar Bears International on helping the protection and conservation of wild polar bears.
Polar bears can survive in the harshest environments, thanks to their two layers of thick fur and nearly 10cm of blubber under the skin. However, their greatest enemy is not the cold Arctic weather – it’s quite the opposite!
Global warming means the icy habitat that polar bears know, and love has started to disappear. Today, only about 26,000 polar bears survive in the wild, and sadly their population may collapse by 2100.
WildLife Foundation is now working closely with our partners to protect the polar bears before it’s too late! Together with Polar Bears International and Yorkshire Wildlife Park, which is proudly the only Arctic Ambassador Centre for Polar Bears International in the UK, we contribute to their Climate Alliance Program, helping to direct policy, build partnerships, and engage in public outreach on the welfare of polar bears.
We also support a vital research project, undertaken by Polar Bears International in Svalbard, which studies the effects of climate change on polar bears’ denning behaviour, and the extent to which the loss of sea ice is affecting mothers and cubs.
Image courtesy of Polar Bears International
WildLife Foundation’s flagship initiative Project Polar is part of an international centre for conservation, rehabilitation and research to improve the welfare of polar bears in captivity and in the wild. The Project is situated at Yorkshire Wildlife Park and is home to ‘The Boys’, 6 majestic, fascinating and playful Polar Bears. It replicates the climatic conditions of the Arctic and ensures a familiar and comfortable setting for the bears, aligning with their natural habitats.
For over 10 years, the initiative has raised awareness about the serious threats that polar bears are facing through education and contributed to school programmes in Canada, Greenland, Russia and Norway.
However, more must be done to ensure that polar bears do not edge closer to extinction. The time is now for us all, individuals, communities, businesses and governments, to take action, reduce greenhouse gasses, and save polar bears and their Arctic homes.
To learn more about the endangered polar bears, WildLife Foundation’s initiatives, and how you can support them, click here.
