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1. 3,100 respond to an appeal for Big Cats

   Posted on 9:00pm Saturday 31st Aug 2019

   Do you ever hear of an appeal and wonder how many people sign up to it? Well, National Geographic had a Big Cats Appeal in honour of World Lion Day on 10 August.  They asked people to help protect lions, cheetahs and other Big Cats.  Big Cats are in trouble because of habitat loss, degradation and conflict with humans. 3,100 people responded to an appeal for Big Cats. And they raised an incredible $199,000.   That money will go straight to fund innovative solutions and technology protecting wildlife and wild places. ©National Geographic Society National Geographic has identified 20 populations across 18 countries as priority areas for lions.  These populations encompass almost 1.25 million square kilometres – it’s estimated they have 83% of Africa’s known lion population. And they help communities too, as they create conservation programmes which help protect wonderful Big Cats and employ local people too.  Find out more and support their work here Derek and Beverly Joubert are conservationists and film makers who have been working to help save big cats and other key wildlife species and their habitats for over 30 years.    The Jouberts and National Geographic founded the Big Cats Initiative in 2009 to try to halt the decline of big cats in the wild. The Big Cats Initiative supports scientists and conservationists who are working to save big cats.   They have built over 1,800 livestock enclosures to protect livestock and so save big cats from retaliatory killings.  The Big Cats Initiative takes a three pronged approach to big cat conservation: It assesses It assesses and maps big cat populations, and it analyses the success of measures put in place to help protect them – this knowledge helps guide the protection efforts the Big Cats Initiative chooses to fund. It protects The initiative supports protects designed and implemented by people living in areas where they are big cats, creating ways in which local communities and big cats can co-exist It communicates With Nat Geo WILD, the Big Cats Initiative spreads the word about the big cat decline, thus encouraging the public to find out more through free education initiatives and programming on Nat Geo WILD. Find out more about the Big Cats Initiative here 3 ways to help and get involved: Donate Spread the word Sign up for the newsletter so that you can get updates from the field

    

    

2. Live in the US? Tell your Representative to give wildlife support with this Act

   Posted on 9:00pm Thursday 8th Aug 2019

   Tell your representative to support the Critically Endangered Animals Conservation Act. The Wildlife Conservation Society have been in touch about an Act that would be a major deal for endangered species. It’s called the Critically Endangered Animals Conservation Act. The act would re-establish a programme which provided funding for projects aimed at conserving animals who are threatened or endangered in the wild. Snow leopards, Andean cats, African penguins and the white-backed vulture would really benefit from this act: The Wildlife Conservation Society say the act would help by Fighting the illegal wildlife trade Improving wildlife health Adapting to climate change Preventing conflict between humans and wildlife PLEASE ask your representative to co-sponsor the Critically Endangered Animals Conservation Act.

    

3. Attempts to reverse tiger loss in Malaysia - please give the Malayan Tiger your support

   Posted on 10:00am Wednesday 31st Jul 2019

   There’s bad news from Kuala Lumpur but something is being done in an attempt to reverse a situation.   Back in the 1950s, there were about 3,000 tigers in Malaysia.   There are now less than 200 Malayan tigers left as poaching ploughs on, even in the tiger priority state of the Belum-Temengor forest reserve.  They are classed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN's Red List. Poachers are driven by demand for tiger body parts for traditional Chinese medicine and other uses.  Hunters from Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia have been drawn to the area.  Poachers have set up thousands of snares, according to WWF Malaysia’s Tiger Landscape, and these have trapped tigers and other wild animals.  Deer and wild boar – the tiger’s natural food source – have been caused by poachers and locals who hunt the animals for sport. Please give your support to WWF Malaysia's Tiger Pledge Photo ©WWF Malaysia The tigers roam the jungle in search of food or a mate but they find it hard or impossible to find food, so haven’t got enough energy to survive or reproduce, which means the tiger numbers have gone down even further. WWF Malaysia have established patrol teams of indigenous people in Belum Temenggor.  These teams undertake daily patrols, retrieve snares and report possible poaching areas.  But there’s a lot of the jungle to cover, and these secluded areas aren’t easy to reach.  A specialist force with tactical and jungle survival skills is required. WWF Malaysia have videos (they call them documentaries) you can look at all about the Malayan Tiger project they are running to try to save this tiger from extinction.   Watch the Guardians of the Forest at work here The good news is that the police will be helping the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) rangers to patrol deep in the jungle.  The police have agreed to send two General Operations Force battalions from Senoi Praaq to carry out patrols in identified forest areas.  They will be tracking down poachers, especially those helping the Malayan tiger. The WWF patrol teams have removed about 1,400 snares and released 269 different trapped animals since 2014. Visit WWF Malaysia here and find out about the Malayan Tiger Project here Will you pledge your support for the Malayan Tiger? Sign here today and be a tiger hero! Source:  Freemalaysiatoday.com

