2023-12-31-accounts

ACHIEVEMENTS FOR ANIMALS HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL UNITED KINGDOM 2023 Annual Report Ill

Contents

Amazing success in South Korea

In a historic announcement, the South Korean government stated that it would introduce a bill to ban the dog meat industry. HSI is at the forefront of ending this cruelty. Since 2015, we have closed 18 dog farms across the country, rescuing over 2,700 dogs and working with the farmers to transition them to animal-friendly livelihoods.

Contents
	Page
Welcome from our Chair of Trustees	5
Welcome from our Executive Director	6
Snapshot of our achievements for animals in 2023	7
Our goals and impact in depth	10
Securing stronger legal protections and standards for animals in the UK	10
Protecting wildlife	14
Protecting companion animals	20
Reducing the number of animals suffering on farms	23
Promoting the development and use of non-animal methods in research and testing	29
Disaster response and rescue	33
General	33
Media communications, celebrity engagement and online support engagement	33
Governance and policies	34
Organisational structure	35
Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities	35
Public benefit	35
Remuneration policy	36
Risk management	36
Grant giving policy statement	37
Commitment to responsible fundraising and personal data protection	37
Our team	37
Financial review	38
Overview of financial position	38
Approach to revenue generation	39
Reserves policy	42
Going concern	42
Plans for future periods	45
Statement of financial activities	46
Balance sheet	47
Statement of cash flows	48
Notes to the financial statements	49
Independent auditor’s report	56

Chair of Trustees’ welcome: what we do and who we are

As Chair of The Humane Society International (UK) (HSI/UK), I am thrilled to introduce our 2023 Annual Report, highlighting our efforts over the past year to advance the welfare of animals. HSI/UK is a part of our global organisation, operating in over 50 countries promoting the human-animal bond, rescuing and protecting dogs and cats, enhancing farmed animal welfare, safeguarding wildlife, advocating for animal-free testing and research, responding to disasters and confronting cruelty in all its forms.

In 2023, with the invaluable support of our donors and advocates, we continued our mission to create a kinder and more humane world for all animals. We take pride in the progress made through partnerships with governments, organisations and communities who share our goal of improving the lives of animals.

This year we celebrated significant milestones, including the South Korean Government’s announcement that they plan to ban the dog meat industry – progress fuelled by the power of collective action and advocacy.

Moreover, in the United Kingdom, we witnessed the passing of the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill into law and the tabling of the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill. Bans on cruel rodent glue traps were also introduced and passed across the UK nations.

Our commitment to confronting cruelty and championing respect and compassion for animals remains unwavering. As we anticipate the challenges and opportunities of the future, I extend my deepest gratitude to our supporters for their steadfast dedication. It is through your continued generosity and advocacy that we can continue to make a difference in the lives of animals worldwide.

CRISTOBEL ‘KITTY’ BLOCK, CHAIR OF TRUSTEES, HSI/UK

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Executive Director’s welcome

As I look back on the past year, I’m incredibly proud of the progress we have made for animals. But I’m also deeply aware of the urgency in realising our vision for a world where all animals are treated with compassion and respect.

The global landscape provides a vivid reminder of the challenges ahead. Animals face many threats, from cruelty and exploitation to the impacts of wars, disasters and industrialised farming. However, amidst these challenges, there is cause for hope.

In South Korea, the government’s monumental announcement that it plans to outlaw the sale and consumption of dog meat was a huge victory for animals. After a decade-long campaign, this achievement underscores the power of persistence in realising change and the unwavering dedication of our global team, who advocate for those without a voice.

As we commemorated the 20th anniversary of the UK’s pioneering ban on fur farming, we also confronted the troubling double standard that allows the importation of fur into the UK - effectively outsourcing cruelty to overseas farms. Our investigation into fur farms in China exposed appalling suffering. We celebrated Harvey Nichols’ announcement that it is going fur-free following the release of our investigation, but we will not stop until we see a truly Fur Free Britain and an end to the fur trade globally.

Our efforts to combat the suffering of animals in industrialised farming include promoting plant-based menus to reduce the demand for animal products: we collaborated with food service providers, universities and the Ministry of Defence to get more plants on plates. Our ‘Crate Escape’ campaign targets the abolition of farrowing crates, small cages that subject mother pigs to physical and mental suffering. We believe such methods have no place in UK farming. I’m excited to see how we progress with this campaign in 2024.

We also advocated for an end to hunting trophy imports. Two bills were introduced to Parliament in 2023, with MPs and Peers quoting HSI’s evidence in debates. While the first bill did not pass the House of Lords, we remain committed to the success of the second bill, which was carried forward into 2024. We firmly believe that the killing of wildlife for ‘fun’ has no place in a compassionate society.

With your support, we are confident in our ability to create positive change for animals. I am inspired by the boundless energy and dedication of the HSI team. Together, with your support, we will tirelessly champion a world of kindness and respect for all sentient beings.

I hope you find inspiration in our annual report.

NICK JONES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HSI/UK

Snapshot of our achievements for animals in 2023

HSI/UK’s impact for animals was achieved through four key mechanisms: changing laws; changing corporate practices; education and research; and providing direct care to animals in need. A summary of our achievements in these areas, across all of our campaigns, is presented here.

ɋ A government bill to ban live exports was introduced, following high-profile public campaigning by HSI/UK and other leading animal protection organisations.

ɋ As a Steering Group member of the ‘Time for Change’ coalition, we helped secure Labour’s commitment to strengthen the Hunting Act if elected.

Changing laws and policies for animals

ɋ We represented the interests of sentient animals at the party conference of all major UK political parties, with over 100 positive engagements held with politicians.

ɋ The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act came into force on 25th May, following a multi-year campaign co-led by HSI/UK.

ɋ We presented at a Ministry of Defence (MOD) working lunch in Whitehall on World Vegan Day, engaging positively with leading MOD personnel responsible for climate, sustainability, DEI and health.

ɋ Following public pressure and expert testimony including from HSI/UK, the Welsh Government enacted a full ban on glue traps and snares.

ɋ The Online Safety Bill was passed and, following lobbying by HSI/UK and other organisations, included an amendment to include animal cruelty in the scope of priority prohibited content.

ɋ With media and public campaigning support from HSI/UK, Lithuania made the decision to become the 20th country to ban fur farming.

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Snapshot of our achievements for animals in 2023

Snapshot of our achievements for animals in 2023

ɋ Responding to a 70,000 signature e-petition launched by HSI/ UK, the Government confirmed that it will retain existing fur import bans (on fur from cats, dogs and seals).

ɋ At three Parliamentary events co-ordinated by HSI/UK, more than 60 MPs and Peers showed their support for a fur import ban, and Labour gave its strong commitment for a ban.

ɋ Two bills to ban imports of hunting trophies were introduced to Parliament, with MPs and Peers quoting our evidence in debates. The first bill was approved by the Commons; the second was carried forward into 2024.

ɋ The Belgian Government committed to ban imports of hunting trophies.

ɋ Jakarta banned the dog and cat meat trade following campaigning by the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition, which HSI/UK helps fund.

ɋ Trading in dog meat was banned at Tomohon market, following HSI/UK-funded campaigning by the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition and Animal Friends Manaus Indonesia.

ɋ Following a 10-year campaign supported by HSI/UK, the South Korean Government introduced a bill to ban the dog meat industry.

Corporate advocacy and impact

ɋ Our exposé of the conditions on Chinese fur farms led Harvey Nichols to announce it was adopting a fur-free policy.

ɋ Luxury online retailer MatchesFashion went fur-free following our advocacy engagement.

ɋ Our Environmental Impact Assessment for Oxford Brookes University showed plant-based procurement changes made following our Forward Food engagement have reduced their food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 28% and taken hundreds of animals off menus.

ɋ We launched our ‘EatKind in restaurants’ partnership during World Vegan Month (November), producing and distributing educational materials and encouraging diners to sign our pledge to ‘EatKind’ for people, animals and the planet.

Photos (clockwise from top left): Forward Food workshop. #FurFreeBritain Parliamentary reception. HSI/UK at the Restore Nature Now rally. Celebrity Will Young at our Animals Matter stand at the Labour Party conference. HSI team rescuing dogs in South Korea. Demonstration outside Downing Street.

Training, educating and research

ɋ Our sponsorship of the annual Wildlife and Rural Crime Conference facilitated critical conversations between enforcement agencies towards better prevention and detection of wildlife crimes.

ɋ We chaired a Public Policy Exchange webinar on ‘Raising animal welfare standards in the UK’ attended by 40+ individuals from key stakeholder groups, including civil servants and veterinarians.

ɋ We provided training in Bolivia to improve the spay/neuter skills of dozens of Latin American veterinarians and veterinary technicians.

ɋ We developed and delivered a masterclass in plant-based cooking and menu development for Sodexo Continental Europe, and we signed an MOU with the company to support its plantforward menu commitments.

ɋ We delivered plant-based culinary training for 15 chefs from catering company Baxter Storey’s Level 5 Academy at Woodspeen Cookery School.

ɋ We ran a culinary demonstration and panel session, ‘Changing the Culture of Food on University Menus’, at Plant-Based World Expo Europe, an event attended by 3,700 delegates.

ɋ We ran culinary trainings for 30 chefs at the Food Service Training wing of the Ministry of Defence, involving members of the MOD Vegan and Vegetarian Network in a tasting and discussion session with chefs to promote more inclusive, climate- and animal-friendly menus for military personnel.

Direct animal care and rescue

ɋ Our support facilitated the rescue of 25 dogs and cats from the Tomohon market slaughterhouse closure in Indonesia.

ɋ HSI/UK staff were part of the team that closed our 18th dog meat farm in South Korea, rescuing all 200 dogs.

ɋ Our grant in support of expansion of the RSPCA’s pet food bank programme helped enable the distribution of over one million daily pet meals, and delivery of 11 ‘Community paws’ events to provide welfare advice and veterinary vouchers at food banks to over 500 pets and their owners.

ɋ Our Chile veterinary support and training programme has so far provided care to 45,000 dogs.

ɋ Veterinary services were provided to hundreds of dogs in Romania.

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Snapshot of our achievements for animals in 2023

Snapshot of our achievements for animals in 2023

Our Forward Food programme has successfully trained hundreds of chefs to put more plants and fewer animals on plates.

Our goals and impact in depth

HSI/UK’s programmatic work in 2023 consisted of a mixture of campaigns to address animal welfare issues in the UK, and support for global animal protection campaigns and programmes. In supporting global campaigns and programmes, we worked in close collaboration with our overseas affiliates, including HSI in the US. Our programmatic work was organised under six areas:

• i ecuring stronger legal protections and standards for animals in the UK

• ii ackling wildlife trade and promoting safe and humane human-wildlife co-existence

• iii Ending the dog meat trade and protecting street animals

• iv Stopping animals from suffering on farms

• v romoting the development and use of non-animal methods in research and testing

• vi Coming to the aid of animals in disasters

Securing stronger legal protections and standards for animals in the UK

Need and scope

Politicians often describe the UK as a ‘world leader in animal welfare’ yet there are many areas where legal protections for animals are lacking or inconsistent, as well as considerable problems with enforcement. We played a leadership role in the animal protection sector and worked with other leading animal protection organisations to identify and act upon opportunities to create new and stronger laws to protect animals in the UK.

Photo (above): Demonstration staged outside Downing Street.

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Our goals and impact in depth

Our goals and impact in depth

Goal

Strengthen legal protections for animals in the UK and achieve recognition of animal sentience in UK law.

Key activities and outputs

We were one of five animal protection organisations invited to act as consulted stakeholders on the development of the new Animal Sentience Committee and attended several meetings with the Chair of the Committee, providing input into the Committee’s consultation to develop its workplan and priorities.

and we achieved media coverage on this development in the Guardian, BBC and other outlets.

We were invited by Defra, along with the pest control industry and academics, to attend stakeholder meetings to help shape the licensing scheme for the new ban on the use of rodent glue traps. While the industry sought permissive (class) licensing, we made a strong case for individual licensing only in exceptional, defined circumstances, with the Government’s decision expected in early 2024. We also lobbied Welsh Ministers in support of the Government introducing a complete ban on glue traps and snares in Wales.

As a result of the strong media and social media discourse we helped create around the loss of the Bill, and our mobilisation of over 10,000 compassionate citizens writing to their MPs, the Government was compelled to make strong commitments in Parliament to bring back the measures in the Bill as singleissue Bills.

As a member of the Time For Change coalition, we participated in various campaign activities calling for the ban on hunting with dogs to be strengthened, and to eliminate the ‘smokescreen’ of trail hunting.

