Beluga Whales Little Gray and Little White make their move!
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I’ve had an email from Fauna and Flora International (FFI) about an impending crisis that is about to get catastrophically worse.
The beautiful Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia are being covered in snares.
FFI say that the snares are shredding through clouded leopards, ripping elephant trunks in half and snapping the limbs of their calves. Pangolins, sun bears, moon bears and indeed any mammal than a mouse are being badly impacted, as any animal larger than a mouse can be trapped in these cruel snares.
To make matters worse, FFI’s project funding in the area has fallen through. FFI patrol teams are still able to operate in some areas and maintain an effective resistance. A very generous donor has enabled them to remove countless snares – and so save many, many animals. FFI had hoped to extend the areas that they were covering.
Unfortunately, the donor is unable to continue their support – and FFI must fill a £92,345 hole.
If FFI cannot fund the project, the warden leaders won’t be able to pay their patrol teams’ wages – and any who have the means won’t be able to have equipment and the backing to mount and maintain an effective resistance.
Funds will be spent on boots, machetes, camping gear, hammocks, rucksacks and everything wardens need to wear as they go out on one patrol after another. The wardens need GPS kits, patrol mapping – and they need to be paid.
FFI say time is short.
What’s so important about the Cardamom Mountains? Well, they have dense rainforest, mangroves and wetlands – and they have more than 60 globally threatened animal species and 17 globally threatened trees. The Cardamom Mountains matter. These include:
Young elephant wears a protective boot
to help recovery, after being caught in a snare.
Credit: Charnwood Photo
These snares are CRUEL – as the metal clasp tightens, causing the animal terrible pain. The more they struggle, the tighter the snare gets, cutting more and more deeply into flesh and bone. It is a terribly cruel and painful way to die.
At the same time, the animals have lost their habitat, because of illegal logging, land encroachment and unsustainable agricultural ways of doing things. Over 10% of the forest has gone in 15 years So the animals find themselves in smaller spaces, into what is known as a “wall of death”, because it is easy for them to get trapped by a snare.
Enter the wardens. They are from the local communities and they cover over 100km every month, spotting and removing snares, watching for any signs of illegal poaching or logging, and undertaking biomonitoring and data-gathering activities. These activities are important because they give a better understanding of the wildlife in the area, and enable the right decisions to be made about how to help them.
The clouded leopard is well adapted to prowling through the forest
Credit: Bill – Adobe Stock
Wardens also help by supplying the human-wildlife conflict teams with flashlights and noise-makers. These can help deter elephants from the boundaries of farms and villages, so preventing damage to crops and property. These things make a huge impact – there have been no retaliation elephant killings since the wardens started such work.
The warden team is essential to protect the animals of the Cardamom Mountains.
Please help today by making a donation.
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“Eden: Untamed Planet” is a new series which looks at the secrets of the few regions that are isolated from the rest of the world and have been largely protected from human interference. As the programme’s webpage says, life exists as nature intended.
The series skicks off in Borneo, home to 60,000 species of plants and animals and is very biodiverse indeed. Watch out for proboscis monkeys, orangutan babies, caterpillars and a lot more!
The programme warns that orangutans have lost 80% of their habitats in the last two decades – their numbers have dropped hugely.
Please visit our page listing orangutan charities to see how you can help and please watch the series. There are six programmes and I will put up information about ways to help along the way.
Find out how you can help orangutans with the Orangutan Foundation
Swing over to their website here
Image ©Orangutan Foundation
Please also take a look at the Bornean Sun Bear Rescue Conservation Centre which is a is a sun bear rescue and rehabilitation facility being developed in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
The episodes of "Eden: Untamed Planet" cover:
- Desert Lion Conservation gathers data on the desert lions in the area, undertakes research and collaborates with the government and agencies to further lion conservation and reduce human-lion conflict
- Giraffe Conservation works to conserve giraffe populations
- The Conservation Institute has informatoin about the Namib Desert
- Elephant Human Relations Aid is "to implement practical solutions that help combat elephant-human conflict, and thereby secure a future for Namibia’s desert elephants."
The areas covered are visiting “delicately balanced, species-rich, unique ecosystems” and nature now needs our help to make sure they stay that way. We cannot do without them.
Please let’s all see if we can take just even one action to make a difference and protect nature as the series unfolds.
Visit the programme’s website on BBC2 here.
Buy an Orangutan BATH BOMB and help
Protect, rewild and regenerate West Toba Forest From £4.00
available from Lush.com
Funds raised will help protect the forest for the future, so people, orangutans and the planet can thrive.
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There's a programme on the UK's Channel 4 at 8:15pm on Saturday 7th May 2022 called Devon and Cornwall: Greener Lives.
The programme meets locals living in this beautiful part of the UK (it's in the south west) who are working to bring balance back to both land and sea and working hard to protect nature.
A farmer, Cyril, in Devon is returning to traditional hay meadows
Previously he was depleting them through intensive farming during the 1960s. As the programme points out, during and after the war, a nation needed feeding, regardless of the impact the push for growing food had on wildlife and nature. The farmer wants to put something back to the land and let nature do the work. He makes hay meadows. The seeds from the hay meadows are spread quickly in fields on other farms. Like other farmers, Cyril is returning hay meadows to Devon - and with those come wildlife such as voles and barn owls - and Cyril is looking after the wildlife as well now!
Volunteers paddle to coves to clear plastic from the beach.
