Our Role
The Wildheart Trust is dedicated to providing forever homes for animals that have been rescued from horrendous conditions around Europe. We achieve this by offering them refuge and the chance to flourish at our Sanctuary. This is our fundamental mission, and we partner with other organisations such as AAP in Holland to give exotic animals a better life in their new forever home by the sea on the Isle of Wight.
In recent years, we have provided forever homes to a number of rescued animals, including two lions given up by a circus in Spain, two tigers found in awful conditions on the Belarussian border, and two bears who spent the first part of their lives living at the side of a restaurant in Azerbaijan.
Big Cats in the Illegal Trafficking Trade
Every month, hundreds of wild animal body parts are smuggled from Russia into China to be used in Chinese medicine. Trade in wild animals is very profitable – it is in third place after the trade in arms and drugs! As the wild population of tigers decreases rapidly, the trade of captive tigers is rapidly on the rise.
Softi and Toph, two tigers who were rescued at the Belarussian border in 2019, are strongly suspected to have been destined for the illegal tiger bone trade in China. We were humbled to give Softi and Toph a forever home at our Sanctuary in 2023, where they have continued to flourish in the years since their rescue.
Wild Animals for Entertainment
Circuses use entertainment and ‘traditional practices’ as a cover for blatant animal abuse. Our lion brothers, Kumba and Vigo, were castrated before they were a year old, meaning they didn’t grow manes and instead grew to an abnormally large size. They also had their claws removed, an excruciatingly painful experience that is similar to the pain felt when breaking a bone. This was done with the brutal intention of pacifying these beautiful animals so that they could be used in circus performances.
The Illegal Pet Trade
The illegal pet trade in Europe sees small mammals and primates being shipped around the continent and living in squalid, inappropriate conditions. Tafkap and Xirus, the servals we rehomed in 2021, were found in the bedroom of a woman in Brittany, France, who had bought them from a breeder in the Czech Republic. Due to poor and inappropriate nutrition there was a serious lack of calcium in Tafkap and Xirus’ diets, which resulted in the formation of deformed bones in their hind legs. It took them a long time to heal, get used to the right food and grow strong.