Due to inbreeding, and farmers' mistaken impression that they eat their livestock, numbers of Cheetahs in the wild have long been in serious decline. Sponsor or adopt a cheetah today here

From being the most numerous Rhino in the world in the early 1900s, the population of Black Rhinos had plummeted to just 4,000.

It’s never been so important to sponsor or adopt a rhino through organisations such as the Aspinall Foundation.

Research suggests that since the 1970s the numbers of gorillas have decreased from 100,000 to 50,000. They have often been the target of poachers and have fallen victim to Ebola and the effects of deforestation. You can help preserve them by adopting or sponsoring a gorilla as a gift.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, the Aspinall Foundation can provide you with an creative and worthwhile ethical gift for your loved one. Is the special person in your life an animal lover? If so, through the Foundation, you can adopt or sponsor a wild animal for them this Valentine's Day quickly and easily online.

Giving a virtual gift such as a goat, a camel or a chicken on someone else's behalf has proved a real hit for those who want to give a meaningful gift. Now you can give a school place, or even a whole classroom, through the Save the Children Wish List.

They spit, they bite, and they’re bad tempered - but camels don’t deserve their bad reputation! In harsh conditions there’s no better means of transport, plus they provide nutritious milk and even dung for fuel and fertiliser. Just visit the Oxfam Unwrapped website for more details.

One charity gift that is proving a huge hit is to give or buy someone an acre of rainforest. Green gifts are getting more and more popular, and saving an acre of rainforest is a creative and worthwhile present that will benefit the planet as well as the person you give it to. You can buy, and so save, an acre of rainforest quickly and easily online through the World Land Trust.

Ethical and alternative gifts may never be the same after UNICEF, Oxfam, World Vision and Christian Aid, launched schemes to send goats, chickens, donkeys, sheep, camels and assorted other livestock to Africa on behalf of loved ones as charity gifts.

Charity Christmas gifts from charities such as Oxfam, World Vision and Christian Aid are proving to be a great solution for yuletide shoppers, looking for something meaningful to give their friends or family.

If you are wanting to give a virtual charity gift this Christmas to a child, then why not do it through the Save the Children Wish List.

Sponsoring a cat makes an ideal and unusual gift for someone for Christmas or a birthday, particularly if they are a cat lover.

You can sponsor a cat through Cats Protection. Formed in 1927, Cats Protection has grown to become the UK’s leading cat welfare charity. Cats Protection now rehome and reunite 55,000 cats and kittens every year. Cats Protection's vision is to ensure every cat is given the chance of a life where it will be treated with kindness and an understanding of its needs.

Sponsoring an animal as a gift is proving extremely popular in 2008 in the face of the credit crunch. Animal sponsorship is a cheap, unusual and worthwhile gift for animal lovers everywhere.

World Vision is one of the main charities working in Albania, and if you want to give a gift that will help people in the country, you can do it through their Must Have Gifts website.

There may not be much fun and yuletide merriment this Christmas, as Father Christmas may not make it over the Separation Wall. A new Christmas Card produced by the charity the Amos Trust, features Father Christmas walking along the barrier.

There has never been a more important time to sponsor a child in Zimbabwe. Sponsor a child with World Vision here.