For instance, Steve and his beautiful dog Rosie are thinking global but working to make a difference locally. At times Rosie jumps off Steve's boat to collect rubbish and bring it back to the boat! And Steve has a band of volunteers helping him, navigating in and out of the coves to collect rubbish. He is determined to clear beaches of rubbish and to leave the planet in a cleaner place when he leaves it. You can join a beach clean organised by the Marine Conservation Society.
David, Mertle and Bill the horse are busy clearing bracken
The beautiful island of Lundy, where the National Trust,
RSPB, English Nature (now Natural England) and Landmark Trust
have been working to help the Manx Shearwater.
And Dean, the warden on Lundy Island, watches for the puffin to reappear.
As well as puffins, the Manx Shearwater has made a big comeback to the island - find out more from the National Trust.
The book "RSPB Spotlight: Puffins" is available from the RSPB's online shop
Beavers are back in the River Otter!
Beavers have been very busy here, building a dam and maintaining it. And a fox has been spotted checking out the beavers too! The Devon Wildlife Trust is working with landowners to make sure the beavers don't cause any problems e.g. interfere in cider making!
Visit Devon Wildlife Trust and Cornwall Wildlife Trust to see how you can help - even from a distance! And you can find your local Wildlife Trust in the UK here - there are 46 of them.
Don't miss it - it would be a great way to be inspired by other people taking action and also to pick up ways to get involved and make a difference!
The more people we can all get involved, the better!
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National Gardening Week takes place from Monday 2 May to Sunday 8 May, 2022. This year, the theme is the "the joy of gardening". I'm about to head out and do some weeding and digging, with a hot cup of coffee by my side, and there's nothing like doing some gardening to have a feel good factor. I remember the last time I saw my auntie Joan before she passed away. She absolutely adored her garden, and really missed it when she had to move into a care home but she had a couple of plants in her room. The last time I saw her we did some "indoor gardening", weeding the plants slowly as we talked, and it was wonderful - a memory I'll always treasure as we put the world to rights over a coffee and weeding. National Gardening Week aims to celebrate gardening and raises awareness of the difference that gardens and gardening can make to the lives of everyone in the UK. It inspires more people, particularly the next generation of gardeners, to experience the joy of growing and creating beautiful green spaces. Gardening gives you space to think, to be... Gardening is a great way to boost the mood and there’s nothing like feeling the earth between your fingers to connect with the world. Plants, flowers, bushes and trees all make for great company; they give you space to think about things, and life, and drift in your thoughts; they give your mind a chance to rest and relax and immerse yourself in the moment and forget what’s going on in the world. They don’t interrupt your train of thought. They just let you be….
So what's happening during National Gardening Week? Get out into your garden or visit a garden or local park and just enjoy gardens! Why not share your photos on social media with the hashtag #nationalgardeningweek Activities will be taking place at the five RHS Gardens. Visit RHS Gardens Wisley in Surrey, Bridgewater in Salford, Harlow Carr in Yorkshire, Hyde Hall in Essex and Rosemoor in Devon #nationalgardeningweek Bring gardening into your home You don’t need a garden, either – you could bring nature into your home with a houseplant, herbs on a window sill, perhaps in the kitchen, watching gardening videos, and “visiting” many famous gardens online! The RHS website has a huge Grow Your Own advice section, with help on growing fruit, growing vegetables and growing herbs. Go potty in the garden! I LOVE pots! I’ve put a couple of strawberry plants into small pots and so far I’ve counted 5 strawberries coming on one, and 2 on another. I keep going out into the garden and talking to them to encourage them. My husband thinks I’ve gone mad, but I love it. We’ve also got a dwarf blueberry bush in a pot on the patio, a dwarf raspberry bush, also in a pot, and a peach tree. Grow your own fruit, or give a fruit tree or bush to a loved one as a gift!
Fill your garden with colour And don’t forget flowers – they are lovely for making you feel brighter. Last year, I sowed some freesias in several little pots and this year, much to my surprise, they have all come up into beautiful flowers and I’ve got a gorgeous scent coming from them. Red, yellow and dark pink freesias are really giving me something to smile about. Feel a sense of achievement Gardening gives you the chance to create and enjoy your own beautiful green space, whether in the house or in the garden, or both! There’s nothing like the feeling of achievement it gives you, and the joy you have looking at the fruits of your labours! Enjoy learning! Visit the RHS and check out their advice section – you’ll find so much information to help you! It’s not all reading, either – they have videos you can watch as well J Share your garden Wildlife need our gardens, especially as we are taking so much of their homes off them. They need hedgerows, trees and bushes to nest in, to rest in, to shelter in from the wind, rain and sun. Provide them with access to water in a pond or a bird bath (those can be small as well), put up bird feeders, stick a pile of logs in a corner and leave it all a bit messy there, and you will have your own nature show to enjoy, full of beautiful sounds.
Hands can easily be cleaned – get the kids out into the garden and give them the chance to discover all about the outside world by getting their hands dirty, their t-shirts all covered in muddy earth, their feet wet… there’s nothing like it. All that fresh air and activity will hopefully wear them out! Immerse yourself in gardens when you sit down. There are lots of gardening programmes - watch Monty Don on iplayer, you could also subscribe to a gardening magazine for a few months or more, read gardening books, watch gardening videos (RHS on You Tube for instance), treat yourself to a garden experience, take a gardening course (you can get online ones from Red Letter Days now). So there’s plenty to do to bring gardening into your life. Happy National Gardening Week! |