She was ridiculed and ignored by other children for looking different. Arifase was missing out on her education and a chance of a better life because she was too afraid to go to school. Her childhood was being taken away – she just wanted to look like the other children in her village.

More than 200,000 children are born with a severe cleft condition each year — often unable to eat, speak, socialize or smile. In some places these children are shunned and rejected. And in too many cases, their parents can’t afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal life.

That’s where we come in. Since 1982, Operation Smile  — through the help of dedicated medical volunteers — has provided free surgeries to children in more than 50 countries, healing their smiles and bringing hope for a better future.

Destructive fishing practices like bottom trawling waste more than 16 billion pounds of fish and kill countless marine mammals every year, while obliterating ocean habitat like coral reefs and seamounts that can take decades or centuries to recover. Oceana works to ensure that fish are taken out of the ocean only at sustainable rates based on science, and to protect habitats by drastically reducing by catch and its effects on the marine ecosystem.

Oceana, founded in 2001, is the largest international organization focused solely on ocean conservation. Our offices work together on a limited number of strategic, directed campaigns to achieve measurable outcomes that will help return our oceans to former levels of abundance.

It is legal in Canada to kill seal pups when they are about 12 days old. During last year’s hunt, almost all the seals killed were 3 months old or younger. Many had not yet learned how to swim or eaten their first solid meals. Baby seals are helpless and have no way to escape from the sealers’ clubs.

The sealing industry claims that it is killing more seals because of an increased demand for fur. Although the U.S. banned the sale of seal fur in 1972, anyone wearing the fur of minks, rabbits, foxes, or any other kind of animal is responsible for creating a demand for fur, which pushes Canadian hunters to club more seals each year.

Most zoo enclosures are very small, and rather than promoting respect for or understanding of animals, signs often provide little more information than an animal’s species, diet, and natural range. Animals’ normal behavior is seldom discussed, much less observed, because their natural needs are rarely met. Birds’ wings may be clipped so that they cannot fly, aquatic animals often go without adequate water, and many animals who naturally live in large herds or family groups are kept alone or, at most, in pairs. Natural hunting and mating behaviors are virtually eliminated by regulated feeding and breeding regimens. Animals are closely confined, lack privacy, and have little opportunity for mental stimulation or physical exercise. These conditions often result in abnormal and self-destructive behavior, known as “zoochosis.”

The lack of clean water means millions of women and children spend hours each day searching for water and carrying it home.  This exhausting task can cause damage to their heads, necks and spines, and leaves them with little time for productive work or education.

Sanitation can be defined as access to safe, clean and effective human urine and feces disposal facilities. Worldwide, 2.5 billion people live without this essential service and the resulting diarrheal diseases kill 4,000 children a day.

The ASPCA’s nationally respected Field Investigations and Response Team was created in September of 2005 as a mechanism to assist with the rescue of animals in crisis during a natural disaster or major cruelty emergency. The ASPCA Field Investigations and Response Team is made up of ASPCA experts, including veterinarians, veterinary technicians, humane law enforcement agents, disaster responders and sheltering professionals. They have responded to such natural disasters as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008, but are more commonly called upon by state and municipal governments and other animal welfare partners to lend expertise during large-scale animal rescues. These include puppy mill raids, animal hoarding situations, dog fighting operations and other animal cruelty emergencies.