GAP Project participated this last weekend (December 4 to 6) of the IV WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) National Convention. The event was promoted in Belo Horizonte city and gathered animal protection NGOs from all over Brazil, which had the opportunity to do a balance of the breakthroughs achieved in animal protection and to indicate the next steps to be taken by the group.

The highlights of the event were the signature of a document with the official position of the affiliated entities about the problem of Leishmania, the participation of the Colombian veterinary Nestor Calderon, who talked about ethology, and the presentation of the biologist Gabriela Landau, who talked about environment enrichment for wild animals.

Other highlight was the presence of Mike Baker, WSPA International Director, who talked about his ideas to the organization and pointed the importance of the NGOs to inform WSPA about their needs and indicate which questions they consider to be crucial for the success of the animal welfare work.

In the last day of the event, GAP together with the other NGOs affiliated to WSPA that work with wild animals – Associação Mata Ciliar, Projeto Mucky, Convidas and SOS Fauna – delivered a document to the director asking officially for the creation of a specific department of wild animals in WSPA Brasil. The document explained the need of the department pointing two main problems faced today in Brazil: illegal trade and poaching of native wild animals and the protection of exotic wild animals that are confiscated from circuses.