The Friendly Year 2021 - Save the Belugas

Together with you and our long-term charity partner The Perfect World Foundation, we have through our charity program The Friendly Year of 2021 – Save the Belugas, supported The Sea Life Trust Beluga Whale Sanctuary, and their two residents Little White and Little Grey on their journey to a freer life in a natural habitat.

Little White and Little Grey, both brought up in captivity, are the two first mammals of their sort to ever have been rescued out of captivity. About 3000 whales and dolphins are held in captivity, never given the chance to experience life in a natural habitat and facing premature death from the stressful and depressing life in tanks. Adapting from life in captivity is a process that takes time and requires many resources.

Through The Friendly Year of 2021 – Save the Belugas, we together with you, our dedicated community and customers managed to raise and donate 100 000 USD to the Beluga Whale Sanctuary, enabling Little White and Little Grey to take their next step in their rehabilitation process. The money from The Friendly Year has and will contribute to the establishment of an intermediate habitat to help bring about a safe and successful transition for the whales to the main bay. This intermediate habitat will help to create an additional step for Little White and Little Grey to transition into the bay in their own time, as well as any additional beluga whales who will join them in the future. Maria Nila together with The Perfect World Foundation, the team at the Beluga Whale Sanctuary, and Little White and Little Grey would like to thank everyone who has participated! Thank you for joining the friendly journey!

With the mission of providing the world with professional beauty in a fun, friendly and honest way, we at Maria Nila do not believe that animals should be part of human vanity. The Friendly Year program is one of our ways to raise awareness about wildlife issues and give back to both wildlife and nature by making it easy for everyone to take a small step towards a friendlier world. Through The Friendly Years, we and The Perfect World Foundation, together with our community, have been able to support several different wildlife projects and organisations, giving animals a new chance to live in a freer environment.

The next Friendly Year project will be announced on World Vegan Day, November 1st – Keep your eyes open!