Alongside colleagues from other leading animal protection charities, we led and delivered high-profile campaigning efforts to save the Kept Animals Bill, including organising a celebrity letter to the Prime Minister led by Dame Joanna Lumley, a media stunt at Downing Street, and an open letter from 25 charities. Despite all this the Bill, which contained measures to ban live exports and ban the keeping of primates as pets amongst others, was officially dropped by Government on 25th May. Our quote, calling it ‘an astonishing betrayal’ was picked up by more than 20 media outlets, including the Times, BBC, Independent, Guardian and ITV. We then campaigned to have the Bill brought back, co-ordinating a statement from 18 organisations in support, and working with cross-party MPs to help them prepare speeches for Parliamentary debates. Disappointingly, the Government rejected this attempt,

We were invited by Defra to provide a detailed response on the Government’s proposed licensing regime to govern the keeping of primates as pets. We submitted written and oral evidence, highlighting in particular concerns over feasibility of enforcement by already stretched local authorities. We also wrote with other organisations to the Environment Secretary to protest and provide evidence against the Government’s new ‘epidemiological culling’ of badgers.

We reacted swiftly to the opportunity to call for inclusion of content showing cruelty to animals within scope of the Online Safety Bill. We wrote several letters to the UK government, in

The sustained public and media pressure we created helped lead the Government to introduce a new Bill to ban live exports in December.

partnership with other NGOs, and prepared briefings and speaking notes for MPs to advocate in support of this amendment during the Bill’s passage through Parliament.

We also reacted to plans to build the world’s first octopus farm, joining with 25 other organisations to write to the UK Environment Minister to urge the Government to put pressure on Spain to stop the farm from being established in the Canary Islands, and to commit to prohibit imports of farmed octopus products. We were invited by the Daily Express to offer a comment when a gruesome Faroes whale hunt was witnessed by shocked cruise ship passengers.

HSI/UK both sponsored and attended the 34th annual Wildlife and Rural Crime Conference, attended by representatives from the police, government agencies and NGOs – to facilitate a partnership working together and sharing best practices to protect wildlife.

We joined with other NGOs to produce a new report looking at how animal welfare protections have changed since Brexit, which was released to press and sent to Ministers and shadow ministers. Our public affairs director was invited to chair a Public Policy Exchange webinar on raising animal welfare standards in the UK, attended by 40+ individuals from key stakeholder groups, including civil servants and veterinarians.

We began the process of advocacy to influence manifesto content, ahead of the upcoming 2024 general election. This included drafting of a written response to Labour’s National Forum Policy consultation, including advocacy for stronger wildlife laws, animal welfare integration in trade policy, and promotion of growth and innovation in the alternative protein sector; we also held meetings with the Green Party’s policy team.

For the second year running, we joined with three other leading animal protection organisations to hold an ‘Animals Matter’ stand at Labour and Conservative Party conferences, and we also attended the Liberal Democrat and Green Party conferences. Our presence at conferences secured over 100 positive direct engagements with politicians, including the Environment Secretary, Shadow Environment Secretary, Party Chairs, the Prime Minister’s wife and celebrities Will Young and Suzy Eddie Izzard.

Impact

ɋ The Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act came into force on 25th May, and the Animal Sentience Committee was announced on the same day.

ɋ We celebrated the Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Bill becoming law in September.

ɋ In October we celebrated when, following public pressure and expert testimony from HSI/UK and others, the Welsh Government enacted a full ban on glue traps and snares.

ɋ Following a number of letters to the Government urging the inclusion of animals in the scope of the Online Safety Bill this was acted on by Government, when it agreed to support an amendment to include animal cruelty offences.

ɋ Despite the Government’s extremely disappointing dropping of the Kept Animals Bill, the sustained public and media pressure we created helped lead the Government to introduce a new Bill to ban live exports in December.

ɋ As a result in part from pressure from the Time For Change coalition, for which HSI/UK sits on the steering committee, Labour publicly confirmed its intention to strengthen Hunting Act, if elected to Government, at Labour Party conference.

ɋ Sponsored a successful Wildlife and Rural Crime conference, which facilitated critical conversations between enforcement agencies towards better prevention and detection of wildlife crimes.

ɋ Animal welfare effectively represented at a stand and side events at all main Party conferences, with more than 100 positive engagements made with politicians.

Photos (opposite page top):

Suzy Eddie Izzard with HSI at our Animals Matter stand at the Labour Party conference.

Photo (above left to right):

Joint Parliamentary event calling for a ban on live exports with George Eustice MP. HSI’s senior wildlife campaigns manager attends National Wildlife Crime conference.

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Our goals and impact in depth

Our goals and impact in depth

In recent years it has become clear that fur farming not only inflicts extreme and unacceptable suffering on animals, it also presents a significant public health risk. Keeping thousands of animals in cramped, dirty cages on fur farms, coming into contact with humans and at times other animals such as birds, provides the perfect conditions for the mutation and spread of zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19 and avian influenza.

Fur farming is also an environmentally damaging industry. Keeping and feeding millions of carnivorous animals typically fed on a diet of chicken and fish results in a high carbon footprint, and can in no way be described as a sustainable or efficient use of resources. Additionally, the waste produced by animals on fur farms can cause significant water pollution, and the use of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals to treat furs to prevent them from rotting also poses a risk to both the environment and workers.

Protecting wildlife

Overview

Our campaigns to protect wildlife were focused in 2023 on the fur trade and trophy hunting.

Wildlife: Fur Free Britain campaign

Need and scope

Fur farming has been banned across the UK since 2003, on animal welfare grounds, but since then the UK has effectively been outsourcing that same cruelty from overseas. Although the trade in cat and dog fur, and seal fur from commercial hunts is already prohibited, the equivalent of over one million animals’ worth of fur from other species (primarily fox, mink, and raccoon dog) is imported to the UK each year.

Photos (clockwise top to bottom): Celebrities and MPs joined us at our #FurFreeBritain Parliamentary reception in January 2023. We held a screening and panel event in Parliament drawing attention to the cruelty of fur and the environmental impacts of the trade. Photos (opposite page): Our #FurFreeBritain ad campaign, which ran online and on digital billboards in Westminster (pictured here with various supportive MPs) and across London.

Working with our allies in the Fur Free Alliance, HSI is leading the global campaign to end the cruel, unnecessary and dangerous fur trade. Our campaign is driven and underpinned by gathering and presenting fresh evidence and insights of the cruelty and risks of the fur trade. By mobilising the public, engaging politicians and companies, and sharing the plight of fur-bearing animals in the press, we are building public, political and corporate support for a #FurFreeBritain. Britain would then be the first country in the world to fully ban the import and sale of animal fur, following the example set by the US State of California, setting an extremely important precedent globally and eliminating a market for more than one million animals each year.

Goal

End the import and sale of animal fur in the UK, contributing to HSI’s global goal of ending fur farming and commercial trapping.

Key activities and outputs

To mark the 20th anniversary of the UK becoming the first country in the world to ban fur farming, we partnered with Fur Free Britain coalition partners to hold a Parliamentary reception. The event allowed us to screen new investigation footage of fur farms in China, and was attended by 37 MPs and Peers, plus celebrity supporter Pete Wicks. A range of cross-party MPs gave speeches backing our campaign, including Shadow Environment Minister, Daniel Zeichner MP.

Our new footage and images of fur farms in China showed foxes and raccoon dogs suffering in barren wire cages little bigger than their bodies, many exhibiting stereotypical behaviours. We secured a prominent media exposé in The Mirror, which also included evidence of fur from China being sold at Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

Political support for our Fur Free Britain campaign grew in 2023; we secured 26 written questions from cross-party MPs and Peers urging the Government to release the results of the 2021 Call for Evidence on the UK fur trade, in addition to questions on Government oversight and action regarding outbreaks of avian influenza on fur farms in Finland. In May, we worked with Tracey Crouch MP to secure signatures from 53 MPs on a letter to the Defra Secretary of State calling for publication of Call for Evidence and a ban on fur sales.

We uncovered Freedom of Information data regarding the Call for Evidence showing 96% of the 30,000 respondents agreed it was wrong to kill animals for fur, and confirmation that in 2021 the Government was planning to take forward a ban on fur imports and sales. We used this information to call on the

Minister to release the findings raising further support through press coverage and written Parliamentary questions.

In June we secured two more parliamentary events focused on fur. The first was a screening of the film ‘Slay’ exposing the impact of fashion on animals, combined with the launch of our new report ‘Fur’s Dirty Footprint’ quantifying the environmental harm caused by fur farming. TV and radio personality Kirsty Gallacher spoke at launch, and it was covered by The Mirror’s Environment Editor. Our educational animation was shared widely on social media.

The second event was a Westminster Hall debate on the UK fur trade, led by Conservative MP Giles Watling. Mr Watling told MPs and the Minister: “we must look beyond our shores and ensure that we are not perpetuating the infliction of cruelty overseas, by trading in cruel products like fur.”

The Parliamentary e-petition we launched in support of legislation to stop fur imports and sales was backed by several celebrities including in a video from Ricky Gervais, and enabled almost 70,000 people to show their support for a ban.

We were invited to meet with the Chair of the Animal Welfare Committee (AWC) and Defra team to discuss the Committee’s formal review of fur trade and fur sourcing, and began preparing a dossier of evidence for submission to the AWC.

To help highlight the pandemic disease risks of fur farming, we collaborated with British virologists at Imperial College to promote a damning editorial published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, warning that mink fur farms could provide the optimum conditions for avian influenza to mutate and make the jump to humans, potentially leading to

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Our goals and impact in depth

We met with the sustainability managers of some of the last remaining high-profile fur retailers in the UK to discuss their companies’ evolving policies on fur products, and provided evidence on animal welfare, environment and human health risks as well as corporate and financial risk. We also met with Selfridges’ new sustainability team to discuss the fur-free campaign and wider animal welfare/sustainability/next generation materials issues.

We developed a positive dialogue with fur retailer MatchesFashion, sharing evidence of the animal welfare and environmental problems inherent to the fur trade, and convinced it to remove real fur items from its website, and confirm in writing a fur-free commitment.

Impact

the next global pandemic. We secured press coverage of the article, including in the Daily Express, and HSI was interviewed for several publications highlighting pandemic risk and new avian flu outbreaks in Finland (including The Pathologist). We also responded to the Science & Technology Committee’s Call for Evidence on emerging diseases and learnings from Covid-19.

We met with two financial Institutions to begin dialogue towards adoption of policy to disinvest from fur the industry, and also presented on the damage caused to nature by the fur trade to around 50 companies at a meeting of the ‘Finance for Biodiversity initiative’.

We continued to raise public and political awareness of the cruelty of the fur trade, including by running a series of adverts titled ‘Cruelty to Declare’ for a four-week period in November/ December at 12 venues across the West End of London (broadcast approximately 3 million times); in Westminster tube station (broadcast approximately 250,000 times); and in a number of key political journals (400,000 impressions). We also ran the adverts on social media, which received over 388,000 impressions, 30,000 post engagements and 12,500 new petition signatures towards our goal of reaching 1.5 million petition signatures for a Fur Free Britain.

Our fur experts supported the anti-fur campaigning underway by our European colleagues, including through attending and speaking at a roundtable event in the Romanian Parliament to help champion the passage of a ban on chinchilla and mink fur farming there; the event received prominent and positive national news coverage in Romania. We also secured UK media coverage of a new investigation showing animals suffering in Lithuanian fur farms, in support of the campaign to secure a ban on fur farming there.

ɋ Following our Daily Mirror media exclusive highlighting the poor conditions on fur farms in China, Harvey Nichols announced it would be going fur-free; we welcomed this decision in various media articles, including The Telegraph, Drapers and The Industry Fashion.

ɋ British luxury online retailer MatchesFashion confirmed its new no-fur policy.

ɋ Lithuania became the 20th country to ban fur farming, following a campaign supported by the Fur Free Alliance including Humane Society International.

ɋ E-petition calling for a Fur Free Britain concluded in July, having almost 70,000 signatures. In response, the Government confirmed that it will retain existing fur bans (cats, dogs, seals).

ɋ Three successful Parliamentary events allowed more than 60 MPs and Peers to show their support for a fur import ban, and helped secured Labour’s strong commitment for a ban on the UK fur trade.

Photo (above): HSI held an event at the Romanian Parliament calling for a fur farming ban.

Wildlife: End trophy hunting

Need and scope

The UK currently allows the import and export of animal parts taken from animals hunted and killed as ‘trophies’. Over the last 10 years, hundreds of hunting trophies have been imported, including from endangered and vulnerable species such as polar bears, elephants, leopards and rhinos.

HSI leads a global campaign to end trophy hunting, citing the strong evidence that it causes suffering to hunted animals and that it can negatively affect species populations through both direct and indirect impacts, including for endangered and vulnerable species. We also collate and present evidence to challenge claims that trophy hunting contributes significant revenue to conservation efforts and community development, and highlight that hunting quotas are often based on inadequate or out-of-date data about wildlife populations. Hunters are robbing countries of irreplaceable wildlife, including lions, polar bears and elephants, and mismanagement and corruption mean that only a fraction of funds generated from hunts actually trickle down to conservation projects or the communities who live alongside wildlife.

