The unrest that has greeted Kenya's disputed election result has led to many deaths and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. But away from the tragic human cost, the unrest has also provoked concerns about the impact this will have on the wildlife population of Kenya and its surrounding countries.

When civil unrest hits a country, the animal population is often quick to suffer. Declining tourist dollars and the displacement of thousands of people can have a huge impact on the protection of wildlife and the national parks.

Although this is unlikely to impact the mutil-million pound Kenyan tourist industry, there have been examples across the world of civil unrest causing problems to its animal population. In the Congo the Mountain Gorilla has come under repeated pressure and hippo populations are dwindling quickly in Burundi as a combination of civil unrest, lawlessness, and foot shortages have caused hippos to be killed illegally for food. Much of the killing is being done by soldiers who earn extra cash selling the meat to restaurants where middle-class patrons are willing to pay high prices for hippo meat.

Quest has also seen the negative impact that humans have on endangered and rare wildlife first hand at its two animal projects in Malawi and Bolivia.

In Malawi many animals are passed to the Centre after being found injured on roadsides from hit and run incidents. Many are donated to the sanctuary from other zoos that can no longer afford the costs of staying open due to lack of funding.

In Bolivia, Quest's partners, the Inti Wara Yassi Animal Sanctuary are frequently donated animals that have been illegally hunted and saved from the trade in wild animals or have been injured or harmed from the pressure of human population expansion.

The most recent addition to the Bolivia Animal Sanctuary Project is a 5 year old lion called Iskra rescued from a circus. Unfortunately the Sanctuary doesn't have an enclosure for her so she is currently staying in a transportation cage until they can raise enough funds. Our project partners at Inti Wara Yassi have sent out an urgent request for a new cage, any donations would be most welcome, or better still join a Quest team helping to build a new enclosure and working with the animals at the Sanctuary.

Volunteers are also desperately needed to help continue the building work at the Malawi Wildlife Centre which is currently housing hyaena, leopard, monkeys, baboons and servals. The project is now linked with the Born Free Foundation and we are all very excited that 2008 will see some big cats join the residents of the Centre.

Both projects are desperately in need of help from volunteers - so please contact us to find out more - we have teams departing in February, March, April, June, July, August and September.