March 1, 2019

I am proud to stand with Wild Animal Initiative, our staff and Board of Directors, today as we announce the addition of WAI’s Equity Statement to both our personnel and operations policies. As a pioneering organization in this field, we feel a significant responsibility to establish the standard of practice for our operation and the operations of future organizations in this space.

In our commitment to fulfill our mission for wild animals, we must also commit ourselves to honoring and upholding the inherent and tremendous value of all humans that we work alongside. In action, this looks like promoting inclusivity through acknowledging those that ask and inviting those that have not, to be participants at this rapidly expanding table. In doing this, we will increase the effectiveness of our programming and enrich the field of welfare biology. We strongly adhere to the notion that both of these outcomes will aid in diminishing the suffering that animals experience in their environment.

We hope that all of our supporters, current and future, read through our Equity Statement and, of course, we welcome any feedback from our community. Thank you for your continued support of the important and innovative work we do to improve the lives of wild animals.