Since the Government’s 2019 manifesto commitment to a trophy hunting import ban, our work has centred on political advocacy to ensure delivery of the most comprehensive and robust ban possible. A strong ban will be in line with the expectations of the British public, and in solidarity with the voices of many conservationists and community leaders in African nations where trophy hunters continue to target and kill endangered and threatened wild animals for their own entertainment.

Goal

Secure robust legislation to ban the import of hunting trophies into the UK, and support HSI’s long-term global goal of reducing the trophy hunting of five target African species (lion, elephant, leopard, black rhino and giraffe) by 90%.

Key activities and outputs

During 2023 we rallied public and political support for two consecutive bills to ban the import of hunting trophies from endangered species. Between January and September, we worked closely with Conservative MP Henry Smith to support his Government-backed bill for an import ban. Ahead of the Bill’s final readings in the House of Commons we mobilised over 8,000 people to show their support for the legislation which, alongside our targeted lobbying, helped to result in more than 50 MPs attending and ensuring the Bill passed the Commons with only minor amendments.

To build support for the final Commons stages of the bill, we ran a month-long advertising campaign online and on an electronic billboard in Westminster (Parliament) Tube Station. The online ads led to 450,000 impressions across website and email formats and generated a combined total of 471 clicks to the campaign landing page. The electronic billboard was played 17,278 times over a two-week period in the build-up to the debate. When the bill was approved by the Commons, HSI/UK was quoted in a number of media outlets, including the Guardian and the Mirror.

As the bill moved to the House of Lords, we co-ordinated and published an open letter from 103 African experts and community leaders, stating ‘conservation can never be achieved down the barrel of a gun’ and calling on Peers to back the ban. The letter was referred to by several Peers during debates, and achieved exclusive coverage in the Mirror. During the Bill’s consideration by the House of Lords, we produced briefing papers

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Our goals and impact in depth

Our goals and impact in depth

Photos (this page left to right): Awareness-raising social media sharegraphic Media article quoting HSI/UK. Photo (opposite page – top to bottom): Government e-petition. Media coverage on BBC News. Advertising campaign in Westminster.

and op-eds warning of the risks of a so-called ‘smart ban’, encouraging Peers to oppose amendments to create loopholes to allow trophies to continue to be brought to the UK.

In August we wrote an open joint letter to the Prime Minister urging Government to make parliamentary time available to get the ban done. This received a response from the Environment Secretary assuring that Government would ‘do all it can’ to help it pass into law, unamended. We shared this letter with key media, securing coverage in the Independent, BBC, Mirror and other outlets.

In September, we released a video titled ‘Trophy Hunting: An Unnecessary Evil’ featuring testimonies from African conservationists and community leaders in support of the bill to ban hunting trophies. A 10-minute version was sent to Peers to accompany a joint briefing coordinated by HSI/UK and signed by 17 organisations ahead of the Bill’s Committee Stage, whilst a shorter version was shared widely on social media and viewed over 50,000 times. Over 8,000 supporters responded to our e-action urging the Government to pass the UK import ban. We also published a widely shared op-ed urging Peers to reject amendments featuring outdated language promoting the ‘harvesting’ of wild animals like elephants. Our social share graphic defining ‘harvesting’ gained over 110,000 impressions on X.

As the Bill made progress through the House of Lords, we coordinated a photo opportunity outside the Houses of Parliament, featuring an inflatable lion and giraffe. Over 30 MPs and Peers attended, in addition to press including the BBC. Social media content featuring the photo resulted in more than 40,000 impressions and 4,600 engagements by supporters.

Working with coalition partners, we held drop-in events and briefing meetings to lobby Peers with arguments to reject the 64 amendments tabled, which were clearly designed to delay the Bill, and secured widespread media coverage calling out

damage being inflicted by a small number of pro-hunting backbench Peers. Disappointingly, this opposition tactic was effective and the Bill had not completed its passage to become law when the Parliamentary session concluded in October.

We were disappointed when in November the Government did not commit to a new Bill to ban hunting trophy imports in the King’s Speech, and were quoted in 185 media stories, including Sky News politics live blog, The Daily Mirror, The Guardian politics live and The Evening Standard.

Reacting to this, we worked with celebrity animal advocate Peter Egan to draft and launch an official government e-petition, which reached 20,000 signatures by year end. In December, we worked with Labour MP John Spellar on the introduction of a new Bill to ban hunting trophy imports, and secured press coverage on this positive development, including in the Daily Mirror.

Impact

ɋ Bill to ban imports of hunting trophies from endangered species passed by House of Commons, and passed Second reading in House of Lords (before the session ended, causing it to fall); a new Bill was subsequently introduced in December.

ɋ Our evidence and arguments against a so-called ‘smart ban’ were quoted in debates in the House of Lords and House of Commons.

ɋ Our letter from African experts was referenced and quoted from by four Peers during the Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill’s second reading in the House of Lords.

ɋ The Belgian Government agreed to the ban import of hunting trophies, following a HSI/UK-supported campaign there using some of HSI/UK’s campaign assets.

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See, ORE gic Bes Our goals and impact in depth Be

Our goals and impact in depth

Key activities and outputs

Thanks to generous funding from Edgard and Cooper, we have been able to address problems for dogs and cats in Chile, a country with one of the highest human-to-dog ratios in the world. HSI teamed up with local veterinary and NGO partners to deliver veterinary care to animals living in remote communities across the Coquimbo Regency of Chile. In 2023, we reached the milestone of having treated more than 45,000 companion animals. Each clinic we supported offered heavily discounted spay/neuter, vaccination and deworming services for the dogs (and cats) who live in some of the most remote areas of the county. We also embarked on a unique program in the capital city of Santiago, teaming up with local partner Felinnos Foundation, to provide cats living in in Chile’s largest and oldest prison free vaccination and spay/neuter services, benefitting the inmates and cats alike.

In neighbouring Bolivia, our veterinary team trained dozens of veterinarians and veterinary technicians, both from Bolivia and throughout Latin America, to improve spay/neuter skills and access to affordable spay/neuter services across the region.

Protecting companion animals

Need and scope

Although most people across Asia don’t eat dog meat, this brutal trade continues, and HSI focuses its work to end it in South Korea, China, Viet Nam and Indonesia, where dogs are either bred and raised in brutal conditions on farms, snatched from the streets, stolen or bought from owners. As the only country that commercially farms dogs for meat, South Korea is ground zero in our fight to end the dog meat trade in Asia.

Hundreds of millions of dogs and cats roam the streets of cities, towns and villages around the world. Some fend entirely for themselves, some receive varying levels of community care, and some are family members. Not infrequently, populations of dogs and cats are inhumanely killed. Many others succumb to starvation, dehydration, exposure to the elements, injury or disease.

Goal

End the dog meat trade in South Korea, Indonesia and Viet Nam, and ensure that free-roaming dogs and cats are cared for and their populations humanely managed, promoting peaceful coexistence with humans.

HSI/UK also contributed funding to HSI’s street dog programme in Romania, a country with a very large roaming dog and cat population and no nationwide coordinated street animal population management program. We worked with several local animal welfare charities to provide mobile veterinary services to more than 2,000 animals in need. In Pata Rat, home to Romania’s largest landfill, we delivered veterinary services to the hundreds of dogs who call the area home.

Our campaign to end the dog meat trade in Asia made phenomenal progress in 2023. In South Korea, HSI/Korea worked with Democratic Party Assembly Member Jeoung-ae Han to draft and introduce a legislative bill to ban the dog meat industry by outlawing the breeding and slaughter of dogs for human consumption, including prohibiting dog meat farms, dog slaughterhouses and the sale of dog meat throughout South Korea; and supporting dog farmers to transition to alternative businesses. The bill, called a Special Act, was the culmination of many months of work by HSI/Korea behind the scenes with Korean lawmakers and was launched with the support of 11 bipartisan sponsors. The launch of this Special Act spurred the launch of a number of other Special Acts by other legislators, including a government-backed bill, and this culminated in a bill to ban the dog meat industry successfully passing its first full committee vote and being approved by the National Assembly’s Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries’ Committee in December 2023.

This year also saw HSI/Korea close its 18th dog meat farm, rescuing 200 dogs and puppies who were languishing on a squalid farm in Chungcheong province. The dog meat farmer Mr Yang closed his farm as part of HSI/Korea’s Models for Change program, transitioning to growing cabbages and other

crops instead. The farm closure was attended by both Korean and foreign international media and resulted in substantial coverage in the Daily Telegraph, Korea Herald, Korea Times and United Press International amongst others.

Our dog meat trade survivors rehomed in the UK continued to act as ‘ambassadogs’ for our campaign. Henry, who HSI rescued from a South Korean dog meat farm and now lives in the UK with our campaigns director, was the star of several media interviews marking and celebrating progress of the Korean ban, including a TV appearance on GB News in December.

Throughout 2023 HSI continued to play a leading role in the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition. In March, Hollywood actress Kim Basinger, comedian Ricky Gervais and British actor Peter Egan joined with the Dog Meat Free Indonesia (DMFI) coalition to celebrate the campaign victory that Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta announced a ban on the dog and cat meat trade. Coordinated by HSI, the stars sent a video message of support. The ban meant that Jakarta become the 21st jurisdiction in Indonesia to ban the trade, and was the result of an intensive campaign by DMFI, exposing the severe animal cruelty and risks to human health from zoonotic diseases such as rabies.

Photos (opposite page top left): Puppy rescued from dog meat farm. Photo (this page top to bottom): Some of the dogs HSI has rescued from the dog meat trade who have now found loving homes. Photo exhibition in support of a ban on the dog meat industry, at South Korea’s National Assembly. HSI/Korea campaigning for a dog meat ban.

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Our goals and impact in depth

Photos (left top to bottom):

• =|\ Photos (left top to bottom): | Preparing to rescue dogs from a dog meat farm in South Korea. - Dog meat rescue Henry visiting a care home as a therapy dog (x2). \s —.\——wrx HSI’s team after rescuing dogs from a farm. ~

Photos (opposite page bottom right): HSI team at the Extinction or Regeneration conference.

HSI/UK funded Animal Friends Manaus Indonesia (AFMI) to support another campaign victory, a ban on the dog and cat meat trade at Indonesia’s notorious Tomohon ‘Extreme’ Market in North Sulawesi province. The agreement will spare thousands of animals from being bludgeoned and blowtorched to death for human consumption. On the day the ban was introduced, HSI and AFMI were at the market with media in attendance, to rescue 25 dogs and three cats found alive at the slaughterhouses that supplied the market. HSI/UK funds enabled the animals to be transported to AFMI’s nearby sanctuary and receive emergency veterinary treatment and care. They will be flown to North America in early 2024 to find their loving homes.

Finally, two of our dog meat rescue dogs, Henry and Rosie, continued their work as therapy dogs, making regular visits to schools and care homes for people to benefit from their emotional support.

Impact

ɋ Celebrated the news that Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, banned the dog and cat meat trade in March; HSI/UK funds work by the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition, of which HSI is a member.

ɋ Celebrated with HSI’s partners in the Dog Meat Free Indonesia Alliance that the Mayor has agreed to ban trading in dog meat at Tomohon market. HSI/UK has funded Animal Friends Manaus Indonesia for several years to help secure this victory.

ɋ 25 dogs and cats rescued from the Tomohon slaughterhouse and handed to HSI for rehoming.

ɋ HSI/UK staff were part of the team that closed our 18th dog meat farm in South Korea, rescuing all 200 dogs. The closure received global media coverage, including in the Daily Telegraph, the Asia correspondent from which accompanied the HSI rescue team on the ground for the closure.

ɋ Following a 10-year campaign supported by HSI/UK, the South Korean Government introduced a bill to ban the dog meat industry.

ɋ Veterinary care provided to 45,000 dogs in Chile.

ɋ Training in Bolivia to improve spay/neuter skills and welfare outcomes provided to dozens of Latin American veterinarians and veterinary technicians.

ɋ Veterinary services provided to hundreds of dogs in Romania.

Reducing the number of animals suffering on farms

Need and scope

Industrial animal agriculture is one of the biggest causes of animal suffering – most of the more than 92 billion land animals raised for meat, dairy and eggs around the world suffer horribly on factory farms, where they can be subjected to extreme confinement in crates and cages.

We aim to measurably reduce the number of animals suffering on farms by campaigning for bans on extreme confinement on farms, and by advocating greater uptake of plant-based diets.

Our UK Forward Food programme focuses on inspiring and enabling public sector caterers to reduce their animal product procurement by serving more tasty, nutritious and environmentally friendly plant-based foods. We have developed a suite of resources to provide greater support to the needs of food businesses and educational institutions moving to more plant-centric menus, including a business case, toolkit, and implementation guide. We also provide a bespoke environmental impact report to demonstrate the positive changes that can be made by making simple swaps from animalbased to plant-based menu options.

In the UK, some 200,000 mother pigs are kept in farrowing crates for up to five weeks, around the time they give birth. These crates are so small the mothers cannot even turn around, much less interact as they naturally should with their piglets.

