Ugly, Forgotten and Facing Extinction - The Animals Starring on This Year's Must-Have Valentine’s Day Cards...

Feb. 06, 2017

Around 25 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged in the UK every year - invariably festooned with pictures of cute anthropomorphized animals.

But this year, why not swap the fluffy kittens and mice with glasses of Champagne for a more aesthetically-challenged creature – and help save it from extinction?

A quirky new range of Valentine’s Day cards has gone on sale featuring “ugly and forgotten” endangered animals, with all profits going to charities supporting the endangered animals that feature on the cards.

After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and these cool cards carry a heart-warming but serious message at a time when our thoughts turn to love.

You can choose from cards depicting a Proboscis monkey and a Purple pig-nosed frog to support Word Land Trust, a Babirusa for Yayasan Adudu Nantu Internasional, a Bald Uakari for Amazon Conservation Association, a Blobfish for Marine Conservation Institute or a Greater Adjutant for WaterBird Fund.

All the animals featured never get the amount of attention ‘cuter’ endangered critters enjoy like pandas, tigers and polar bears – or the charity donations.

As a result, populations of some of the planet’s more ugly animals are dwindling which is a problem because the world’s ecosystems actually depend on their existence.

According to International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the main global authority on risks to animals and plants, 24,307 species are currently in danger of extinction.

The WWF says that the rapid loss of species we are seeing today is estimated by experts to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate - i.e. the rate of species extinctions that would occur if humans were not around.

The Valentine’s Day cards are the brainchild of London-based advertising agency Droga5.

It has persuaded printing company Screaming Colour, picture agency Shutterstock and a number of photographers to help produce them at a discounted rate to make as much money from the cards as possible, with all profits being shared between a number of charities.

To buy the cards, go to http://www.uglyandforgotten.com