About the Trust
The Wildheart Trust is a registered charity which is dedicated to realising its global ambitions. These are principally to make a meaningful impact on the health of the natural world while actively improving the well-being of animals in human care. The Trust runs the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary and provides governance for its conservation aims.
With the ‘Sixth Extinction’ crisis looming, time is of the essence. We aim to encourage an inclusive and participatory approach to conservation/restoration of the natural world. This means that everyone can play a vital role in preserving as much biodiversity as possible.
The Trust currently provides funding and technical support to in-situ conservation programmes for tigers in India, lemurs in Madagascar and native species here in the UK. The Trust has ambitions to grow its in-situ conservation.
Support Us
Modern science is constantly re-framing our perception of how animals think and feel. This only motivates us to try even harder to improve their well-being. Our animals benefit from the bespoke care of people who then become their friends and family.
One of our most treasured aims as a charity is to give safe and loving forever homes to big cats and other animals. These poor creatures have been abused in circuses and the pet trade all over the world. We rescue and help these animals through the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary. The sanctuary relies heavily on admissions and donations to run and any financial help whether big or small is really appreciated. Here are a few ways that you can help The Wildheart Trust in its fundraising efforts:
Our Trustees
Charlotte Corney
TrusteeCharlottes parents bought the IOW Zoo when she was a baby. She grew up helping to evolve it from the ‘Slum Zoo of Britain’ into a well-respected centre for the care and conservation of animals. Her childhood years were colourfully chaotic leaving her with cherished memories of beach walks with big cats. When university life was calling she accepted an offer to hand-raise a tiger, Zia, who was to secure her commitment to the zoo where she has been based ever since. Her work has taken her to remote Sumatran jungles and the forests of central India. She took over management of the zoo in 2003 when her father passed away. In 2017 her ambition to turn the zoo into a charity was granted with the birth of The Wildheart Trust. In May 2018 she stepped aside from her role as CEO and is now focussing on developing the Trust. She believes that “we are all conservationists at heart and armed with the right knowledge in the head and tools in the hand everyone can take better care of animals and the environment”. Her domestic life is ruled by two giant rabbits, Otto and Abella!
Neil Cummings
TrusteeNeil recently returned to the UK after almost 30 years in Canada and the US where he practised commercial law in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles. He holds law degrees from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Toronto. He and his family have settled on the Isle of Wight, where his partner was born and raised. Neil is thrilled to join the board of the Wildheart Trust and be able to lend his legal and commercial skills to such a worthwhile organisation.
Alexia Fishwick
Trustee“I’ve actively loved wildlife all my life, from running my local nature club at the age of seven to being a Trustee at the Wild Heart Trust forty years later!” says Alexia Fishwick. In between times Alexia studied Humanities at Nottingham Trent University, and completed her Masters in International Communications at London City University. Her thesis explored how Greenpeace exploited the media to change perception of Shell’s disposal of its Brent Spar oil platform. She has worked in marketing for financial services companies in the City of London, and raised two daughters. She frequently travels to observe and study wildlife, and writes about her feelings towards our amazing planet.
Christopher Packham
TrusteeChris is a naturalist, broadcaster and author. When he was knee-high to a grasshopper he fell head over heels for ladybirds and other native animals living in his back garden. He studied Zoology at Southampton University before training as a wildlife film cameraman. As a presenter, it’s now his job to engage audiences on a global scale, mobilising people to take action for wildlife. He is driven by a determination to leave the world having done everything in his power to end the war on wildlife and has recently released the first ‘People’s Manifesto for Wildlife’ which aims to contribute to that cause. He is the vice-president of the RSPB along with a number of other charities and works hard to support them, while independently campaigning on issues such as raptor persecution and the badger cull. He has a miniature poodle, Scratchy, who is the epicentre of his universe.
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Get in Touch
Wildheart Animal Sanctuary is a trading name of The Wildheart Trust, registered in England and Wales.
Company Number: 10238727, Registered Charity Number: 1171144. Registered Office: Wildheart Animal Sanctuary, Sandown, Isle of Wight, PO36 8QB.
Photography Credit: Chris Boyce, Keith Johnson, Charl Bailie; K1 Photography