They suffer physically and mentally, and we believe such farming methods have no place in British farming. Our campaign, with NGO partners, aims to secure ‘The Crate Escape’ for mother pigs.

Goals

• 1) At least three food service institutions reduce their procurement of animal products by at least 20%.

• 2) The UK Government takes fiscal and policy action towards livestock reduction and a dietary shift to plant-based.

• 3) Bans secured on the use of farrowing crates across the UK.

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Our goals and impact in depth

Plant-based solutions: Key activities and outputs

In 2023 we continued to engage food service industry professionals in our plant-based solutions programme, Forward Food, through provision of culinary trainings and advice.

We supported the development of a masterclass in plant-based cooking and menu development, for Sodexo Continental Europe. This involved co-running a workshop with staff from Sodexo COEU’s CSR, development and food platform teams, the output from which was a masterclass framework. Our Forward Food chef trainer, Jenny Chandler, visited Sodexo’s culinary school in Paris, Lenotre, to develop the agenda and format for their train the trainer programme to deliver the masterclass. As a result of this collaboration, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Sodexo with HSI/UK agreeing to continue supporting the masterclass delivery.

Later in the year, we engaged again with Sodexo UK chefs and managers at their annual Future Food Collective & Managers Conference in London. Our ‘Forward Food: Plant-based, no waste, great taste!’, session showed how seasonal, plant-based, ingredients can be key to a no waste kitchens - without sacrificing taste.

In February we conducted an all-day culinary training for 15 chefs from catering company Baxter Storey’s Level 5 Academy at Woodspeen Cookery School.

The Crate Escape: Key activities and outputs

In March we joined with two other animal organisations to hold a Parliamentary reception in Westminster, attended by almost 30 MPs, advocating for a farrowing crate ban. Shadow Environment Minister Baroness Sue Hayman spoke at the reception, declaring Labour’s desire to see crates eliminated. Thirty-six MPs, Peers and celebrities including Dame Joanna Lumley signed our giant Mother’s Day card urging the Defra Secretary of State to support farmers to phase out the use of farrowing crates. At the same time, almost 9,000 of our compassionate supporters wrote to their MPs calling for them to support a ban on farrowing crates.

We conducted public polling through Survation, which showed that around 60% of British people were unaware that farrowing crates existed, but when informed about them less than 20% supported their continued use. The poll results were communicated to politicians and media, and will be used to underpin our future campaigning and lobbying work and measure progress towards our goal.

In parallel to meetings with MPs about farrowing crates, we arranged and held meetings with Department for Environment

Food and Rural Affairs officials, reinforcing our campaign message that the Government’s Animal Health and Welfare Pathway capital grants must include specific funding to support farmers to transition to crate-free farrowing systems. We also developed plans and a partnership proposal for new research and a report on a just transition for the pig industry, setting out economic and practical pathways to support farmers to go crate-free.

Supporting our global colleagues’ crate-free campaigns, we arranged for a major Vietnamese pork producer to visit crate-free pig farms in order to inform and support their commitment to transition to free-farrowing.

Finally, we developed an important relationship with a British pig farmer who currently uses crates but believes the industry should be supported to phase them out. This led to the agreement of a 2024 project allowing us to rehome two of the farm’s sows kept in farrowing crates to a sanctuary. We agreed placement with a sanctuary partner and provided a grant to support the building of a suitable shed to house the sows, within a field enclosure. Using photos, videos and stories of the sows during their time in crates, provided by the farmer, we plan to document their stories, from suffering to sanctuary, and use them as ambassadors to build public support for the Crate Escape.

Photos (opposite page): A mother pig in a farrowing crate.

Photos (above top to bottom): Handing in a card to Defra urging for a ban on farrowing crates. Above card signed by dozens of MPs and celebrities. George Eustice MP at our Parliamentary reception for the Crate Escape campaign.

Our advocacy to shift public sector catering towards more humane, low-carbon, plant-based menus led us to host a panel session and a culinary demo at Plant-Based World Expo Europe, in London. Our panel session, ‘Changing the Culture of Food on University Menus’ saw us joined by delegates from Sodexo UK and Ireland’s Sustainability Division, the University of Reading, the University Caterers Organisation and NGO Plant-Based Universities. Sponsoring the panel discussion brought us visibility to the 3,700 global delegates attending, including government agencies. We also attended the Public Sector Catering Alliance Expo in October, building stronger alliances and networks with attendees.

During 2023 we built positive relationships with stakeholders within the UK’s Ministry of Defence. Our Forward Food team conducted two culinary trainings for 30 chefs at the Food Service Training wing of the MOD, at Worthy Down base in January and October. The first training was held in collaboration with Plant Futures and Veganuary, and involved members of the MOD Vegan and Vegetarian Network in a tasting and discussion session with chefs. The second training enabled us to pilot our new ‘canapés’ training and was well received. We also had several productive discussions with an Army Field Services Warrant Officer around the inclusion of plant-based ration packs for Army personnel and held several productive meetings with the MOD Vegan and Vegetarian Network members, as well

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Our goals and impact in depth

Our goals and impact in depth

as a Principal Logistician for the Army’s Warfighting Division, to discuss ways to improve food sustainability and inclusivity for serving personnel.

We presented at the MOD’s Veg Network’s AGM and wrote to the Defence Committee highlighting the need to provide more plant-based options to support service women’s experiences in the armed forces. We noted that one in five women identify as flexitarian, and almost double the number of women are vegetarian than men. We attended a working lunch at Whitehall on World Vegan Day where we presented our work supporting the MOD’s Food Service Training Wing over the past 18 months. The reception was attended by leading military figures in climate, sustainability, DEI and health. It was a good opportunity to network, identify new targets for our forthcoming recommendations to the MOD and make wider connections across the civil service.

Working with university caterers and future leaders in sustainable catering remains a priority for our Forward Food programme, so we were pleased to be invited to present to the Sodexo UK Universities and Schools division at the Heinz headquarters in London to discuss upskilling and enabling their chefs on plant-based cuisine. We also attended the University of West London’s Future Plates and Future Chefs conference in March, where we introduced students and delegates to a range of sustainable food approaches and delivered a cooking demo.

Following on from Forward Food culinary trainings and plant-based menu changes in previous years, we provided the catering team at Oxford Brookes University with an Environmental Impact Assessment that showed they had reduced their food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 28% by reducing their procurement of meat, dairy and eggs. Our positive engagement with numerous other universities continues.

Engaging the Government on environmental policy and the role of food systems within it was an important part of our strategy in 2023, and as such we delivered a joint submission to the UNFCCC Mitigation Work Programme, which the UK Government sits on, calling for food system transformation to be considered as future topics. We coordinated sign-on and secured support from 16 international animal welfare, food awareness and environment NGOs. In the summer we commenced a written dialogue with the office of Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, following the Government’s independent advisers on climate change, the Climate Change Committee, publishing their annual progress report. The CCC stated reduced confidence in the UK being able to meet its emissions targets and called for dietary behaviour change as one of its key recommendations, including that the “Government should lead by example by visibly adopting these green choices”. We have offered support to increase plant-based options in House of Commons catering as a way to achieve this.

Photos (opposite page): Forward Food culinary training workshop at the Ministry of Defence, Worthy Down.

Photos (above top to bottom):

Chefs plating up plant-based food at a Forward Food culinary workshop. HSI/UK’s plant-based advocacy specialist chairing a panel at Plant Based World Expo.

Finally, consumer awareness and engagement remains an important part of our strategy to demonstrate demand for change to Government and institutions. So in 2023 we launched an ‘EatKind in restaurants’ fundraising and awareness campaign during World Vegan Month whereby a small amount from the purchase of select plant-based dishes was donated to HSI/UK from restaurant partners. Associated promotional material such as table-talkers encouraged diners to sign our pledge to ‘EatKind’ for people, animals and the planet.

Impact

ɋ We ran culinary trainings for 30 chefs at the Food Service Training wing of the Ministry of Defence.

ɋ We presented at a Military of Defence working lunch in Whitehall on World Vegan Day, engaging positively with leading MOD personnel.

ɋ Plant-based procurement changes made at Oxford Brookes University following our Forward Food engagement has reduced its food-related greenhouse gas emissions by 28% and taken hundreds of animals off menus.

ɋ We developed and delivered a masterclass in plant-based cooking and menu development for Sodexo Continental Europe, and signed an MOU with the company to support its plant-forward menu commitments.

ɋ We delivered plant-based culinary training for 15 chefs from catering company Baxter Storey’s Level 5 Academy at Woodspeen Cookery School.

ɋ We ran a culinary demonstration and panel session, ‘Changing the Culture of Food on University Menus’, at Plant-Based World Expo Europe, an event attended by 3,700 delegates.

ɋ Our EatKind restaurant partnerships encouraged diners across the country to sign our pledge to embrace plant-based eating.

ɋ We secured more than 30 MPs to support the campaign for The Crate Escape, and enabled more than 10,000 HSI/UK supporters to show their support for a ban.

ɋ We attained baseline polling insights on public awareness and opinion on farrowing crates.

ɋ We established a positive relationship with British pig farmer who will back our call for a farrowing crate ban in 2024.

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Our goals and impact in depth

Promoting the development and use of non-animal methods in research and testing

Need and scope

The UK has always been one of the top users of animals in research across Europe, with an annual average of more than 3.5 million uses of animals for the last decade. Animal use for research and testing in the UK shows no consistent or meaningful decline, despite mounting scientific evidence that animals poorly predict human responses for safety testing or for disease modelling and drug development and the fact animal ‘models’ are being rapidly outpaced by newer, nonanimal technologies. Most of the animals used are rodents, with the other animals used in procedures in the UK in 2022 (the most recent data available) including dogs, cats, horses, sheep, rabbits, fish, birds, monkeys, and other non-human primates. Most of the animals are killed at the end of the experimental procedure.

As many as nine out of every 10 new drugs fail in human trials, and the leading contributor to this failure is lack of effectiveness and/or safety for people. This equates to huge loss of life – both animal and human, wasted research funding and, ultimately, a delay in the delivery of effective treatments to patients as a result of misleading results of animal testing. We owe it to ourselves and the animals to embrace and further develop the innovative non-animal technologies that are more reliable and more predictive of human responses.

Our UK Research and Toxicology team works closely with relevant stakeholders – scientific researchers, regulators and industrial partners – both in the UK and internationally, to promote the development and use of more human-relevant non-animal methods for testing and research.

Photos (opposite page clockwise from top left):

HSI’s Claire Bass with celebrity Will Young and Daniel Zeichner MP at a Parliamentary reception in support of ending animal testing.

HSI’s Jay Ingram speaking on a panel at the World Congress on Animal Use and Alternatives. Future of Science student conference event. HSI stand at a conference; Animal Free Safety Assessment masterclass.

Goals

• 1) Redirect research funding away from support of animal models of human disease and towards the more humanrelevant, non-animal research methods.

• 2) Increase awareness of non-animal research methods across all relevant stakeholders.

• 3) Promote further uptake of non-animal methods for toxicity (chemical safety) testing.

• 4) Work with policymakers and regulatory agencies to phase out animal models for toxicity (chemical safety) testing.

Key activities and outputs

To redirect research funding away from animals and promote further uptake of non-animal methods in toxicity testing, we actively engage in scientific conferences, meetings, and workshops, and respond to public consultations. In addition, HSI/UK’s experts sit within the following groups:

ɋ Animal Protection and Welfare Stakeholder Group (APAWSG) – within the Animals in Science Regulation Policy Unit of the Home Office

ɋ The CIAO (Modelling the Pathogenesis of COVID-19 using the Adverse Outcome Pathway Framework) project

ɋ Competent Authorities for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals and Classification, Labelling and Packaging and its sub-groups

ɋ The European Chemical Agency Member State Committee

ɋ The European Chemical Agency Expert Group on Endocrine Disruptors

ɋ The International Council on Animal Protection in Pharmaceuticals Products

ɋ The International Council on Animal Protection in OECD programmes

To increase awareness of the potential for non-animal methods to replace animals in biomedical research and testing, we wrote a scientific paper entitled ‘Poor Translatability of Animal Research using Animals – a Narrative Review’. This was published in the journal Alternatives to Laboratory Animals. We were invited to be a keynote speaker in an event organised by Animal Aid, Lush and XCellR8 that brought together students from several colleges to hear about the ground-breaking animal free science currently available and to help them (and their teachers) understand the potential of these techniques for replacing animals in laboratories. This was very well received, with positive feedback from all who attended, and indicates the importance of taking our message beyond the more established researchers, reaching students

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AN Our goals and impact in depth

Our goals and impact in depth

Our joint statement called for the party in power to commit to a plan to phase out all animal use for science.

