"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
In the south west China’s Yunnan Province, environmental workers have opened some canteens for wild Asian elephants.
The aim is to reduce conflicts between the elephants and people.
Staff from the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve have created about 100 hectares of the elephant’s favourite food in three different sites. Bamboo and paper mulberry are on the menu.
On 5 July, a canteen had 20 Asian elephants who enjoyed their meal over two hours.
In Pu'er City, over 253 hectares of sugarcane, bananas and maize have been planted for the elephants.
The idea is that open-air canteens will help entice the elephants away from human settlements to prevent conflicts between the animals and people. The elephants can munch on food plants far away from the villages so they are less likely to come in to conflict with them. Fewer elephants are looking for food in the villages now.
The wild Asian elephants are endangered animals. In China their population has grown from over 170 in the 1990s to about 300 today. They live mainly in Yunnan.
Back in 1983, 3.2 million acres was established - the Iberá Natural Reserve in Corrientes province, North East Argentina. It created a tremendous opportunity for jaguar restoration.
And the Conservation Land Trust (CLT) was established there; it is ecologically restoring 370,000 acres of former cattle ranches to establish Argentina’s largest national park inside the larger Iberá reserve.
And CLT started a programme to reintroduce those large mammals that became extirpated inside Iberá during the XXth century.
After re-establishing the presence of giant anteaters and pampas deer there, jaguars are next.
The Tompkins Conservation team in Argentina consists of vets and scientists, community stakeholders and policy makers – and they’ve all collaborated with the goal of breeding a generation of jaguars that could be released into their natural habitat and survive in the wild on their own.
There are about 200 individuals in the wild in Argentina today, and about 15,000 jaguars roam the wild worldwide.
The goal is to restore a stable 100 jaguar population to Iberá National Park – these jaguar cubs are a great start.
For more information on this Jaguar programme, click here
Boat owners are going to have anchoring restrictions to protect rare seahorses and marine life.
There are plans for 41 new marine conservation zones around the coast. One of those that will receive protection is Studland Bay in Dorset. It will be protected from yachts and motorboats that moor there. In Kent, Goodwin Sands (a 10 mile sandbank) will receive similar protection. The Camel Estuary (Cornwall) and the Orford Inshore (off Suffolk) will be protected too.
In 2008, the Seahorse Trust found 40 seahorses in Studland Bay.
In 2018, (last month in fact), the Seahorse Trust found 0 seahorses in Studland Bay. That’s zero.
Heavy anchors and their metal chains destroy seagrass, the normal habitat for seahorses. And the Seahorse Trust says that seahorses should recolonise the area after the seagrass had recovered.
The charity says that while serious yachts people don’t anchor on the sea grass, plenty of boat users do.
Boating enthusiasts protested but the government fortunately over-ruled them.
Needless to say, the Royal Yachting Association has said it will impose restrictions, believing that seahorses and recreational boating activities can "reasonably co-exist".
"Reasonably exist" isn’t good enough.
If, over 10 years, the number of seahorses in Studland Bay has plummeted from a find of 40 to 0, there must be a very good reason.
It’s high time government stepped in, did the right thing and protected wildlife habitat.
A good move by the British Government. Now, more protection for wildlife, please!
Give wildlife the space and right habitat to thrive, they will.
Boat owners are going to have anchoring restrictions to protect rare seahorses and marine life.
There are plans for 41 new marine conservation zones around the coast.One of those that will receive protection is Studland Bay in Dorset.It will be protected from yachts and motorboats that moor there.In Kent, Goodwin Sands (a 10 mile sandbank) will receive similar protection. The Camel Estuary (Cornwall) and the Orford Inshore (off Suffolk) will be protected too.
In 2008, the Seahorse Trust found 40 seahorses in Sutland Bay.
In 2018, (last month in fact), the Seahorse Trust found 0 seahorses in Studland Bay.That’s zero.
Heavy anchors and their metal chains destroy seagrass, the normal habitat for seahorses.And the Seahorse Trust says that seahorses should recolonise the area after the seagrass had recovered.
The charity says that while serious yachts people don’t anchor on the sea grass, plenty of boat users do.
Boating enthusiasts protested but the government came to their senses and took no notice of them
Needless to say, the Royal Yachting Association has said it will impose restrictions, believing that seahorses and recreational boating activities can "reasonably co-exist".
"Reasonably exist" isn’t good enough.This is yet another example of wildlife suffering from the human race and our activities.
It isn’t as if leisure boating was an essential activity. (I should know, because we are boat owners.) Surviving is.
If, over 10 years, the number of seahorses in Studland Bay has plummeted from a find of 40 to 0, there must be a very good reason.
And with so many people just not caring at all about nature (and it’s not just boat owners, of course) or even thinking about what they are doing and the impact they are having, it’s high time government stepped in, did the right thing and protected wildlife habitat.
A good move by the British Government.Now, more protection, please!
Give wildlife the space and right habitat to thrive, they will.
The Sichaun province government has secured %1.58 billion in funding during the next 5 years for a planned Giant Panda National Park.
The park will be three times the size of the US Yellowstone National Park, so it will be enormous – 10,476 square miles in all.
The park will protect wild pandas living across the Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. The environment ministry said it had agreed to plans by 15 provinces and regions to draw up red lines to keep large areas of land off limits to economic development. These large areas include wetlands, forests, national parks and protected nature zones.
Over 80% of wild pandas live in Sichuan, and the rest in Shaanxi and Gansu. The park plans will link up the pandas who are isolated in these areas and encourage them to breed. Pandas are terribly slow at reproducing and there are several breeding centres in China to help with panda conservation.
Although the number of wild pandas have increased in recent years, the continued increase in numbers depends on having the right habitat available to pandas to breed so the announcement of the Giant Panda National Park is a step in the right direction to ensuring they have the right environment in which to thrive.
There’s an awful lot of bad news about big cats around at the moment; they are being hunted for their skins, claws, bones and other parts; killed to prevent human-wildlife conflict, and their habitats are increasingly fragmented and lost.
So it’s great to hear from African Parks that there are some hopeful signs across the continent for these majestic animals.
Lions are being restored to Malawi
In 2012, African Parks reintroduced lions to the Majete Wildlife Reserve. They secured the park and brought back key species, including prey populations. The lions have formed a small but growing pride to such an extent that African Parks have moved the first two of 10 lions to Liwonde National Park – the first time lions have been there for at least 4 years!
New cheetah population doubles in less than a year
In 2017, African Parks reintroduced cheetahs to Liwonde National Park, also in Malawi. They’d been absent for 100 years. Several females have had cubs, so increasing their numbers in just a few months since their arrival.
Lion numbers grow in Rwanda
Lions were eradicated by refugees coming back to Rwanda after the genocide, so they had been absent for 20 years. African Parks reintroduced 7 lions to the Akagera National Park. With the space to thrive, lions have nearly tripled, and the park is now a real wildlife gem. Tourism is flourishing with over 36,000 annual visitors to the park, bringing $1.3 million in tourism revenue. This is reinvested in the surrounding areas.
Restoring and protecting the big cat in Africa’s wild places does a number of things:
It maintains vital ecological processes
It gives tourism a boost
Tourism gives much needed benefits to the local communities and revenue to the region
Get involved
You can help African Parks continue to protect Africa’s big cats and ensure they have the space, prey and safety they need to breed and thrive. Donate here