Our Charity of the Year

How are Drusillas supporting conservation?

Drusillas is committed to their support of global animal conservation efforts, and continues to work both locally and overseas towards the goal of species preservation.

As part of that commitment, we are in the process of launching our own conservation charity - Drusillas Conservation in Action - which will empower us to support even more projects around the world.

Here are some of the conservation projects we currently support each year:

The Sloth Conservation Foundation

The Sloth Conservation Foundation (SloCo) aims to protect sloths in the wild and have developed a range of community-based strategies that provide sustainable ways in which humans and sloths can coexist peacefully.

Sloth populations are in decline throughout South and Central America as they struggle to adapt to the urbanisation of the rainforest. Saving the world’s slowest mammal from extinction now requires innovative and long-term conservation solutions that target both human and sloth populations. SloCo was founded in 2017 by sloth researcher Dr. Rebecca Cliffe and envisions a resilient and secure future where sloth populations thrive and are sustained by healthy and connected forests.

Drusillas has proudly supported SloCo since 2020 when we launched our Conservation Chairty of the Year initiative. Initially the plan was to nominate a new conservation charity each year, offering them our focused support, but our team's deep connection to sloths and the overwhelmingly positive response from visitors and supporters made for such a wonderful partnership we just had to continue helping SloCo's mission - and so they remain as our key conservation partner to this day. We have raised more than £17,000 for SloCo through various fundraisers.

Donate to SloCo

The key SloCo projects that Drusillas has raised money and awareness for are:

After years working remotely with the SloCo team, Drusillas recently furthered their support by way of conservation outreach - an opportunity to see first-hand the threats facing sloths in the wild so we can better support SloCo here in the UK. Our team travelled 5,000 miles to the province of Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica to spend 10 days in the jungle and immerse themselves in the world of wild sloths and how best to ensure their future survival. The trip was a huge success, cementing the relationship and deepening our understanding of the plight of sloths in the wild. Read about our trip to Costa Rica below.

Saving Sloths in Costa Rica

Lion Tamarins of Brazil Fund

The Lion Tamarins of Brazil Fund raises money towards research being carried out in Brazil for these endangered primates. The research is fundamental in conserving these beautifully bright tamarins and we are proud to have raised over £16,000 so far. These funds go towards securing and protecting areas of forest and sponsoring local conservationists in Brazil.

Donate to GLTs

Maasai

Since 1996, we have raised over £84,000 to help support wildlife and education programmes in Kenya. Re-launched in 2010, the Drusillas in Africa project provides grants for young Maasai students to obtain a formal qualification in Nature Conservation, which can be used to support them in research work into endangered species such as the Grevy’s zebra. We are currently supporting 31-year-old Kenyan student Enrita Naanyu Lesoloyia to undertake a Masters degree in Environment and Community Development.

Falkland Island Penguin Appeal

Drusillas supports the Falkland Island Penguin Appeal. This appeal supports fieldwork which monitors penguin species on the island and to date we’ve raised over £13,000. The fieldwork involves analysing numbers and breeding success. Habitat destruction is of great concern and the charity works with Governments to secure safe nesting areas for the birds.

Donate to penguins

The Discovery Centre

The importance of conservation is highlighted at Drusillas in the Discovery Centre. At weekends and during school holidays, Drusillas volunteers bring out an array of animal artefacts for visitors to see and touch. Many of the artefacts come from endangered species and are on loan from HM Revenue & Customs, so they can be used to raise awareness and educate. These artefacts are also used in some education sessions for school groups.

Fundraising Ticket Requests

At Drusillas, we receive a huge number of free ticket requests from so many wonderful charities and causes, such as this one. We would love to be able to help everyone, but to allocate our resources fairly we have created some criteria as follows:

We can only send free tickets to registered charities, schools, and uniformed groups for their fundraisers, bona fide fetes and Christmas fayres, provided they are within East or West Sussex, Kent or Surrey.
Requests must be on official headed paper with details of the relevant event and with an A5 stamped addressed envelope with the official address enclosed. Please note that we cannot reply to a personal address at all.
We provide two free child (under 16) tickets to Drusillas which are eligible to be used at any time of the year* but they require each free ticket person to be accompanied by another person paying the full entrance price. * the only days these tickets cannot be used are our costume character days. Please check our website for dates.

If your event fits these criteria, please send your request and a stamped addressed envelope to:

Drusillas Park

Alfriston

East Sussex

BN26 5QS