We are active contributors to ICAPO and ICAPPP – these are international coalition groups that work together with the aim of replacing animals for chemical testing (ICAPO) and for drugs (ICAPPP). Through our membership of ICAPPP, we submitted comments in response to the reform of the EU pharmaceutical legislation. We used this opportunity to request adoption of the term ‘non-animal methods’ throughout the document, that reference to tests using animals was deleted and that the EU Directive on protection of animals used for scientific purposes is fully complied with in the revision, as it seeks to facilitate and promote the advancement of non-animal approaches. The opportunity to comment on EU activities helps us to maintain a competitive pressure for UK science to adapt, to remain in touch with EU advances and to ensure that, in terms of research and development innovation, the UK is not being left behind.

ɋ We have been engaged in shaping policy relating to animal testing, by requesting to be added to the UK Chemicals Stakeholder Forum within Defra, and providing comments in response to a meeting of a European Commission expert group, in collaboration with other animal protection NGOs, providing scientific arguments against the introduction of additional animal tests and supporting the deletion of existing animal tests in the EU regulation governing the manufacture and import of chemical substances.

HSI’s experts were invited to present their knowledge and experience at numerous high-profile events linked to the promotion of non-animal methods and phasing-out animal models relating to the toxicity testing of chemicals and consumer products. We presented at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry international conference on predicting aquatic toxicity using a combination of non-animal approaches, and at the European Commission’s Workshop on a Roadmap to Phase-Out Animal Testing in Chemical Safety Assessments.

In addition, our UK experts represented HSI at a European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) workshop on New Approach Methodologies and at the International Collaboration on Cosmetic Safety (ICCS) supporting the acceptance of non-animal methods for cosmetics testing.

beginning their scientific careers helps them to understand how this exciting, progressive, and human-relevant science can be used in place of animals.

Our research and toxicology teams contributed a strong presence to the global, biennial event of the World Congress on Animal Use and Alternatives, where various members presented several talks and poster presentations focused on opportunities for replacing animals in drug and chemical testing. HSI experts were also asked to present the innovative master class produced by the Animal Free Safety Assessment (AFSA) Collaboration at the #UseScienceNotAnimals World Café. The master class is an educational tool developed by the AFSA Collaboration, led by HSI, which provides comprehensive instruction on the principles of conducting toxicological safety assessments without using animals for chemicals and consumer products. This event was vital in raising our visibility and in helping to strengthen existing collaborations.

As part of our specific UK-focused activities, we submitted a letter to the Animals in Science Policy Unit in response to its report on non-human primate use. We used this opportunity to flag the possible unintended consequences of creating self-sustaining colonies of non-human primates that could lead to increased NHP use, and we continue to use this platform to push for more serious consideration for total replacement of animals and request the development of strategies to support this.

We continue to attend quarterly meetings of the Animal Protection and Welfare Stakeholder Group, part of the Animals in Science Policy Unit at the UK Home Office. As part of this group, HSI/UK contributed to, and were joint signatories on, a letter to the Secretary of State outlining concerns with some elements of regulation of animal use in scientific procedures, and we offered several recommendations. We also helped craft the group’s manifesto commitment statement submitted to the major political party leaders.

Impact

ɋ Our scientific paper published in the journal Alternatives to Laboratory Animals was the fourth-highest read article in the journal in 2023.

ɋ We contributed to the draft framework for training and continuous professional development under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act. We raised issues relating to animal research, and requested that training in literature searching was part of the learning outcomes. We will continue to monitor this, with the aim of ensuring that any training offered considers the 3Rs (of replace, reduce and refine animal use) to their fullest extent.

ɋ We presented at several events which were attended by regulators, industry representatives and policymakers, providing opportunities for furthering the cause of ending the regulatory requirements to test on animals.

We owe it to ourselves and to animals to promote non-animal research methods, which are more reliable and human-relevant.

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Our goals and impact in depth

Disaster response and rescue

Photo (left): Cats in the aftermath of an earthquake in Türkiye.

Need and scope

In 2023 animals continued to experience the impacts of disasters, from the devasting earthquakes in Türkiye, to hardships felt by the UK’s rescue and rehoming sector due to the economic crisis. HSI/UK continued to support our global disaster response team to quickly, effectively and safely help affected animals and people, as well as to provide grants to partner organisations which are best-positioned to provide emergency financial support in the UK.

Key activities and outputs

HSI/UK’s grant to the RSPCA in support of expanding its pet food bank programme concluded. Our funds helped the RSPCA to secure dedicated resources in the form of a coordinator for each of the three regions - North, Central and Southern, who will be responsible for coordinating response to local need, and overseeing the supply and allocation of pet food. The programme in the North is the furthest developed, and during 2023 this project distributed over one million daily pet meals, and delivered 11 ‘Community Paws’ events to provide support (including welfare advice and veterinary vouchers) at food banks to over 500 pets and their owners.

With certain UK campaign plans put on hold due to a less favourable political climate for animal protection in the UK, we were able to use an underspend to award end of year grants to the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes (£20,000), Jakarta Animal Aid Network (£20,000) and Hopefield Animal Sanctuary (c. £15,000) to support both training and hands-on animal rescue projects in 2024.

Impact

ɋ HSI’s Türkiye earthquake response team’s efforts saved more than 1,500 animals’ lives and were featured in the Daily Express, Newsweek and the Independent, amongst other global coverage.

ɋ Our $75,000 grants to partners involved in the Türkiye earthquake response provided medical equipment including X-ray and blood testing capabilities to the Hatay field clinic. More than 1,000 earthquake and vehicle accident victim animals have been helped.

ɋ Our grant in support of expansion of the RSPCA’s pet food bank programme helped enable the distribution of over one million daily pet meals.

General

We continued our involvement with, and contributions to, several umbrella bodies during 2023, including the Association of Lawyers for Animal Welfare, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare, the CITES Liaison Group with the UK CITES Management Authority, the Fur Free Alliance, and Wildlife and Countryside Link. Our senior campaigns director remained Chair of Link’s Animal Welfare Strategy Group for a seventh year, and HSI/UK’s senior campaign adviser continues to hold a seat on the Fur Free Alliance’s Executive Committee.

Media communications, celebrity engagement and online support engagement

During 2023, we continued to achieve high levels of international and national media coverage for both our UK and global campaigns. We recorded 730 UK media hits, reaching a wide and diverse audience with our expert opinions on a range of highprofile animal issues discussed in the media. Our media outreach strategy, press releases and reactive media statements secured stories and quotes in influential outlets across the political spectrum, including the Guardian, the Times, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Telegraph, the Independent, the Daily Express and the the BBC.

Throughout the year we strengthened relationships with our celebrity supporters such as Dame Joanna Lumley, Dr Amir Khan, Pete Wicks and Kirsty Gallacher. We also expanded our network of celebrity supporters, building relationships with new contacts who have lent their voices to support HSI’s work, including Will Young, Susie Dent and Ivo Graham.

We continued to grow our brand awareness and network of supporters through our dedicated HSI/UK social media channels. Our social media strategy led to a 7% increase in our combined following over the course of the year, growing our supporter base and reaching new audiences with our messages. On X (formerly Twitter), our posts received over 2,400,000 impressions in 2023. Our Facebook content reached more than 1,700,000 people and on Instagram over 130,000 people saw our posts.

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Governance and policies

Governance and policies

The Humane Society International (UK) is a charity registered in England and Wales (registration number 1098925) and a company limited by guarantee (registration number 04610194). The company was established under a Memorandum of Association which establishes the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association as amended on 18 October 2016. In the event of the company being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

Trustees’ induction and training

Trustees are introduced to and kept up to date with developments within the Charity’s sphere of operations by the existing Trustees. Steps are taken to ensure that all Trustees are kept abreast of charity regulations with appropriate updates.

The Trustees who served the Charity during the period and up to the date this report was approved, are:

Cristobel Block

Recruitment and appointment of the Trustees

Alexandra Gabrielle Freidberg

Jeffrey Flocken

As per the Articles of Association, the Trustees are empowered to replace and recruit new members or appoint additional members to the board. Trustees serve three-year terms.

Nina Pena (resigned 6 January 2023)

William Henry Hall III (appointed 1 February 2023)

Organisational structure

The Humane Society International (UK) (HSI/UK) is affiliated with Humane Society International (HSI), the latter being incorporated in May 1991 in Washington DC, USA. HSI educates audiences worldwide about compassion toward animals; carries out direct animal care, rescue, and disaster response; provides technical and scientific support to local partners; and seeks to increase the priority given to animal protection issues by policymakers, industry, and civil society worldwide.

HSI is 100% controlled by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), a not-for-profit organisation, incorporated November 1954 in Delaware, USA. The primary purpose of HSUS is the worldwide advancement of humane treatment of animals through public education, awareness, and direct animal care programmes.

HSI/UK is also related to HSI and HSUS in that all current Trustees of HSI/UK are also Directors of HSI and HSUS.

The Trustees meet regularly to review the overall objectives of the Charity to ensure its effective performance. The administration of the Charity and the keeping of its financial books and records are carried out by the staff of the Charity with administration and supervision by the Trustees.

The Trustees delegate the day-to-day management of the Charity to the Executive Director, Nick Jones.

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees, who are also directors of The Humane Society International (UK) for the purposes of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

ɋ Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently.

ɋ Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP.

ɋ Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.

ɋ State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

ɋ Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue to operate.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

As far as the Trustees are aware:

ɋ There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and

ɋ The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

Public benefit

ɋ The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in the Charities Act 2011, Section 17, to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, which addresses the need for all charities’ aims to be, demonstrably, for the public benefit.

ɋ The public benefits of our work are expanded upon in the previous section (Our goals and impact in-depth) and include, but are not limited to, the following:

ɋ We continue to support major food services and higher education institutions to serve up a greater proportion of healthy, affordable plant-based food through our Forward Food programme.

ɋ We represent the interests of the sizable proportion of the British public and animal industries who wish to see animal welfare legislation passed (such as the Sentience Bill) and empower them to act effectively and collectively in support of this goal.

ɋ We help to prevent human-wildlife conflict by promoting and enabling the adoption of ethical wildlife management principles, helping to ensure both human safety and animal welfare.

34 HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) | 2023 ANNUAL REPORT

2023 ANNUAL REPORT | HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) 35

Governance and policies

Governance and policies

are competitive, to attract and maintain a highly motivated staff that will ensure success in our efforts toward creating a humane society, while still offering the best value to the organisation

ɋ Our global campaign to end the fur trade would eliminate fur farming, a practice that leading virologists stress poses a major public health and pandemic risk.

ɋ We support the delivery of humane street dog management programmes which sustainably reduce oversized dog populations and the associated problems they can cause people (e.g., bites, traffic accidents), and vaccinate against rabies to protect both human and canine populations.

Risk management

The Trustees are responsible for identifying and reviewing the risks to which the Charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error. The Trustees have a risk register identifying all current major risks. Each item has been scored according to its perceived potential impact together with actions that either have or will be taken in mitigation. The risk register is reviewed annually by management and by the Trustees. One of the primary aims of the Board of Trustees is to provide assurance over the procedures in place to manage the identified risks.

Remuneration policy

The Humane Society of the United States and its affiliates’ remuneration approach for employees, including key management personnel, is informed by regular reviews of salary practices of like-minded organisations, and the external economic climate including inflation levels. Salaries for all positions are managed through internal grading, to ensure equity and consistency. Our goal is to ensure that the total compensation and benefit packages available to our employees

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES ee	MITIGATION ACTIVITIES ee
INFLATION AND COST OF	We continue to monitor and diversify our fundraising, to include more engagement opportunities and build
LIVING CRISIS IMPACTS	relationships with new and existing donors. We will ensure that appropriate reserve levels are maintained.
ON FUNDRAISING
BUDGETARY SHORTFALL/	We review budgets and cashflow statements monthly, comparing actuals to the budget/forecast, with
OVERSPENDING	adjustments to cashflow being made, as necessary. Monitoring foreign exchange exposure is also part of
	this process.
HIGH STAFF TURNOVER/LOSS	We offer competitive remuneration and hold regular salary and benefits package reviews. We promote
OF KEY STAFF	opportunities for continuing professional development for staff. We consider succession planning as part of our
	regular performance management process. Annual reviews also ensure salaries can be adjusted as necessary
	with inflation to reduce stress and prevent difficulties in replacing staff.
REPUTATIONAL RISK THROUGH	Policies have been put in place to ensure senior staff sign off on external communications. There is regular
NEGATIVE COMMUNICATIONS	media and social media training for Communications staff. A system is in place for dealing appropriately and
	promptly with enquiries and complaints from the public.
DATA AND INTELLECTUAL	We regularly review policies to ensure GDPR compliance and the standards set by the Fundraising Regulator.
PROPERTY SECURITY	We seek external advice and run audits where necessary and have regular privacy and compliance training to
	ensure all staff are aware of their data responsibilities.
CYBER SECURITY THREATS	Our Information Security policies and processes protect us against cyber threats, including Multi Factor
	Authentication for all system access and regular staff training in online data security.
FRAUD AND MISAPPROPRIATION	The charity’s finances are audited by external accountants and auditors. Robust internal controls are in place to
OF FUNDS	prevent fund mismanagement, and collaborations with individuals or organisations are assessed for reputational
	risk, with agreements designed accordingly.

