Did you see Steve Backshall’s two part programme on badgers recently?  Channel 5 had this amazing couple of hours of TV with Badgers: Their Secret World in which we got to see a wild European badger giving birth on camera.

Badgers: Their Secret World also showed us nine week old cubs emerging from their sett for the first time, and we found out what badgers will do to keep a clean, tidy home.

You can see the episodes here (you need to sign in to Channel 5 to do that)

Which brings us to October – or should we say, #Brocktober – a whole month to celebrate badgers.

The Badger Trust and Scottish Badgers come together to celebrate our love for this native, British wildlife species.  Both charities are dedicated to the conservation and protection of badgers

There’s a special day right at the end of the first week, with National Badger Day on the 6^th (#NBD23). 

Please make Space for Badgers!

This year, the Badger Trust is encouraging us all to make Space for Badgers, and there are a number of ways we can do that:

• Help protect local green spaces so that badgers can thrive in their natural habitats
• Learn how to live with badgers – leave space for them
• Get involved in the State of the Badger, a citizen science project, to help the Trust understand the population health of badgers and ensure they have a future
• Take a look at responsible badger watching tips – so that you can get to know local badgers!
• Use the Trust’s free planning and development guides to help protect badgers’ homes

Please find out how you can make #SpaceforBadgers

#NBD23, #Brocktober #LoveBadgers #SpaceforBadgers

Visit Scottish Badgers

How can you help badgers?

1. Find out more about them! 
2. Be a badger champion – fundraise, educate the next generation of badger champions using the Badger Trust’s free education resources
3. Spread the word about how amazing badgers are and the campaigns to protect them.  Tell people about the threats they face and what can be done to help them.
4. Join the campaign to stop the badger cull.  Over 210,000 badgers have died – and yet they are vital eco engineers;  the Trust says they “rejuvenate the soil and provide shelter and nesting sites for other wildlife, like pollinating insects”.  You can see the reasons why the badger cull doesn’t work here.
5. Give badgers a break – over 50,000 were killed on roads last year so please slow down and report deaths and injuries to the campaign, and raise awareness
6. Developers should have a look at the Badger Trust’s  guide for developers to safeguard badgers from planning and development activities
7. Have a look at Living with Badgers which has advice on badgers & gardens – and what to do if your woof ventures down a badger sett 
8. Sign up for the Badger Trust’s newsletter
9. Become a member of the badger clan and give the Badger Trust your support! 
10. Why not join a local badger group?  Badger groups are run by volunteers and there may be one local to you which you can find out here.  They offer varying services – these depend on the number of volunteers and when they’re available 

Now, Scottish Badgers have ways to get involved too:

Get Sett Scotland is aiming to create a nation of badger champions in Scotland by 2025.  And there are a number of ways you can get involved – such as becoming a Badger Champion or taking part in the national survey of badgers.  You can also donate and become a member, or do some shopping at the Scottish Badger shop.   You can report a badger and you can earn your stripes!

Earn Your Stripes is a skills development to support the next generation of wildlife champions, and it’s a partnership between Scottish Badgers and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.  Although it’s aimed at 16 to 24 year olds, anyone can take part, and thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the course is free!

All you need to do is to complete 4 modules:  Meet the Mammals, Tracker School, Wildlife Conservation and Threats and Championing Wildlife

Why not use this #Brocktober to discover lots about badgers and see what you can do to help them?

Image copyright Badger Trust

Imagine 2,000 southern white rhino – and then imagine them being re-wilded.  Now, these 2,000 rhino make up to 15% of the word’s wild population, so they are important.

Enter African Parks.

They are now the official custodian of these 2,000 southern white rhino and their goal is re-wild them over 10 years. They want to move them to several well-managed protected areas across Africa and in so doing, to establish and supplement strategic populations.  This should help secure the future of the southern white rhino species in Africa.

How did this happen?  Well, African Parks purchased the world’s largest captive rhino breeding operation to try to rescue and re-wild these amazing animals.

African Parks manages 22 protected areas in partnership with 12 governments across Africa.

“Platinum Rhino” was a 7,800 hectare property.

It sits in the north-west province of South Africa.  It went up for auction in April 2023 but sadly there were no bids. This put the rhinos at risk of poaching and fragmentation so African Parks were asked by a number of concerned individuals from the world of conservation to help. 

African Parks undertook due diligence, and with the support of the South African Government and with emergency funding to make everything possible, African Parks agreed to buy the farm AND the 2,000 rhino!7

Read all about it!

The breeding programme is to be phased out and after all the rhino have been released into the wild, the project will come to an end.  African arks will be working with multiple governments, funding partners and conservation organisations.

Southern white rhino had reached a terrifying 30 to 40 animals in the 1930s, but conservation measures enabled their numbers to rise to about 20,000 by 2023.  Poaching for their horns  has led to their numbers declining to below 13,000. 

Non-profit conservation organisation African Parks takes on the responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of protected areas, in partnership with governments and communities.  It manages 22 national parks and protected areas in 21 countries, covering over 20 million hectares in ngola, Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Visit African Parks here.

Well, 2023 has been an incredible year for the Koala Clancy Foundation in Australia.

They have a mission, you see:  to plant 300,000 trees by 2030 in order to save koalas from extinction.

They started planting in 2016 and since then, they’ve constantly surpassed the number of trees they’ve planted every year.   And now, they’ve planted 129,422 trees!!!

Every tree counts!
Working together to achieve a goal really makes a difference.
Find out more 
Image © Koala Clancy Foundation

2023 has been no exception – these are ALL records for the Foundation:

• 33,518 koala trees total in one season.
• 10,663 koala trees on one site in one season.
• 1,931 Koala trees in one day.
• 3,618 Koala trees in one weekend.
• 5,891 koala trees in 7 days – their biggest week ever

The work doesn’t stop there, however!  The Koala Clancy Foundation will be busy weeding in the You Yangs – a vital activity to restore koala habitat – and they are running regular bonus events for Koala Clancy members.  For instance, they’re doing visits to past tree planting sites to collect tree cards so that they can use them in future projects.

You can become a member here, and if you live outside Australia, why not support the work of the Koala Clancy Foundation and simply donate?

Visit the Koala Clancy Foundation here.

It’s International Orangutan Day on 19^th August and the Orangutan Foundation have a wonderful opportunity for us all to create real impact for orangutans, forests and people!

How can we do this?

By sponsoring an acre of tropical rainforest!   You can protect an acre of essential rainforest habitat for one year from ONLY £2!

 
Please sponsor an acre of rainforest and
  help orangutans this International Orangutan Day.
Image copyright Orangutan Foundation

Sponsorship will directly benefit 5,000 orangutans in the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve and Tanjung Putting National Park.  The Orangutan Foundation is aiming to protect 3,000 acres in the run up to International Orangutan Day!

Donations support:

• 500,00 acres of tropical rainforest – we all need tropical rainforest to help keep the balance of nature and keep us all well and healthy
• 5,000 critically endangered orangutans
• 10 forest guard posts in critical orangutan habitat
• 25 Local people directly protecting habitat
• Training in SMART technology to improve forest and wildlife protection

You could also sponsor an acre as a gift to someone who loves orangutans and the natural world.  All you need to do is to leave a name and email address in the “Additional Info” section at checkout.

Please give others the opportunity to sponsor rainforest too – tell everyone you can about it! 

There’s more information about it – just swing over to the Orangutan Foundation’s website!