A "WILDLIFE and Wine" event is coming to Dorking to raise awareness and funds to support the Born Free Foundation.
The event, hosted by the Surrey Green Party, will see the foundation's chief executive Will Travers visit the South Street Wine Bar on September 30 to urge more people to support their important work.
Mr Travers, the son of actors Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers who established the charity following their starring roles in the 1966 film Born Free, hopes to raise awareness and funds to support the foundation's Big Cat projects, including its sanctuary at Shamwari.
There big cats, which are unable to be returned to the wild, are able to live out their lives in a natural environment.
Building bomas – another of the foundation's projects – helps local people protect their livestock from lions with special fencing.
Mr Travers said: "The natural world is under increasing pressure – elephants and rhino poaching, rapacious timber extraction, wild species being driven to the brink as they compete with our rapidly growing human population for space and resources.
"It may seem hopeless but it is not. We can win for wildlife if we work together and allow a little more of our time and effort to be devoted to effective measures that support individual wild animals, endangered species and wild places.
"I am delighted that on September 30 I will have the opportunity to tell a little of the Born Free story, answer questions and invite anyone who wishes to to join the Born Free family. We can change wild animals' lives for good – freedom is not a dream."
The event takes place at 7.30pm and tickets cost £15, including a finger buffet and four tasting glasses of Wild Thing organic wines produced by Vintage Roots, are available from the South Street Wine Bar, by e-mailing derek.redhill@gmail.com or call 01737 214861.
Proceeds from the event will support work by the Surrey Green Party and the Born Free Foundation.
For more information, visit www.bornfree.org.uk