Grant giving policy statement

HSI/UK disburses grants to other like-minded not-for-profit organisations and includes specific eligibility requirements. The grant approval process includes several steps. Details of the process are described below:

ɋ Grant templates, drafted and approved by the Office of General Counsel (OGC), must be used to draft the agreement. If there is a change to the template language, approval must first be obtained from OGC.

ɋ Further special circumstances – particularly grants involving lobbying activities, to individuals or non–profits – must receive additional approval from OGC, Accounting, and the HSI executive team. Full grantee identification, purpose, and banking information, as requested in the grant agreement, must be provided so that a background check on the grantee may be conducted.

ɋ Budgets – and in particular, restricted funds – must be verified for sufficient funds and purpose prior to submission of the grant.

ɋ The grant agreement must be signed by an authorised representative of HSI/UK and the grantee and then submitted to Accounts Payable for payment.

Commitment to responsible fundraising and personal data protection

HSI/UK is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and follows its Code of Fundraising Practice. In 2023 we received and actioned four requests to stop communications via the Fundraising Regulator’s Fundraising Preference Service, compared to eight in the previous year.

Third parties contracted by HSI/UK to engage in fundraising/data management activities on its behalf are also required to adhere to relevant regulations and abide by the above codes, and HSI/UK staff maintain close oversight to ensure this. HSI/UK staff provide regular training to third party companies representing the organisation to supporters, including for fundraising purposes.

HSI/UK receives enthusiastic and positive responses to our communications with supporters. In 2023 only seven complaints were officially made to HSI/UK relating to fundraising practices, and these complaints were addressed, and concerns rectified within three working days of receipt, in accordance with our policy. HSI/UK considers all complaints very carefully and we continue to adjust our fundraising approaches to provide a positive experience for donors and supporters both on and offline, including looking at where improvements could be made to enhance our website users’ experiences.

HSI/UK’s privacy policy (available on our website at hsi.org/ privacy-noticee.html) makes various commitments to ensure donors and supporters can be sure their personal data is kept secure, in accordance with data protection laws, as well as our commitment to be clear and transparent around the data we keep. HSI/UK has established a policy not to share any of its supporter data with other charities or companies.

HSI/UK has had a vulnerable persons policy, with respect to its fundraising activities since September 2016. This includes guidance for staff, and companies carrying out fundraising and donation processing on our behalf, on how to identify potentially vulnerable persons. This includes a procedure to ensure that such risks are appropriately flagged and recorded, and a policy to provide clear guidance for when donations should be queried or further investigated.

Our team

At year-end, our team consisted of 28 staff, including staff performing international campaigns and programmatic roles. We continued to train all staff in many areas including diversity, equity and inclusion, crucial conversations, and compliance.

36 HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) | 2023 ANNUAL REPORT

2023 ANNUAL REPORT | HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) 37

Financial review

2019 – 2023

The illustration below shows our financial activities and position for the last 5 years.

Financial review

Overview of financial position

ɋ Advocacy for animal welfare costs: £1,397,117 (2022: £1,532,846) – part of the campaign cost incurred in undertaking HSI/UK’s existing programmes is to promote animal welfare issues, undertaking research and disseminating education materials/newsletters, mailings, and other materials to policymakers, corporations, existing donors, and the public.

HSI/UK ended FY2023 with a deficit of £18,344 compared with a deficit of £777,556 in FY2022.

ɋ UK support costs: £687,593 (2022: £555,077) – these were costs incurred to deliver programme activities and run the HSI/ UK office. These include staff costs, legal and professional fees, travel, office occupancy, utilities, communications, and other sundry expenses.

Income increased to £3,453,028 (2022: £2,782,581) and was made up of donations and legacies made by generous supporters, raised through various fundraising campaigns and events. Legacies accounted for £785,500 in 2023 (2022: £618,168).

ɋ Grants: £240,875 (2022: £733,591) – these were grants awarded to other charities in support of charitable, scientific or educational activities designed to further the objectives of HSI/ UK in promoting animal welfare by providing direct care and/or rehabilitation of animals.

Our expenditure decreased by 2% to £3,471,372 in 2023 from £3,560,137 in 2022 and can be broken down as follows:

ɋ Costs for raising funds: £1,108,437 (2022: £707,111) – these costs relate to creating and implementing digital marketing campaigns and fundraising activities/events used to attract supporters and generate donations. These include agency fees, advertising publications and other materials. In 2023, the Charity continued investing in its fundraising campaigns in a challenging economic climate and raised £2,641,234 in donations compared to £2,033,542 in 2022.

ɋ Governance costs: £36,990 (2022: £31,512) – these are the audit fees for statutory reporting requirements.

Statement of Financial Activities 2019-2023

Statement of Financial Positions 2019-2023

----- Start of picture text -----
3,500,000 3,500,000
3,000,000 3,000,000
2,500,000 2,500,000
2,000,000 2,000,000
1,500,000 1,500,000
1,000,000 1,000,000
500,000 500,000
0 0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Assets Liabilities Net Assets -500,000
|| || —
-1,000,000
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Revenue Expenses Net Income
----- End of picture text -----

Approach to revenue generation

We would like to thank our valued supporters who once again stood by HSI/UK in our work to end animal cruelty. Their generosity ensured we were able to reach our charitable aims, helping animals around the world. For that, we are immensely grateful.

Our work for animals both in the UK and globally would not be possible without the generosity of our supporters. Our supporter ethos is that our supporters are the ones changing the world for animals and our goal is to ensure they feel that appreciation in each and every interaction with us. Additionally, we aim to offer a variety of engagement opportunities for supporters, including fundraising activities and events; cash appeals; being a regular donor; corporate, trust and foundation giving; legacy giving; and community/sponsorship events.

Our fundraising work was focused on three areas:

• 1) Marketing

• 2) Legacy

• 3) Philanthropy

Our focus in 2023 was, and continues to be on:

ɋ More testing on messaging, ensuring we have a healthy number of campaigns for which we can raise money effectively and engage our supporters.

Our aim in 2023 was to move into an investment phase in key income areas, predominately focused on individual giving. We are mindful of our return on fundraising investments for our supporters, balancing short term investment with medium term growth which is essential to ensure we can fund our ambitious work to end animal cruelty around the globe. Our goal is to diversify and significantly grow fundraising income in the coming years.

ɋ Remaining donor-centric in our approach, ensuring our donors are at the heart of all we do. This includes offering a variety of ways for supporters to engage with us, both financially and through taking action.

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2023 ANNUAL REPORT | HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) 39

Financial review

Financial review

ɋ Strengthening our brand through integrated fundraising, communications and campaigns.

ɋ Creating a healthy mix of both restricted and unrestricted income, ensuring we are funding what is required for the organisation. We aim to raise enough funds to generate a healthy surplus.

ɋ Diversifying our income stream as well as our supporter base to make us less vulnerable during times of globally economic instability.

ɋ Creating a solid base of predictable income by focusing on regular givers and multi-year philanthropic gifts.

Legacies:

In 2023 we received £785,500 in legacy gifts from supporters who so kindly and generously remembered our work in their wills. HSI/UK maintains a long-standing partnership with Legacy Link, which we work with to identify all legacy gifts to which HSI/ UK are entitled and ensure the efficient and lawful processing of all legacy gifts.

Throughout the year, we continued to increase investment in our legacy promotions programme. The aim of the programme is to inspire more supporters to consider, and ultimately bequeath, legacy gifts to ensure the future financial stability of the charity.

Key achievements in 2023 include:

ɋ Continued growth in legacy income from 2022. Legacy income continues to trend positively upwards, showing significant annual growth over the past 5 years.

ɋ Increased investment in legacy prospecting campaigns on our social media channels, which has generated large increases in the number of supporters indicating that they would consider leaving a legacy gift to HSI/UK.

Individual giving:

In 2023 our small gift income programme raised £1,768,796 (including gift aid). This was generated by around 6,500 of our loyal supporters responding to our direct mail appeals, over 2,000 committed supporters making regular gifts through direct debits, and our incredible digital donors.

A big focus for the programme in 2023 was kickstarting acquisition activity as we look to future-proof income through regular giving from direct debits. In 2023 we started testing Direct Response Television (DRTV) in the UK which performed well and has laid the foundations for an ambitious growth strategy heading into the next strategic period from 2024.

Key achievements in 2023 include:

ɋ Successfully starting our acquisition activity with the ‘Lucky’ TV ad. This has kickstarted recruitment of valuable direct debit supporters and shows we have a strong proposition the UK public resonate with.

ɋ Developing a UK specific donation landing page with the option to donate either monthly by direct debit or by cash which supported our DRTV activity and enabled us to offer the option for supporters to give cash donations online as part of the Christmas warm mail appeal.

ɋ Enhancing the Mid Level Supporter journey by sending ‘Up Close’ magazine – a behind the scenes in depth update about a specific area of our work developed by the legacy team – to our mail responsive supporters giving over £500, resulting in a 31% response rate – the strongest for this segment of supporters in 2023.

ɋ Raising more than £1.2m from our online digital supporter community.

Community outreach:

In 2023 our incredible UK-wide team of fundraisers raised over £17,900, taking on a range of challenges to help animals in need around the world.

One of our supporters raised over £2,000 by running a rally and yoga event while two others took on the Race To The Stones Challenge, walking an epic 50 kilometres in 10 hours to raise money for HSI/UK. These are just two examples of the wonderful ways our community supporters got involved in 2023.

Throughout the month of September we piloted the first ever HSI/UK owned event - ‘Paw Party’ – an initiative to inspire people across the country to celebrate with their furry friends by throwing a pet party and raising money for HSI/UK. We were pleased this raised £3,000 and engaged 67 organisers to host an event.

Also new this year was ‘EatKind in Restaurants’, a pledge for restaurants to donate a percentage of the cost of a vegan dish – we built partnerships with 10 restaurants and raised c. £360 which is a great start to build on.

Our annual Stand Up For Animals fundraising evening at The Comedy Store in London raised over £9,800 through ticket sales and a raffle of prizes generously donated by vegan and crueltyfree companies.

Major donors, corporates, and trusts:

We were extremely grateful to receive over £428,000 in philanthropic donations from high-net-worth individuals, trusts and foundations, and corporate donors. Several of these donations were restricted to specific projects, including our farmed animal welfare campaign, advocacy work and campaign to end the dog meat trade in South Korea.

Our portfolio of companies partnering with us to support our work also increased, with income up from the previous year by almost £39,000, raising close to £233,000 in 2023. This includes over £166,000 in Gift in Kind.

Photo (left): A vet practice raised funds for HSI by hosting a Paw Party event.

Photos (opposite page left to right): Supporters with their medals after walking 50km to raise money for HSI. A fundraising yoga event in support of HSI.

Throughout 2023, the fundraising team focused on cultivating meaningful relationships with new networks of individuals, companies, and trusts and foundations to advance our work within the UK and internationally. We held a successful major gifts dinner, which led to three prospects wanting to engage further with HSI, and our existing donors feeling appreciated. Our target for response rates of trust applications was exceeded, with the team achieving a 22% response on trust applications sent, against a target of 10%. A strategic decision was made to apply to less trusts, but increase both the quality and size of applications sent. Our corporate income target was exceeded by nearly £72,000 and our workplace giving target was also exceeded by £4,400.

Some of our most significant corporate donations included Crown and Paw, which generously donated £132,000 worth of Gifts in Kind for our South Korean rescue dogs and cats who are in shelters in LA and Philadelphia. To date they have donated over £242,000 to HSI since 2019.

Arcus Foundation donated £88,000 to support the care of over 60 chimpanzees living at our Second Chance Chimpanzee Refuge Liberia sanctuary. The chimpanzees were left on remote estuary islands in Liberia following their use in invasive research for decades by a U.S. biomedical organisation.

We were delighted to receive close to £53,000 from 11 Bit Studios in 2023 to aid more animals affected by the conflict in Ukraine. We are so grateful for this ongoing partnership, which has helped around 230,000 animals by raising close to £322,000 since 2019.

Veg Trust donated £46,000 towards our Forward Food campaigns in the UK and Brazil, with £25,000 of this going to the UK project. We are very grateful to have this new trust on board and look forward to collaborating moving forward.

Our partnership with Olsen Animal Trust continued in 2023. Their generous donations supported our efforts to end the dog meat trade in Asia. With this gift we were able to rescue 200 dogs from a slaughterhouse in South Korea, less than 100km from Seoul. Their donation helped us to close down this farm, which had been in operation for nearly 30 years, rescue the

40 HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) | 2023 ANNUAL REPORTTHE HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) | 2023 ANNUAL REPORT

2023 ANNUAL REPORT | HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) 41

Financial review

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Financial review
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dogs and demonstrate that there are sustainable alternatives for those currently reliant on the trade, serving as a model for change across the country.

