As we kick off 2026, I would like to share with you some of our special moments of 2025. Some had a global impact, like Poland ending the world’s second largest fur farming industry. Some were simply heart-warming, like Muheeb coming home from hospital and defying all the odds. Enjoy our countdown from ten to one!

#10 Breaking ground at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary. It’s been quite a year of construction at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary with installation of the waste disposal and grey water recycling systems, completion of the final wing of the Tohir Staff Village (pictured – which can house 15 people on duty 24/7 for the animals), and the opening of three new boreholes giving us a huge boost in long term water supplies (after the year started with a serious drought).

As well as building up the infra-structure that keeps the sanctuary ticking, buildings were also going up for the animals. Sasha tiger moved into Alexis Habitat (named after our much-missed rescue team colleague Alexis Diaz Limaco) with a new house with two rooms. Sasha’s old habitat (Stephi) was then converted into the ADIWS Quarantine Unit, with drive through disinfectant for vehicles, footbaths for our team and its own washing areas and tools. Goliath and Coralie were the first animals to move into the facility in May. Unlike many facilities of the same name, our quarantine offers a full size 2.5-acre natural habitat with two feeding camps, pools, platforms and a two-room house, so animals can remain here as long as necessary. 2026 looks set to be even busier with work planned for the Non-Predator Reception Area, ADI operations complex and Jean Warner Sprague Education Center and the overhaul of Chris Lee Lodge.

#9 Dolphinaria closing down. As the world wakes up to the cruelty of keeping marine mammals in tiny, barren tanks in the name of entertainment at least five of these exhibits have closed their doors, worldwide. Marineland in France, Marineland in Canada, Dolphinaris Barceló in Mexico, The Dolphin Resort in Bahrain, and Miami Seaquarium in the United States all permanently closed.

#8 US FDA & UK Roadmaps to end animal testing and US CDC to end monkey experiments. We will work to support these proposals to try to ensure they are implemented. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a ‘Roadmap to Reducing Animal Testing in Preclinical Safety Studies’ and the UK Government’s ‘Replacing animals in science: A strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods’ could mark a turning point in the battle to end animal experiments. A breakthrough is the FDA acknowledging “…growing recognition that animals do not provide adequate models of human health and disease”, that “over 90% of drugs that appear safe and effective in animals do not go on to receive FDA approval in humans”, and advocating “more effective, human-relevant models”. The UK document maintains a familiar defensive position on animal experiments but does set deadlines for eliminating some tests. Watch for important announcements from ADI this year on how to ensure the roadmaps lead somewhere.

A more tangible result for now is the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stating they will phase out the use of monkeys in their experiments by the end of the year saving hundreds of monkeys. While another victory saw the Netherlands government vote for public funds provided to Europe’s largest primate facility, Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC), to be only used for animal-free research. An ADI undercover investigation of BPRC exposed terrified monkeys being chased into crush cages; sedated but still conscious monkeys wincing as they are tattooed and used for tests; animals with painful fighting injuries; and stress-related anal prolapses. Help ADI make 2026 a really important year in the battle to end animal experiments.

#7 Britain ends badger cull. Angela Eagle MP, Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs, announced the UK’s notorious culling of badgers would stop by the end of 2025. The culling policy has been repeatedly discredited and the UK Government is now developing a new, science-based plan to tackle bovine TB – focusing on cattle testing, movement controls, farm biosecurity, and badger vaccination.

#6 Muheeb comes home from hospital and starts to play. The year began with the heartbreaking news that Muheeb, one of the lions we rescued from the pet trade in Kuwait, had inoperable cancer. We all had heavy hearts when he returned from hospital and we opened his crate to let him back into his habitat at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary (Keith’s Happiness Habitat). Then Muheeb ran to the big robust-a-ball that was hanging up and began to play, grabbing it and batting it back and forth, and he just kept playing. He had no intention of giving up. Almost a year later, he’s still playing, has put on weight, and continues to defy the odds. An inspirational lion who reminds us all: Never, ever give up. Watch the video here

#5 Colombian Court backs bullfighting ban. Colombia’s ban on bullfighting was the landmark victory of 2024, so 2025 saw an onslaught from the industry to try to overturn it. That’s what makes the unanimous decision of Colombia’s Plenary Chamber of the Constitutional Court’s to not only support Law 2385 of 2024, but to extend it to other events abusing bulls and cockfighting, one of our magic moments of 2025. It’s always a long, hard fight to secure a ban on animal abuse and it can be followed by another battle to ensure such bans are enforced. The Court has allowed a three-year period for implementation of the new law, and ADI Latin America will keep watch to ensure there are no extensions.

#4 Washington state bans wild animal acts. When Governor Bob Ferguson signed SB 5065 into law, banning the use of elephants, big cats, non-human primates, bears, and hybrids of these species in travelling acts statewide, Washington became the seventh US state with a ban. There’s still a way to go for the US, given progress elsewhere, but another animal circus fell by the wayside with Garden Bros Nuclear Circus removing performing animals from their shows.

#3 Bahati joins the herd. ADI stepped in to help a small calf found in the back of a pickup truck, cruelly tied up and struggling to breathe. The perpetrators are being prosecuted. We named him Bahati, which means lucky in Swahili. This is the most recent case where the SPCA has called in ADIWS to help. We have taken cows, pigs, geese, donkeys, horses, and injured wildlife. We are pleased to be a vital part of the rescue network in our region, enforcing animal protection laws and tackling wildlife trafficking. However, Bahati’s rescue confirms that although we have a lot of space, we are reaching our limit in terms of facilities for them. So, for Giving Tuesday 2025 we launched an appeal to build a new Reception Area for the rescued non-predator wildlife (antelope, tortoises and others) as well as the domestic rescues. Thanks to a wonderful response, construction will start this year so that we can continue to take in these animals, whether they are destined to be in our care for life or returned to the wild after veterinary treatment and care.

#2 Poland bans fur farming. The world’s second largest producer of fur, over 3 million mink and foxes are killed every year in Poland. The ban will end the killing by 2033. It is hoped that many farms will close ahead of schedule, as has happened elsewhere. This is the biggest national fur industry shut down so far, a seismic shift. Many will recall how ADI used hidden cameras in a Polish fur farm to track the lives of young foxes, from birth to death. The farmer was subsequently convicted of cruelty. A stepping-stone to ending the suffering. 2025 also saw the last of Norway’s fur farms closed following the 2019 ban – another country where ADI had investigated fur farms.

#1 Goliath & Coralie step out in Africa. Rescued from a tiny circus cage in France, Goliath and Coralie arrived on the night of May 21 at the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, South Africa, after an epic journey. With the sun shining, the next morning the door to their house was slowly opened and out they stepped. Goliath first, quickly followed by Coralie, those great paws stepping onto the land of their ancestors for the first time. A glorious moment for two lions, back where they belong, as France phases out the use of animals in circuses.

Thank you to Tonga Terre D’Accueil, which cared for Goliath and Coralie after their removal from the circus following an investigation by Free Life Association, and to Qatar Airways Cargo for donating the flights as part of their WeQare program to help wildlife.

Watch Goliath & Coralie’s journey from France to the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa.

Support ADI and make 2026 a really special year for animals. Donate here.