Following the Presidential address by His Excellency the President of Uganda on the COVID -19 pandemic where he declared the national lockdown, Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre (UWEC) responded and closed to the public effective Friday, 12 March, 2020
Much as we take great pride in the diligent enforcement of high sanitary regulations and respiratory etiquette to mitigate the spread of corona virus, closing was an important measure to help slow the spread of the disease in our community. The pandemic is unimaginable and beyond comprehension and just like humans, animals have pressing needs such as food that need to be provided at all times.
Amidst the national lockdown, our animal care givers have camped at UWEC to ensure that the needs of 291 animals are catered for. Around 40 staff are onsite including; animal care givers, veterinary staff and facilities staff have a task to sustain operations and welfare of the animals. The animal care routine remains unchanged.
UWEC houses reptiles, carnivores, hoof stocks, birds, and primates. We seek for assistance because we incur high costs of animal care without any visitor entrance income. The funds from gate collections and other innovations at UWEC such as restaurants, accommodation facilities and special wildlife programs have been funding all the operations at the Centre and now no more. We face continued uncertainty about when we could reopen the gates and operate normally.
While the government of Uganda through the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities funds a portion of our annual budget, however we rely on the support from generous hearts to build new animal enclosures/exhibits , develop conservation education curriculum materials, conduct animal rescues around the country, community outreaches , conduct research, and skill the wildlife ambassadors.
Your generosity today will make a difference at UWEC to continue promoting wildlife conservation. If you would like to reach out to us, we are open to emergency financial assistance via https://payments.pesapal.com/uwec
for questions and additional information please call +256 788 788456 or please email: info@uwec.go.ug