LUSH generously donated £10,000 in 2023 and attended a gala dinner that the HSI/UK team held in September.

Reserves policy

Each year, the Trustees consider the appropriate level of free reserves. HSI/UK’s reserve policy is to maintain a level of free reserves that will enable the charity to maintain a continuity of activity and to adjust, in a measured way, to changes in the economic environment. The Trustees agree that free reserves equivalent to three months of operating expenditures are appropriate.

At 31 December 2023, free reserves measured as £1,869,734 (2022: £1,885,292) which exceeds the company reserves policy (three months of operating costs in 2023 = £594,069). Excess of the reserves over the established level will be proactively used in 2024 to further support animal protection work on HSI’s priority campaigns via HSI/UK’s affiliates overseas, as well as to cover unexpected expenses. The Trustees intend to continue to work towards maintaining free reserves and financial results achieved during 2023.

Going concern

The Trustees reviewed the HSI/UK financial plans in December 2023 as part of their normal annual review, as well as the charity’s principal financial risks. They are satisfied that HSI/UK has sufficient resources to continue operating for the foreseeable future and the accounts have been prepared in the knowledge that HSI/UK is a financially viable organisation. HSI/ UK anticipates continued support, if necessary, from our parent organisations in the US, The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International.

Registered Office:

5 Underwood Street

London N1 7LY

Auditors :

BDO LLP 55 Baker Street London W1U 7EU

42 HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) | 2023 ANNUAL REPORT

Plans for future periods

In 2024, the Trustees look forward to overseeing the charity’s current campaigns and its response to evolving opportunities and threats to animal welfare in the UK.

The Trustees also continue to encourage and support HSI/UK in its endeavours to improve animal welfare around the globe, through both advocacy campaigns and financial support for HSI’s international programmes.

We are ambitious for our work to protect animals in the UK and around the world, supported by our many friends and supporters in the UK. We thank our partners and supporters for their continued dedication to protecting the welfare of animals, and creating a more compassionate and humane society.

In preparing this report, the Trustees have taken advantage of the small companies exemptions provided by section 415A of the Companies Act 2006.

APPROVED BY THE TRUSTEES ON

October 25, 2024

~~__________~~ ___

AND SIGNED ON THEIR BEHALF BY

_______ CRISTOBEL BLOCK, TRUSTEE

2023 ANNUAL REPORT | HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) 45

Statement of Financial Activities

The Humane Society International (UK) Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 December 2023

(incorporating income and expense accounts)

	Note	Unrestricted	Restricted	2023 (£)	Unrestricted	Restricted	2022 (£)
		Funds (£)	Funds (£)		Funds (£)	Funds (£)
INCOME FROM:
Donations and legacies	2	3,189,744	255,973	3,445,717	2,215,282	558,793	2,774,075
Other trading activities		7,311	-	7,311	8,506	-	8,506
Total income		3,197,055	255,973	3,453,028	2,223,788	558,793	2,782,581
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising funds	3	1,108,437	-	1,108,437	707,111	-	707,111
Charitable activity
Promoting animal welfare	4	2,104,176	258,759	2,362,935	2,477,911	375,115	2,853,026
Total expenditure		3,212,613	258,759	3,471,372	3,185,022	375,115	3,560,137
Net expense		(15,558)	(2,786)	(18,344)	(961,234)	183,678	(777,556)
RECONCILIATION
OF FUNDS
Fund balance brought
forward at 1 January 2023		1,885,292	424,123	2,309,415	2,846,526	240,445	3,086,971
Fund balance carried
forward at 31 December 2023		1,869,734	421,337	2,291,071	1,885,292	424,123	2,309,415

Balance Sheet

The Humane Society International (UK) Balance Sheet at 31 December 2023 Company number 04610194. Charity registration number 1098925.

Note 2023 (£) 2022 (£)

CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors	10	753,919		491,173
Cash at bank and in hand		1,718,426		2,277,441
		2,472,345		2,768,614
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Creditors: amounts	11	(181,274)		(459,199)
falling due within one year
NET CURRENT ASSETS			2,291,071		2,309,415
NET ASSETS			2,291,071		2,309,415
FINANCED BY:
Restricted funds	12		421,337		424,123
Unrestricted funds	12		1,869,734		1,885,292
TOTAL FUNDS			2,291,071		2,309,415

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime and in accordance with FRS 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’.

25/10/24

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on ………..……………………… They were signed on its behalf by:

The Humane Society International (UK) has no recognised surpluses or deficits other than those disclosed above. All transactions relate to continuing activities. This incorporates income and expenditure accounts.

---

The notes on pages 49 to 55 are an integral part of these financial statements.

William H. Hall, Treasurer

The notes on pages 49 to 55 are an integral part of these financial statements.

Statement of Cash Flows

The Humane Society International (UK) Statement of Cash Flows (SOFA) for the year ended 31 December 2023

		Note	2023 (£)	2022(£)
Cash from operating activities
Net cash (used in) operating activities		A	(559,015)	(775,692)
(Decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year			(559,015)	(775,692)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year	Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year		2,277,441	3,053,133
Total cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year			1,718,426	2,277,441
A) Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities			2023 (£)	2022 (£)
(Net expense) for the reporting period (as per the statement of financing activities)			(18,344)	(777,556)
(Increase) in debtors			(262,746)	(73,330)
(Decrease)/increase in creditors			(277,925)	75,194
Net cash (used in) operating activities			(559,015)	(775,692)
Analysis of changes in net debt	At 1 Jan 2022 (£)	Cash flows (£)	Other changes (£)	At 31 Dec 2023 (£)
Cash at bank and in hand	2,277,441	(559,015)	-	1,718,426
TOTAL	2,277,441	(559,015)	-	1,718,426

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. Legal structure and significant accounting policies

1.4 Funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity.

1.1 Legal structure

The Humane Society International (UK) is a private company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, company number 04610194 and a registered charity number 1098925. The organisation was incorporated on 5 December 2002 and was registered as a charity on 11 August 2003. The organisation is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association as amended on 18 October 2016.

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure that meets these criteria is charged to the fund. Restricted funds are mostly comprised of donations received for the International Animal Rescue and Ukraine and Eastern Europe Response campaigns.

1.5 Allocation of expenditure

1.2 Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 October 2019) - (Charities SORP (FRS102)(second edition - October 2019), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) and Companies Act 2006.

Support costs have been allocated to raising funds and charitable activities on the basis of expenditure incurred, pro-rated where appropriate using the proportions of the staff time engaged in these functions. Expenditure includes irrecoverable VAT where applicable.

Expenditure has been recognised on an accruals basis.

Grants payable, which do not have any conditions attached, are accounted for in full as liabilities of the Charity when approved by the Trustees and notified to the recipient. Grant payables to third parties are included in expenditure for charitable activities. Where unconditional grants are made, these amounts are recognised when a legal or constructive obligation is created, typically when the recipient is notified that a grant will be made to them. Where grants are conditional on performance, the grant is only recognised once any unfulfilled conditions are outside of the control of the Charity.

Basis of measurement:

The financial statements have been prepared on a historical cost basis. The preparation of financial statements in compliance with FRS102 requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates. It also requires management to exercise judgement in applying accounting policies.

1.3 Income

The Humane Society International (UK) has no recognised surpluses or deficits other than those disclosed above. All transactions relate to continuing activities. This incorporates income and expenditure accounts.

The notes on pages 49 to 55 are an integral part of these financial statements.

Income is received by way of grants, legacies, royalties/license fees, donations and gifts and is included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable. Income is recognised when the Charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable the income will be received, the amount can be measured reliably and any performance conditions have been fully met.

Expenses that can be attributed to a specific program or support service are charged accordingly to their natural expenditure classification. Certain costs common to multiple functions have been allocated among raising funds and promoting animal welfare. General and administrative expenses include those costs that are not directly identifiable to any specific function, but provide for the overall support of the Charity.

Notes to the Financial Statements

Notes to the Financial Statements

The Humane Society International (UK) Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

The Humane Society International (UK) Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

1.9 Judgment in applying accounting policies and key sources of estimation

1.6 Foreign currency

The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and actual outcomes could differ from those estimates.

Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange prevailing at the accounting date. Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the date of the transactions. All differences are taken to the Statement of Financial Activities.

1.10 Concentration of credit risk

1.7 Financial instruments

The Charity’s assets that are exposed to credit risk consist primarily of gifts and other receivables, and related party transactions. The Charity’s gifts and other receivables balance consists primarily of amounts due from individuals and corporations. Historically, the Charity has not experienced significant losses related to the receivable balances and, therefore, the credit risk to them is minimal.

The Charity has financial assets and liabilities only of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

1.8 Going concern

The Trustees are required to prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is not appropriate. The Trustees have reviewed the going concern status of the Charity by considering the cash position of the Charity as at 31 December 2023, together with the anticipated level of funding for the coming year and the expected continued support of its parent, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Based on this review, the Trustees have concluded that the financial statements should continue to be prepared on the going concern basis.

1.11 Legacy accounting policy

For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either the Charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the Trust that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the Charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the Charity, or the Charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.

The Trustees reviewed the HSI UK plans in September 2024 and were satisfied that these plans were affordable and that the accounts should be prepared on a going concern basis.

Given the strength of the balance sheet and availability and liquidity of unrestricted Net Assets, totalling around £1.9M, the Trustees believe that, while uncertainty exists, this does not pose a material uncertainty that would cast doubt on the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Trustees, therefore, consider it appropriate for the accounts to be prepared on a going concern basis.

2. Donations and legacies

	Unrestricted Funds (£)	Restricted Funds (£)	2023 (£)	2022 (£)
Donations	2,385,261	255,973	2,641,234	2,033,542
Legacies	785,500	-	785,500	618,168
Royalty & License fees	18,983	-	18,983	122,365
Other income	-	-	-	-
	3,189,744	255,973	3,445,717	2,774,075

The donations and legacies income in 2022 was £2,774,075 of which £2,215,282 was unrestricted and £558,793 was restricted.

As at 31 December 2023, legacies where HSI/UK have entitlement but the remaining revenue recognition criteria have not been met, amount to £210,098.55 (2022: £277,121).

3. Raising funds

	Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	2023	2022
Campaign costs	1,108,437 1,108,437	- -	1,108,437 1,108,437	707,111 707,111

4. Promoting animal welfare

	Unrestricted Funds (£)	Restricted Funds (£)	2023 (£)	2022 (£)
Advocacy for animal
welfare costs	1,302,033	95,084	1,397,117	1,532,846
Grants paid (note 5)	77,200	163,675	240,875	733,591
UK support costs (note 6)	687,953	-	687,953	555,077
Governance costs (note 7)	36,990	-	36,990	31,512
	2,104,176	258,759	2,362,935	2,853,026

Expenses for promoting animal welfare in 2022 were £2,853,026 of which £2,477,911 was unrestricted and £375,115 was restricted.

5. Grants paid

	Unrestricted Funds (£)	Restricted Funds (£)	2023 (£)	2022 (£)
Animal Friends
Manado Indonesia	-	-	-	12,217
Animal Spay and
Neuter International	20,000	-	20,000	20,000
Asociatia Nomad Vet	-	19,888	19,888	20,008
Association of Dogs
and Cats Homes	20,000	-	20,000	50,000
Bio-Diversity
Conservation Foundation	-	-	-	58,020
British Divers Marine
Life Rescue (BDMLR)	3	9,997	10,000	-
Cornwall Seal Group	-	-	-	2,770
DogsnHomes Rescue	-	-	-	19,850
Evsiz Hayvanlari Ve
Dogayi Koruma Dernegi	-	10,082	10,082	-
Hopefield Animal Sanctuary	14,800	-	14,800	5,000
Humane Society International	-	21,000	21,000	216,440
Humane Society International Europe	-	-	-	261,286
Humane Society International Liberia	2,397	66,818	69,215	-
Jakarta Animal Aid Network	20,000	-	20,000	18,000
Protection of Animals
Welfare Society (PAWS)	-	11,290	11,290	-
Royal Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals	-	-	-	50,000
War Paws Limited	-	24,600	24,600	-
	77,200	163,675	240,875	733,591

Grants paid in 2022 were £733,591 of which £535,195 was unrestricted and £198,396 was restricted.

11 grants (2022: 12) were paid to institutions in year and nil grants (2022: Nil) were paid to individuals. i

The campaign costs in 2022 were £707,111 of which £707,111 was unrestricted and £Nil was restricted.