    

4. Counting Tigers: A Survival Special on ITV

   Posted on 1:00pm Tuesday 30th Jul 2019

   On ITV tonight (that’s Tuesday 30 July 2019) at 9pm UK time, ITV are showing Counting Tigers:  A Survival Special and it should make very interesting viewing. Tiger Numbers fell drastically There are now just about 4,000 tigers left in the wild around the world and about 60% of those live in India.  Estimates suggest that the tiger population has gone down 95% in the last century alone. India Tiger Survey now takes place every 4 years India has just undertaken its next tiger survey to count these magnificent animals in the country’s borders.  If the tiger numbers go up, there’s hope for the species.  If they don’t… The programme has exclusive access to India’s tiger count, an event which takes place every 4 years.  The results come in area by area.   Please be warned that the programme has terrible evidence of poaching. What’s behind the fall in tiger numbers? Their numbers dropped because of people, of course;   people encroaching on tiger habitat, and poachers who wanted every bit of the tiger to sell. India has been changing very rapidly – with roads, railways and industry spreading all over the place which makes it very difficult for the tiger to survive.   Trophy hunters also want to shoot tigers, no doubt many of them claiming that’s in the cause of “conservation”. Greed and ignorance drive the demand for the tiger.   Poachers claim 2 tigers a week, often leaving cubs to fend for themselves and try to make it to adulthood. Poachers need tigers for their fur as luxury home décor, tiger bone to treat rheumatism and arthritis, and to make a tonic wine, as a general bone-strengthening tonic. Tiger bone wine is often use for bribery, and in some places, it’s sold a virility product. Its teeth and claws become jewellery.  This is all luxury goods – there is no reason why a tiger body part should be traded at all. Technology helps the tiger survey in India Martin Hughes-Games is a campaigner and conservationist and he tracks the new count from its start to finish, using the latest technology to determine numbers.   He follows wardens and scientists across the India landscapes. Camera traps take over 30,000 tiger images, their stripes, (like fingerprints) identify each individual tiger.  Mobile phone mapping apps and DNA analysis are used too. The new technology gives far greater accuracy to the survey. Counting tigers can be dangerous – they have become lighter on their paws and trackers can easily get trapped in the Sunderbans’ marshlands and become prey.  What will happen to the tiger? Hughes-Games finds that in at least one of India’s 50 conservation parks, the tiger is now extinct.  Will other parks find an increase in numbers or have the same sad numbers to report? Joanna Lumley narrates this programme, and it’s clear that the future of tigers may depend on the efforts of conservationists in India.  Once the count is complete, the documentary reveals whether the number has risen or fallen - a key moment for the survival of the species because if the count shows a decline then this could spell the end for the tiger in the wild, whereas an increase might indicate that this is one of the world’s most successful conservation stories.

    

5. Help snow leopards by protecting their habitat

   Posted on 9:00pm Friday 28th Jun 2019

   High in the Himalayas, one of the world’s most beautiful big cats – the snow leopard - roams the lonely mountain slopes There are only about 4,000 snow leopards left in the wild.   And now their habitat is threatened with new roads, dams and mining projects disrupting habitats and leaving them with no-where to go.   One of the snow leopards’ last refuges could have a highway built straight through the middle of it. But there’s a cunning plan. Two Avaazers are working with the local community and the Rainforest Trust to buy up and protect snow leopard habitats.   And if they can raise enough money, they’ll create a vast, permanent snow leopard conservation corridor which blocks the road completely. Snow leopards, red pandas, pangolins, wild yaks, the Himalayan Black Bear, clouded leopards, and hundreds of species of butterflies all need us to dig in and lend a paw to make this purchase happen and keep it safe from road construction and mining. They need our help  We need to buy this precious corner of the world and protect it for snow leopards and all the other wildlife who live there.  The money must be raised within a few weeks – the more of us who chip in the better – and then we can create this snow leopard sanctuary together. Chip in now to protect this precious corner of the world, and to help preserve the planet's most threatened biodiversity hotspots -- before we lose them forever:   In the last few years, Avaaz has bought a rainforest in Indonesia for orangutans, its funded a Maasai-led wildlife corridor in the Seregeti, and protected a vital piece of the Galapagos.  Now it’s time to fight for the snow leopards.  Donate here