"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead, American anthropologist, 1901-1978
There’s news from South Korea of a rare Asiatic black bear having been spotted in the DMZ.
The DMZ is the Demilitarised Zone which divides North and South Korea. The area is very cut off and as a result, it’s become a pristine nature reserve.
In fact, the DMZ has become a real haven for plants and wildlife; the South Korean government predict that over 100 endangered species call the area home and the Ministry of Environment estimates that there are over 5,097 animal and plant species there, such as the red-crowned crane and black-faced spoonbill.
It’s thought there are about 3,050 red-crowned cranes left in the world so they are a very endangered species indeed. However, it’s also a migrating route for birds and the Eurasian lynx has been spotted in the area too.
Although South Korean soldiers reported seeing bears in the past, there wasn’t any photographic evidence. The South Korea National Institute of Technology installed cameras – and the bear was spotted!
The bear seen is thought to be between 8 to 9 months old, weighing about 25 to 35 kilograms. They think the bear is a descendant of the Asiatic black bears lived in the DMZ for a long time
The DMZ is 155 miles long and 2.5 miles wide and it runs across the Korean Peninsula. It’s heaviliy mined and fortified with barbed wire with surveillance cameras and electric fending. It was created after the armistice which brought an end to the 1950-53 Korean War.
Hiking trails are being established in the DMZ now as recently ties between North and South Korea have improved.
They have noticed that polar bears are showing up in odd places. An exhausted polar bear was seen recently in a village on Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula – and that’s 600 kilometers plus from its home range.
Their Senior Director of Conservation, Geoff York, thinks this could be that the bear hitched a ride on an ice floe and drifted south, as the ice broke up earlier in the Bering and Chukchi seas this spring.
Unusual and fast ice loss this year has displaced polar bears form their preferred hunting areas. Seals give birth to their pups in spring In snow lairs or on the sea ice surface. This makes the polar bear’s dinner more abundant and accessible than at any other time of the year.
However the Russian polar bear was far from this area.
It was decided to air-lift him back north, to Chukotka in the Russian Arctic.
But there have been other unusual occurrences in the region over several months. Some have been far from the sea. This could be because of unstable ice cover.
Sustained early sea ice is bad news for polar bears
Polar Bears International know from other regions that sustained early sea ice break up doesn’t do polar bears any good.
Fewer hunting opportunities
Decreased body condition
Impacts on reproduction which aren’t good
Negative impacts on survival, especially the old and young
If there’s less sea ice in the Arctic, it gets more difficult for polar bears to make a living from the frozen ocean. Of course people living on the Arctic rely on stable ice to get around on, and to gather food. We all need a frozen Arctic ecosystem to regulate our climate. So we ALL need the Arctic to be in good health.
Polar Bears International works in 3 ways:
Education and outreach. As more polar bears appear onshore, the charity works to help keep polar bears and people safe, with outreach on best practices for avoiding human-polar bear conflict. These include getting rid of things such as open garbage dumps and installing bear-proof ones.
Research – the charity is studying the effectiveness of using surveillance radar to detect approaching polar bears. This means alerts can be given before a bear enters town. PBI help with research on the best deterrants – and that includes putting together a history of polar bear attacks, and their causes to help avoid future conflicts.
Climate Action. PBI is one working to solve the climate crisis, sharing their knowledge of polar bears and coming up with solutions. This includes the Climate Alliance training program for zoo staff members, outreach to motivate citizen involvement, and advocacy to policy makers on the urgent need to act.
The World Land Trust reports that trail cameras in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve there have filmed a Black Bear recorded in central Mexico.
This is the first Black Bear recorded there for 100 years!
There's also footage of a nine-banded Armadillo and Jaguar.
Back in 2018, supporters of the World Land Trust raised a whopping £57,800 to protect an area of the forest of 578 acres - that's the size of nearly 300 football pitches!
Would you like to help the World Land Trust protect more acres for wildlife?
It’s very motivating to browse the internet and come across something which really strikes into your heart.
The sort of thing I’m thinking of spurs you to take action – not just to want to take action, but to actually do it.
How often do we come away having read something, thinking," That’s terrible," and then go on as if we had read nothing or not been affected at all?
The key to successful wildlife conservation is to moving people literally to take action, to do something, in whatever way we all can, to do something to save this wildlife on this planet and most particularly, to save and protect their habitats.
Number of actions for wildlife... ___________________________________________________________
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 action is better than no action at all
The good thing about taking one action is that we tend to feel good about doing it. And often we may think, "That was easy! What else can I do?" Sometimes it’s just the getting started and doing something however little time it takes.
The one thing wildlife cannot afford at all is for us all to sit at the zero action position.
We need a total army of people who will move from the zero point to doing stuff. And if each of us already do stuff, we need to do more.
E.O.Wilson is a scientist. In his book , (which inspires us to set aside half of the earth’s surface for nature), Mr Wilson writes:
“To those who are steering the growth of reserves worldwide, let me make an earnest request: don’t stop, just aim a lot higher.”
We all need to act for the sake of wildlife and this beautiful planet of ours.