On this special New Year's Eve, here a few words of thanks sent earlier to our special family of Board and staff, and with every word now sincerely extended to you, with our grateful thanks for your never ending help and support.

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With Christmas now behind and the new year looming ahead, this is the perfect time to send a short, but no less sincere message, with thanks and love to you all for being so brilliant throughout another difficult year.

As our relentless and patient Vietnam team continues fighting the battle against corruption, we wait with baited breath for the Prime Minister to make what will hopefully be the right decision and that we be allowed to remain where we are. Thank you all everywhere for working so hard on this issue, which none of us expected in our wildest dreams from those who are supposedly our allies in Vietnam.

In China, the latest news is that bear farming is being held even more to scrutiny by legal experts, with the practice called to task for not adhering to the true spirit of the wild animal law. Interesting times as ever, and the coming weeks and months are set to be busy again for the whole China team as more waves are set in motion to keep "Ending Bear Farming" on the map across the country. Thanks again to you all for working either in front of, or behind, the scenes and towards creating the final tidal wave this industry needs to see it obliterated once and for all.

Dogs and cats too have seen a truly superb year of public education in China, with our Cat and Dog Welfare team kept super busy working with school and hospital authorities, together with dozens of local welfare groups across the country. Here again, the "debate" is growing in intensity and it's good to see the Chinese public seizing the campaign and presenting informed and intelligent arguments against the consumption of our companion animal friends.

In that sense, the progress allows us to reflect on other animals looked on as food and similarly exploited, and the compassionate circle widens to include captive animals historically left out in the cold - whether in zoos or in farms. This is where all in our Animal Welfare and Captive Animal Welfare teams have excelled in the past year in raising the profile of misery for them all. The conferences and workshops speak for themselves and, once again, 2013 is going to be another busy year as the opportunity for expanding on these presents itself and starts widening yet another debate in China.

With our three spearhead programmes forging ahead, it's to the credit of everyone on our Board, management and our country and admin offices that they continue to grow and inspire; the backbone of good governance, housekeeping and integrity that our supporters both trust and endorse. Thank you all, again, for a foundation we can simply be proud of in doing the right thing for both the animals and people of this world.

At the end of another year, let me leave you with a link to some special words from our friends Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff where they offer 12 "millennial mantras" which, were everyone in the world to read them, might see a different, certainly less violent, earth than we live on today. Jane and Marc combine the intelligence and compassion of two people who give every one of us "reason for hope" - with Jane and her unwavering belief in the "indomitable human spirit", and Marc relentlessly urging that each of us try to tread compassionate footprints throughout every day of our lives.

I hope we can continue to be the whistle blowers that Marc and Jane refer to as well - whether as part of the Animals Asia family, or in our individual lives, when things become too much to bear and we are compelled to speak out. Read their post here.

With love and thanks again to you all for the 2013 all animals deserve, and with the last, most appropriate, words belonging to our beautiful rescued "meat market dog", To Zhai, Jillx