Good News for Amur Leopards

The Amur leopard. an estimated 30 still exist in the wild, due to habitat loss and fatal human interaction. But a new safe haven has been made in Russia's Far East that provides the species a sanctuary. It's a newly-established national park named Land of the Leopard. Covering over 650,000 acres, it's part of a major project working to protect the Amur leopard. Inside the park's ranges, every single one of the species' breeding grounds are protected, and certain "zones" are being established, including protected areas and recreational areas, which will be used for Eco-tourism. But that's not all! The Land of the Leopard is also home to 10 Amur tigers, whom, even though brought back from the brink of near extinction, is still an endangered species. Even though Amur leopards are literally on the edge of oblivion, Land of the Leopard, along with conservation efforts, brings new hope to the leopard's-and the Amur tiger's- survival.

-PJ

Source: www.WorldWildlife.org 

Picture courtesy of LeopardPictures.com

1/2 Tonne of Ivory Seized at Bangkok Airport

Recently, nearly half a tonne of  illegally obtained ivory was found by Thai customs at the Bangkok national airport. The elephant tusks were found in wooden boxes on a flight from Kenya. In America, all the ivory combined would be worth over $700,000. Ivory shipped into Thailand is usually carved into jewellery, or sold to another country like China. Both actions are declared illegal. Like the very recent post about the illegal bird trade shenanigan, poachers were trying to find a way to launder valuable items into the Black Market. Ivory is said to be a "Universal Remedy", with some people claiming it cures everything from the flu to cancer, which is highly superstitious as elephant tusk is made from the same thing that human fingernails are. These superstitions are the same for tigers, bears and other animals. Remember the president of Gabon burning ivory to show his intolerance for poaching? Maybe the president of Thailand ought to do that, too.

-PJ 

Source: www.WildlifeExtra.com 

Picture Courtesy: BBC News

Vagary In illegal Bird Trade at Solomon Islands

Between 2000 and 2010 in Singapore, tens upon thousands of birds species, mainly consisting of parrots and cockatoos, listed as endangered were thrust into the illegal animal trade, with the smugglers declaring that the birds were captive-bred throughout all that time. Finally, local authorities explained to TRAFFIC (an organization that works to stop illegal animal trade) that Singapore is not known to behold captive breeding sites, especially for birds as endangered as the ones smuggled. More than 13,000 birds exported were species that weren't native to Singapore, most of them tracing back to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. TRAFFIC states that saying that thousands birds passing into the Solomon Islands were "captive bred" is a tell-tale indication of the shenanigan used to get around illegal bird trade.

                                              -PJ

Source: www.WorldWildlife.org

My Volunteer Work

Harry is a Great Basin gopher snake whom I exercise at my local nature center, as a volunteer there. Occasionally, I exercise Rex, the desert tortoise, but since it's summer now and he's in his outside cage there's really no need for me to exercise him this time of year. Harry loves to be outside.When he's in the shade he seems to come to a complete stop,  when he's in the sun he zooms all over the place. He is the longest snake at the nature center, out of the few that live in captivity there. The workers there take in and care for wild animals that are found injured or neglected. They have several birds of prey, including Des ta te, the noisy bald eagle, and Sundance, a golden eagle. By far the funniest bird on exhibit is Cronk, a raven who's an expert at mimicking sounds and is known for his "Pez dispenser" move. When I turn 16 I'll be able to care for the birds.

Golden Eagle Survives Wildfire

In my homeland of Utah, a young Golden Eagle recently survived after a wildfire scorched his body and destroyed his home. In Utah, the summertime is incredibly vulnerable to wildfires. Kent Keller, a wildlife conservationist who puts bands on juvenile eagles in order to track them and record a species' success,  tagged soon-to-be-named Phoenix and released him to be back with his family on a mountainside in Utah county. Unfortunately, what is thought to be a gunshot sparked a fire near Saratoga Springs, which was considerably close to the young eagle's nest. The wildfire was thought to have scorched 5,500 acres of the county. After the blaze swept across the area, Keller went to locate the supposed Phoenix's body. There he found a familiar tagged-and not dead- eagle amongst the ashes of the burnt mountainside. Keller brought him back to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Ogden, where he was named Phoenix by his new caretakers. After lots of water, food, ointment and antibiotics, Phoenix is doing just fine. What a lucky eagle, to have survived something like that.

-PJ

P.S. If you live locally  in Utah, donations can be made to help pay for Phoenix's care on-site at the Utah Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. 

Source: Standard-Examiner (local Utah paper)


Utah Wildlife Rehabilitation Center Website

Korea Plans to Hunt Endangered Whales

On July 4, the Republic of Korea announced propositions to kill endangered whales through  a loophole that was made in the International Whaling Commission's treaty with Korea, that will allow so- called "scientific whaling" to be performed, which is actually just another way for the IWC to escape illegal whaling laws.  This was met with ferocious opposition by IWC member governments, explaining that this loophole was highly unnecessary given the availability of  research techniques that don't require killing the whales. Many governments were highly against Korea's claim, and Australia even invited Korean scientists over to discuss the uselessness of "lethal research."  We can all hope that Korea choses to leave these beautiful sea-dwelling mammals alone and let them thrive in prosperity, because this could completely derail the IWC's attempts to cooperate with conservation acts aiming to protect endangered whales.

-PJ

Source:www.WorldWildlife.org

If you are new to WILD blog, please visit our first post.

Loss of Famous tortoise Triggers Conservation Acts

Lonesome George, the last remaining specimen of the Galapagos tortoise sub-species known as the Pinta Island tortoise, passed away on June 24, 2012. He was thought to have lived for over 100 years, having been found by Galapagos National Park in 1972. He died of unkown causes, but some suggest it was heart failure. The death of this conservation-and wildlife, for that matter- icon is truly a great loss. Throughout the time Galapagos National Park had George, scientists had tried to get George to mate with a different subspecies of tortoise, an endeavor that continued to fail since 1993. Clutches of eggs were laid twice, but all proved to be infertile. Scientists plan to perform a necropsy to better identify the cause of the tortoise's death, and they also propse to display George's body at the park. So long, George. We'll miss you.

-PJ

Source: www.WorldWildlife.org

If you are new to WILD blog, please visit our first post.