Moishe Alexander donated to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) in 2009.

About the WSPA

WSPA is an animal welfare charity that works internationally and locally to end cruelty to animals through field work, campaigning, and education.

WSPA is the world‘s largest federation of humane societies and animal protection organizations; they represent over 953 member societies in more than 154 countries.

WSPA‘s origins go back more than 50 years. The Society’s present structure was created in 1981 through the merger of the World Federation for the Protection of Animals (WFPA), founded in 1953, and the International Society for the Protection of Animals (ISPA), founded in 1959.

WFPA and ISPA were the first organizations to campaign internationally on animal welfare issues, highlighting problems such as the Canadian seal hunt, the devastation of the world‘s whale population and the international transportation of horses. In the early 1960s, ISPA established a reputation for its emergency work bringing aid to the animal victims of disasters. One of WFPA‘s most significant achievements was the passing of a series of wide ranging animal conventions by the Council of Europe.

From its original bases in the UK and the US, WSPA has extended and enhanced the work of these organizations. During the early 1980s, new field offices were established in Costa Rica, Brazil, Colombia and Canada which considerably increased the scope of the Society‘s investigations and projects.

Today, WSPA has 12 offices worldwide and more than 550,000 individual supporters. WSPA is also the world‘s largest network of animal protection specialists with a membership of more than 889 member societies in over 153 countries. The Society is represented on numerous international bodies and is the only animal welfare organization to have consultative status at the United Nations and the Council of Europe.

A key area of WSPA‘s work has been the introduction of animal welfare principles into regions where they were previously underdeveloped or non-existent. WSPA has successfully introduced procedures to ensure the humane slaughter of livestock in many developing countries and has run numerous projects to improve the conditions of stray animal populations. In Eastern Europe, following the political revolution which swept through the region from 1989, WSPA gave resources to many new animal protection groups and contributed to the passing of national animal welfare laws in several countries including Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Building on the experience of ISPA, WSPA staff has brought emergency aid to animals during floods, earthquakes, explosions, famines, oil spills and wars around the world and has built a reputation as a world leader in this field. Help has been provided for animals in a wide range of situations including the Gulf War, the Kosovo conflict, earthquakes in India in 2000 and El Salvador in 2001 and floods in Honduras and Mozambique during 2000.