Notes to the Financial Statements

Notes to the Financial Statements

The Humane Society International (UK) Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

The Humane Society International (UK) Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

6. UK support costs

	Unrestricted Funds (£)	Restricted Funds (£)	2023 (£)	2022 (£)
Management overhead	379,926	-	379,926	346,575
Staff costs	183,819	-	183,819	100,657
Legal and professional fees	21,236	-	21,236	7,734
Rent	32,233	-	32,233	32,178
Bank charges	9,977	-	9,977	12,367
Insurance	3,116	-	3,116	2,776
Subscriptions	661	-	661	173
Accountancy	-	-	-	2,640
Printing, postage and stationery	44,684	-	44,684	29,066
Travel	6,359	-	6,359	15,411
Telecommunications	5,904	-	5,904	5,357
Sundry expenditure	-	-	-	58
Foreign exchange differences	38	-	38	85
	687,953	-	687,953	555,077

HSI/UK office costs in 2022 were £555,077 of which £555,077 was unrestricted and £Nil was restricted.

7. Governance costs

	Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	2023	2022
Audit fees:
Current period	36,990	-	36,990	31,512

The governance costs in 2022 were £31,512 of which £31,512 was unrestricted and £Nil was restricted.

8. Wages and salaries

	Unrestricted Funds (£)	Restricted Funds (£)	2023 (£)	2022 (£
Wages and salaries	1,459,192	24,825	1,484,017	1,238,395
Social security costs	165,405	-	165,405	148,223
Employee Benefits	51,439	-	51,439	48,541
	1,676,036	24,825	1,700,861	1,435,159

The wages and salaries costs in 2022 were £1,435,159 of which £1,435,159 was unrestricted and £Nil was restricted.

The average number of employees during the year was 25 (2022: 22). The number of employees at 31 Dec was 28 (2022: 26).

The Trustees consider the Trustees and Executive Director as the key management personnel of the Charity. The total wage cost including the employer’s social security and pension contributions of the key management personnel was £115,811 (2022: £118,157).

		2023			2022*
	UK		Intl	UK		Intl
£60,000 - £70,000	3		4	2		1
£70,000 - £80,000	0		0	1		1
£80,000 - £90,000	1		1	0		1
£90,000 - £100,000	1		1	1		0
£100,000 - £110,000	1		0	0		0
TOTAL	6		6	4		3

HSI/UK employs international staff (“Intl”) who are based in the UK, but are dedicated to HSI’s global work rather than on UK campaigns and activities. They report into managers and teams based outside of the UK.

*The disclosure was omitted from the prior year financial statements in error.

9. Taxation

The Humane Society International (UK) is a registered charity and therefore is not liable to income tax or corporate tax on income or gains derived from its charitable activities, as they fall within the various exemptions available to registered charities.

10. Debtors

	2023 (£)	2022 (£)
Other debtors	201,702	203,777
Prepayments and accrued income	552,217	287,396
	753,919	491,173

11. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

	2023 (£)	2022 (£)
Trade creditors	86,891	396,197
Accruals	94,383	63,002
	181,274	459,199

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52 HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) | 2023 ANNUAL REPORT

Notes to the Financial Statements

Notes to the Financial Statements

The Humane Society International (UK) Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

The Humane Society International (UK) Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

12. Funds

15. Lease commitment

SOFA: Net expense is stated after charging operating lease costs of £28,500 (2022: £28,500).

Analysis of net assets between funds	Unrestricted (£)	Restricted (£)	2023 (£)
Cash at bank and in hand	1,297,089	421,337	1,718,426
Debtors	753,919	-	753,919
Current liabilities	(181,274)	-	(181,274)
At 31 December 2022	1,869,734	421,337	2,291,071
Analysis of net assets between funds	Unrestricted (£)	Restricted (£)	2022 (£)
Cash at bank and in hand	1,853,318	424,123	2,277,441
Debtors	491,173	-	491,173
Current liabilities	(459,199)	-	(459,199)
At 31 December 2021	1,885,292	424,123	2,309,415

13. Movement of funds

Analysis of fund movements	Balance 2022 (£)	Incoming resource (£)	Resources expended £)	Balance 2023 (£)
	b/fwd			c/fwd
Restricted	424,123	255,973	258,759	421,337
Unrestricted	1,885,292	3,197,055	3,212,613	1,869,734
Total	2,309,415	3,453,028	3,471,372	2,291,071
Analysis of fund movements	Balance 2021 (£)	Incoming resources (£)	Resources expended (£)	Balance 2022 (£)
	b/fwd			c/fwd
Restricted	240,445	558,793	375,115	424,123
Unrestricted	2,846,526	2,223,788	3,185,022	1,885,292
Total	3,086,971	2,782,581	3,560,137	2,309,415

At 31 December 2023, the company had total commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as follows:

	2023 (£)	2023 (£)	2022 £)	2022 £)
Expiry date: Within one year		-		-

16. Related parties

During the year, the Charity received a grant of £14,785 (2022: £Nil) from The Humane Society of the United States (the HSUS).

Included within other debtors and falling due within one year is an amount due from the HSUS totalling £Nil (2022: £Nil).

Included within other creditors and falling due within one year is an amount due to the Humane Society International totalling £Nil (2022: £346,575).

17. Post balance sheet events

The Trustees have assessed whether there is any known impact on the value of the year and assets and liabilities. Assets in the balance sheet are considered to be fully recoverable and therefore no adverse effects to cash flows in the coming 12 month period have been identified.

18. Ultimate controlling party

The Charity’s ultimate controlling party is The Humane Society of the United Society (HSUS), a not-for-profit organisation in the United States, with registration number 53-0225390. The HSUS seeks to prevent and bring an end to animal cruelty in all of its forms, and to celebrate and strengthen the human-animal bond. The controlling party exercises control over by virtue of common trustees. Copies of the consolidated group accounts are available at www.humanesociety.org

14. Restricted funds

Breakdown of restricted funds	Balance 2022 (£)	Incoming resources (£)	Resources expended (£)	Balance 2023 (£)
	b/fwd			c/fwd
International Animal Rescue	298,637	128,001	103,812	322,826
Dog Meat Trade	2,690	36,694	26,198	13,186
Mauritius Program	11,752	-	11,752	-
Seals UK	9,997	-	9,997	-
Ukraine and Eastern Europe Response	Ukraine and Eastern Europe Response 101,047	-	15,722	85,325
Liberia Chimps	-	67,278	67,278	-
Stopping Animal Cruelty	-	3,000	3,000	-
Brazil Plant Based Campaign	-	21,000	21,000	-
	424,123	255,973	258,759	421,337

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54 HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) | 2023 ANNUAL REPORT

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Humane Society International (United Kingdom)

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Humane Society International (United Kingdom)

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of the Humane Society International (United Kingdom)

Opinion on the financial statements

Basis for opinion

In our opinion, the financial statements:

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

ɋ Give a true and fair view of the state of the Charitable Company’s affairs as at 31 December 2023 and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended;

ɋ Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

ɋ Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Independence

We have audited the financial statements of The Humane Society International (UK) (“the Charitable Company”) for the year ended 31 December 2023 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

We remain independent of the Charitable Company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.

Conclusions related to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Charitable Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially

inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material

inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Other Companies Act 2006 reporting

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

ɋ The information given in the Trustees’ Report, which includes the Directors’ Report prepared for the purposes of Company Law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

ɋ The Directors’ Report, which is included in the Trustees’ Report, have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

ɋ In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Charitable Company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatement in the Trustees’ report.

ɋ We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

ɋ We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

ɋ The trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the directors’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the Charitable Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the Charitable Company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

ɋ Adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

ɋ The financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

ɋ Certain disclosures of Directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

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2023 ANNUAL REPORT | HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) 57

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Humane Society International (United Kingdom)

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Humane Society International (United Kingdom)

Extent to which the audit was capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Non-compliance with laws and regulations

Based on:

ɋ Our understanding of the Charitable Company and the sector in which it operates;

ɋ Discussion with management; and

ɋ Obtaining and understanding of the Charitable Company’s policies and procedures regarding compliance with laws and regulations;

ɋ We considered the significant laws and regulations to be The Financial Reporting Standard Applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102), The Charities SORP, Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011, and UK tax legislation.

ɋ Our procedures in respect of the above included:

Fraud

We assessed the susceptibility of the financial statements to material misstatement, including fraud. Our risk assessment procedures included:

ɋ Enquiry with management regarding any known or suspected instances of fraud;

ɋ Obtaining an understanding of the Charitable Company’s policies and procedures relating to:

ɋ Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud; and

ɋ Internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud.

ɋ Review of minutes of meeting of those charged with governance for any known or suspected instances of fraud;

ɋ Discussion amongst the engagement team as to how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements; and

ɋ Performing analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.

Based on our risk assessment, we considered the areas most susceptible to fraud to be management override of controls and fraudulent revenue recognition with regard to completeness of donation income and recognition of legacy income in the correct accounting period.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located at the Financial Reporting Council’s (“FRC’s”) website at:

frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the Charitable Company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Charitable Company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charitable Company and the Charitable Company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

SARAH ANDERSON (SENIOR STATUTORY AUDITOR) FOR AND ON BEHALF OF BDO LLP, STATUTORY AUDITOR LONDON, UK

---

DATE

31 October 2024

---

ɋ Review of minutes of meeting of those charged with governance for any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations;

ɋ Review of financial statement disclosures and agreeing to supporting documentation;

ɋ Review of legal expenditure accounts to understand the nature of expenditure incurred; and

ɋ Review of serious incidents register and reports.

Our procedures in respect of the above included:

ɋ Testing a sample of journal entries throughout the year, which met a defined risk criteria, to supporting documentation;

ɋ Testing a sample of donation income and accrued legacy income to supporting documentation; and

ɋ Assessing significant estimates made by management for bias, including review of legacy accruals.

We also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential fraud risks to all engagement team members and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.

BDO LLP IS A LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIP REGISTERED IN ENGLAND AND WALES (WITH REGISTERED NUMBER OC305127).

Our audit procedures were designed to respond to risks of material misstatement in the financial statements, recognising that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery, misrepresentations or through collusion. There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures performed and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we are to become aware of it.

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2023 ANNUAL REPORT | HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL (UK) 59

Our mission

Advancing the welfare of animals in more than 50 countries, Humane Society International works around the globe to promote the human-animal bond, rescue and protect dogs and cats, improve farm animal welfare, protect wildlife, promote animal-free testing and research, respond to disasters and confront cruelty to animals in all of its forms.

The Humane Society International (UK) is a registered charity in England and Wales (1098925)

5 Underwood Street, London, N1 7LY | [e-mail] | 020 3174 2185 | hsiuk.org

©2024 HUMANE SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PHOTO CREDITS: FRONT COVER: JEAN CHUNG/HSI; PAGE 2: JEAN CHUNG/HSI; PAGE 4: BLICKWINKEL/ALAMY; PAGE 6: HSI; PAGE 7: JEAN CHUNG/HSI; PAGES 8&9: HSI; CLIVE TAGG /CLIVE TAGG PHOTOGRAPHY; HSI; HSI; JEAN CHUNG/HSI; HSI; HSI; PAGE 10: HSI; PAGE 11: CLAIRE BASS/HSI; PAGE 12: HSI; MATTHEW PRESCOTT/THE HSUS; PAGE 13: HSI; HSI; PAGE 14: CLIVE TAGG /CLIVE TAGG PHOTOGRAPHY; HSI; PAGE 16: CLAIRE BASS/HSI; HSI; PAGE 17: RICHARD GARVEY-WILLIAMS/ALAMY; PAGE 19: KELLY DONITHAN/HSI; PAGE 20: JEAN CHUNG/HSI; PAGE 21: HSI; HSI; PAGE 22: JEAN CHUNG/HSI; HSI; HSI; JEAN CHUNG/HSI; PAGE 23: JUNIORS BILDARCHIV/ALAMY; HSI; PAGE 24: GABRIELA PENELA/WE ANIMALS MEDIA; PAGE 25: NACHO RIVERA; HSI; HSI; PAGE 26: HSI; HSI; HSI; HSI; PAGE 27: HSI; HSI; PAGE 28: HSI; SCIENCE IN HD/UNSPLASH; HSI; HSI; HSI; HSI; PAGE 30: HSI; PAGE 31: CDC/UNSPLASH; PAGE 32: EMRAH GUREL/AP IMAGES FOR HSI; PAGE 33: ANDREA INDUNI VIZCAINO/HSI; PAGE 34: ROLF HICKER/ROLF HICKER WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPH; PAGE 37: VIACHESLAV IAKOBCHUK/ALAMY; PAGE 38: JULIE BUSCH BRANAMAN/THE HSUS; PAGE 40: TANY AND VERA DAUNS; IONA WEBSTER; PAGE 41: FOREST VETERINARY CENTRE; PAGES 42&43: CAROL GUZY/FOR THE HSUS; PAGES 44&45: CHAU DOAN/ AP IMAGES FOR HSI; PAGES 46&47: IMAGEBROKER.COM GMBH & CO. KG/ALAMY; PAGES 48&49: ANIMAL STOCK/ALAMY; PAGES 50&51: SAVO ILIC/ALAMY; PAGE 52: MARK HAYES/ALAMY; PAGE 55: STOCKPHOTOSART - ANIMALS/ALAMY.