Youngster chooses ‘save animals’ instead of birthday presents
Seven-year-old Ville loves capybaras. Having learnt that some capybaras are snatched from the wild to feed the growing exotic pet trade, rather than birthday presents, he knew he wanted to act to help them. Then he did something amazing. Rather than receive birthday presents, he asked all his friends to donate to TRAFFIC's work to stop the illegal wildlife trade. A huge thank you from us all at TRAFFIC. Capybara photo by Charles Kinsey.
Like many children, seven-year-old Ville loves animals. His favourite is the Capybara, a large, sociable – and admittedly very cute – rodent from South America.
His family, who live in China, often talk about how human behaviour impacts nature and the world around us. When his birthday came around this year, Ville said he would like to save animals rather than receive birthday presents.
For his seventh birthday, Ville wanted to help capybaras, his favourite animal.
When we looked for organisations working on this, we found a TRAFFIC article explaining how capybaras are victims of the exotic pet trade—something we didn’t know. Ville felt it was important to help them stay with their families in the wild. We shared his wish with his friends, who all donated as his gift.”
Gina Caballero, Ville's mother
The result was a generous £200 donation to TRAFFIC to help stop the illegal trade in wildlife.
Gina added: “We began donating on our kids’ birthdays after realising how easy it is to buy things without considering their environmental impact. Our children often received more toys than they could play with, so we spoke to them about how human actions contribute to climate change and biodiversity loss. Together, we decided they would choose a cause to support instead of receiving gifts.”
Andrea Diez de Sollano, Director of Development for TRAFFIC, said:
We were so moved to hear about Ville’s generous and thoughtful donation.
His actions are a reminder that everyone – big or small - can help save wildlife.
Thank you to Ville and family! TRAFFIC is honoured to have been chosen to receive Ville’s birthday donation, and it makes us even more determined to do everything we can to stop illegal wildlife trade and protect nature.”
If you would like to join Ville and donate to help stop illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade, please visit our website Capybara Donate - TRAFFIC .
Capybara photo by Charles Kinsey.
