'We are the voice for these voiceless animals' – Caithness model and her chihuahua brave mountain climb for animal charity
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A Lyth-based model and her tiny dog braved a Wester Ross winter mountain climb in aid of a global animal charity and has so far raised £170.
Over the Valentine's weekend Natalie Oag and her faithful companion, Chihuahua Louis Vuitton, kick-started 2022 with their first charity climb in aid of World Animal Protection (WAP).
"What better challenge than to climb Beinn Eighe, in the Torridon area of Wester Ross, while raising awareness and money for an amazing charity that cares for animals all over the world," said Natalie.
"World Animal Protection make a difference because they never give up fighting and, like myself, they believe we are the voice for these voiceless animals and will not stop until we are heard loud and clear – no animal deserves to be abused at the hands of humans."
Natalie adds that the charity is currently raising funds to help feed elephants from Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary (BLES) that takes its name from an "extraordinary young elephant that fought against adversity from the day it came into the world".
Born several months premature, Boon Lott was transported with his mother to an elephant hospital in northern Thailand where a British woman, Katherine Connor, was a volunteer. Katherine and the elephant calf formed an immediate bond. Boon Loot would face many challenges during his short life, but Katherine never gave up on him.
When Boon Lott finally died, Katherine set about establishing an elephant sanctuary in his honour. That sanctuary is located in 600 hundred acres of forested land north of Si Satchanalai Historical Park in Sukhothai province. Guests at Bles share in all aspects of the elephants’ day to day lives and visitor numbers are kept deliberately low for the benefit of the elephants and the visitors.
"BLES is a fitting testament to Boon Lott and a remarkable achievement by Katherine Connor," adds Natalie.
WAP is also raising awareness and helping bears that are exploited for use in traditional medicine and entertainment purposes. "These poor bears are routinely exploited for bear baiting, bear bile farming and bear dancing. The charity is working to end this abuse once and for all and stop the cruelty that the wildlife trade inflicts on these amazingly intelligent animals, and keep them in the wild where they belong."
The South Korean Ministry of Environment has signed a joint agreement with the Bear Farmers Association and key local animal protection organisations. The agreement sets out a commitment to prohibit bear bile farming and bile extraction from the January 1, 2026 and that the signatories agree to cooperate to humanely conserve and care for the remaining live bears. WAP says it will continue to work to end the bear bile trade in other parts of Asia, Vietnam and China.
Natalie added: "We were very lucky we got a nice day to climb. The going was a little wet but good for this time of year with just some snow on the way up. Louis Vuitton enjoyed the adventure and did us proud, all for a good cause."
Natalie's charity crowdfunder is still open for donations until the end of March and can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/donate/643230410462738/
More info on World Animal Protection can be found at: www.worldanimalprotection.org/
