On March 14, 2019, The Lion’s Share Fund announced Humane Society International as its partner working on animal welfare projects around the world. The announcement was made at the One Planet Summit in Nairobi. Read the press release.

About The Lion’s Share Fund

The Lion’s Share is a unique initiative that aims to raise $100 million per year over the next three years for wildlife conservation and animal welfare by asking companies to contribute 0.5 per cent of their media spend every time animal imagery — whether real, animated or CGI — is used in their advertising campaigns. Ten percent of The Lion’s Share Fund will be invested in animal welfare projects.

Founders of The Lion’s Share include FINCH, Mars, Incorporated, Clemenger BBDO, Nielsen, and the United Nations Development Programme. Global outdoor advertising giant JCDecaux joined The Lion’s Share as another corporate partner at the One Planet Summit. For more information on the Lion’s Share Fund, visit www.thelionssharefund.com.

HSI’s involvement in The Lion’s Share

As the animal welfare partner in The Lion’s Share, Humane Society International will address dog and cat homelessness under the following framework:

• Engaging communities to address the issue of street animals in neighborhoods with a high density of free-roaming dogs;
• Expanding veterinary training to enhance skills for conducting high-quality, high-volume spay and neuter surgery where it is needed most, thereby reducing the global population of homeless animals;
• Supporting actions to address the nexus between wildlife and domesticated animals, including disease transmission that threatens wildlife populations.

Examples of HSI programs that The Lion’s Share plans to support:

Bhutan — Spay/Neuter and Community Engagement: Since 2009, HSI has partnered with the Bhutanese government in a long-term dog management program to spay/neuter 70% of all free roaming animals. Having successfully achieved this goal, HSI will work with the Bhutan government to provide veterinary care and spay/neuter surgeries to privately owned pets, thereby completing the nation-wide dog management objective, improving the lives of pet dogs and promoting responsible pet ownership. Read about our recent work in Bhutan.

Bolivia — Spay/Neuter Clinics: Bolivia is one of the few countries in Latin America still struggling to manage the spread of rabies, with high street dog populations and few programs to humanely and effectively reduce populations. HSI worked with local veterinarians and government officials to establish a spay/neuter program nearly five years ago that has since expanded in scale and veterinary outreach. The HSI program will establish a training program specifically designed for government officials and veterinarians tasked with the reduction of rabies and the management of the dog and cat population in their cities.

Mauritius — Spay/Neuter and Community Engagement: An island-wide street dog culling was in place until HSI partnered with the government and started a humane pilot street dog management program in selected tourism areas, reaching 10,000 dogs over a year. With support from Lion’s Share, this program will be expanded in 2020 to all other regions of the island. Working closely with the local government, HSI will focus on community engagement to help improve the treatment of dogs and the human-animal bond, while at the same time providing critical spay/neuter services island-wide. Read about our recent work in Mauritius.

Vaccinations in Philippines: Philippines has one of the highest rates of rabies in the world, with a high-rate of free roaming dogs and high-density populations. In partnership with the national government, HSI started a mass rabies vaccination program in two of the highest rabies incidence cities in the country. To date, over 200,000 dogs have been vaccinated with a goal to reach at least 50,000 more. With Lion’s Share support, the program will be expanded beyond the two regions to reach all of the highest incidence areas of the country, helping hundreds of thousands of dogs and the communities where they live. Read about our recent work in the Philippines.

South Korea Adoption and Training Center: HSI is working to introduce an adoption and training center to offer a model for the care, sheltering and adoption of dogs in South Korea. HSI is focused on a solution to offer unwanted dogs in South Korea a second chance at a better life, and to build capacity in-country for a sustainable, healthy and well-cared for companion animal population modeled after successful rescue and shelter programs in other countries.