Since 2001, Aspers Casinos has supported animal conservation charity, The Aspinall Foundation, raising an impressive £280,000 over its fourteen years of operation. This August, the UK’s largest casino outside of London, The Casino MK and award-winning casino, Aspers Northampton hosted a VIP visit to The Aspinall Foundation’s Port Lympne Wild Animal Park to see exactly how their fundraising is helping to protect some of our planet’s most endangered species. Guests were able to take in the beautiful surroundings of the Port Lympne mansion house and gardens, and get close to th
Since 2001, Aspers Casinos has supported animal conservation charity, The Aspinall Foundation, raising an impressive £280,000 over its fourteen years of operation. This August, the UK’s largest casino outside of London, The Casino MK and award-winning casino, Aspers Northampton hosted a VIP visit to The Aspinall Foundation’s Port Lympne Wild Animal Park to see exactly how their fundraising is helping to protect some of our planet’s most endangered species. Guests were able to take in the beautiful surroundings of the Port Lympne mansion house and gardens, and get close to the animals on a VIP safari and once-in-a-lifetime gorilla feed. The Aspinall Foundation was established by the late John Aspinall, father of Damian Aspinall who set up Aspers Casinos, and exists to prevent the extinction of rare and endangered animals. The Foundation manages animal protection projects in Congo, Gabon, Java and Madagascar and is dedicated to safeguarding more than one million acres of habitat. The Aspinall Foundation is committed to returning all animals it protects back to the wild and were the first conservation project to reintroduce gorillas back into the wild. Since The Foundation was established in 1984, 18 gorillas have been returned to their natural habitat, and a number of successful breeding programmes have been established, not only for gorillas, but black rhinos, African elephants and clouded leopards too. With a family passion for conservation, Damian Aspinall has always maintained zoos should be about animals not people, and this message is clear throughout Port Lympne. Between Port Lympne and the Foundation’s other wild animal park Howletts, 1,000 animals and 90 different species are given an environment that’s as close to their natural habitats as possible to enrich their rehabilitation. One of the highlights of the casinos’ fundraising efforts includes a team of three employees from Aspers Northampton who aim to raise an incredible £5,000 for The Aspinall Foundation by climbing the world’s highest mountain. Darren Wiles, cashier at Aspers Northampton, poker dealer Hina Modha and Luke Goy, customer service gaming supervisor will take on Mount Everest in the Autumn of 2015 and have recently completed the Three Peaks Challenge in preparation for the climb, which saw more than £1,800 raised for The Aspinall Foundation. In celebration of their first birthday, The Casino MK is also raising money for The Aspinall Foundation by giving people the chance to take part in a giant zip wire roulette game from 5 – 6 September for £5, with all proceeds going towards the Foundation. To find out more about The Aspinall Foundation visit www.aspinallfoundation.org. To find out more about The Casino MK and Aspers Northampton visit www.thecasinomk.co.uk and www.aspersnorthampton.co.uk.