Our blog & news: Get involved to help wildlife

 
 

"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
 


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  1. The Marine Conservation Society wants to help vital seagrass around the south coast of England to recover. 

    Seagrass exists in the shallow, sheltered waters around the UK’s coast.  It forms marine meadows and these are very productive ecosystems and biodiversity hotspots, with marine life such as the spiny seahorse and the short snouted seahorse.  And cuttlefish and sharks breed here.  They are also nurseries for Pollock, cod and plaice.

    Support the Marine Conservation Society's Marine Meadow Appeal

    Support the Marine Conservation Society's Marine Meadow Appeal
    Image copyright Marine Conservation Society

     

    The climate is changing fast, and the impact is clear to see - bushfires, floods, storms, temperatures which are soring, melting ice sheets.  

    Seagrass can help tackle the changing climate.  It is a flowering plant, and it lives underwater around the UK's coast in shallow, sheltered waters.  Crucially, it absorbs 10% of the carbon buried in ocean sediment every year - so it's a great weapon in tackling global warming.  The MCS says that it's estimated that seagrass around the UK shores can absorb and store at least as much carbon per hectare as trees in UK woodlands!

    The problem is that a major threat to seagrass comes from traditional moorring methods - anchors and chais drag along the seabed.

    If these traditional moorings can be repaced with advanced systems, where chains are raised off the seabed, it will be possible to regenerate marine meadows.  

    The MCS has trialled these and discovered that they work!  So they want to expand it to five marine protected areas.  This will enable them to better lock in carbon and be a safe protected habitat for seahorses, cuttlefish and juvenile fish.

    The Marine Conservation Society  needs to install advanced moorings to help replace damaging anchoring methods and let seagrass recover.   And they are asking for donations to help them do just that.

    How appeal donations will help seagrass and seahorses

    • £10 could help them replant 1 square meter of seagrass; 
    • £20 could help divers monitor the recovery of seagrass beds where advanced mooring systems are installed.
    • £30 could help them to cultivate 10,000 seagrass plants.
    • £35 could help advise boaters, walkers and abait collectors on how to protect seagrass beds and other sensitive habits.
    • £200 could help get old, damaging moorings in seagrass beds removed, ready for the new eco-friendly ones.

    The Goal of the Appeal:

    The goal is to raise £105,000 to install over 75 advanced moorings that will replace traditional, damaging anchoring methods and enable seagreass to recover.

    Find out more and donate here.

     

     

  2. Koalas Will Go Extinct If We Don't Stop Rampant Deforestation - Please sign this petition to help them

    Koalas Will Go Extinct If We Don't Stop Rampant Deforestation -

    Please sign this petition to help them 

    This petition is to the Government of Queensland, and Care2.com's The Petition Site is running it.

    The koala could go extinct within our lifetime, according to researchers.   This is mainly because state governments have been much too lenient when it comes to clear-cutting in the koala's last remaining habitats.

    For instance, between 2012 and 2016, five thousand koalas died becuase of habitat lost, and 94% of them died because of rural deforetation.   Koalas in Queensland are losing ground to huge stores and skyscapers thanks to the threat of new developments.  

    Unfortunately, the previous premier rolled back tree-clearing laws. 

    The new premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk is thinking about introducing new measures which would put an end to endless destruction of the koalas habitat.

    This petition is about speaking up for koalas, being their voice, and asking the Palaszcuk government to pass new tree-clearing restrictions today.  The koalas can't speak up for themeslves - they have no voice.  We need to be their voice instead.

    Please sign here to help koalas.

     

  3. Mountain gorillas are under threat in the Virunga National Park in the DRC. 

    It’s a popular tourist area, known for its mountain gorillas.   It covers 3,000 square miles, and its three sectors – north, central and south – have an unrivalled diversity of landscapes and ecosystems. It was founded back in 1925 as Parc Albert, and it was the first national park to be established on the African continent, primarily to protect the mountain gorillas who were living in the forests of the Virunga Massif.  The park is a Unesco World Heritage site.   It is home to several hundred species of birds, mammals and reptiles.

    The world’s entire population of critically endangered mountain gorillas live only ini the Virunga Massife and Bwindi.   The Virunga National Park is home to about a third of these wonderful animals.  Currently it is estimated that there are about 1,000 mountain gorillas.    Find out more about the park’s history here

    There are currently over 700 male and female rangers actively protecting the park and the communities surrounding its borders.  And let’s not forget the dogs who are part of the Virunga National Park Canine Unit, an invaluable part of the team.


    Urgent funds are needed:

    • To protect the endangered mountain gorillas
    • To support the rangers
    • To support the families of rangers who have fallen in the line of duty.  Over 175 rangers have been killed in the line of duty.
    • To deliver essential disease prevention efforts

    Challenge such as this need heroes and each and every ranger is one, fighting to protect these amazing animals and give their families an income at the same time.  Rangers do an extremely dangerous job, putting their lives on the line every day, to look after wildlife.  Find out about the Rangers Project here.

    Leonardo DiCaprio has contributed to a new fund which aims to support the Virunga National Park. Earth Alliance, a group co-founded by DiCaprio, has donated part of the initial £1.65 million funding.  Di-Caprio was an executive producer on the documentary Virunga.  (It was nominated for an Oscar in 2014.)

    On Monday, the park launched the Virunga Fund, which is made up of donations from groups such as Emerson Collective, Global Wildlife Conservation and Earth Alliance.   The EU have also contributed.

    Unprecedented threats are facing the gorillas 

    Its closure to tourists due to the coronavirus has resulted in a considerable loss of income.

    Covid-19 poses an existential threat to the gorillas – WWF has warned that they are at risk of catching the coronavirus because they share 98% of their DNA with humans

     A month after the park was closed, 12 park rangers, a drive and four members of the local community were killed in a terrible attack by 60 militiamen, who ambused a group of civilians being protected by the rangers.  At the time, a statement from the park said it was an attack on local civilians, rather than the rangers themselves.

    The rangers are racing against the clock to protect the local communities around the park and the gorillas. 

    You can help:

    You can help by spreading the word - following the Virunga Park on social media and making a donation

    • $8 funds a pair of new boots for a ranger
    • $32 funds a ranger for a day (including family health insurance)
    • $50 funds a month of support for the widow and children of a Fallen Ranger
    • $150 funds two weeks of food and supplements for an orphan gorilla
    • $300 funds an hour of flight time for an anti-poaching patrol
    • $500 funds a one day tactical elephant protection operation
    • $1,000 funds a comprehensive sweep and remove of deadly snares in the mountain gorilla sector.

     Donate here

    And remember, every little helps.

     

     

  4. On 16 May, the UK’s Daily Telegraph brought news of an amazing secret operation to dehorn hundreds of African rhinos.

    They are all threatened by increased poaching during the pandemic.

    Over the next two weeks, up to 400 black and white rhinos will have their horns removed to protect them from poachers.  About 70 have been dehorned so far 

    The rhinos are dehorned with electric saws.  They are sedated.  The horns grow back in about 3 years.   

    The exact location in Africa is secret at the moment.  There is an enormous risk to the team of vets and rangers and the last thing anyone wants is for poachers to find out their whereabouts, for the safety of all concerned, people and animals.

    The Aspinall Foundation and rescue organisation Rhino 911 are involved.   

    Rhino horn can trade for tens of thousands of pounds a kilo.  It is used in medicine and as a status symbol.

    This really is a last resort;  because tourists have stopped visiting as the coronavirus brought lockdown into being, poachers have stepped up to do more poaching.  

    De-horning is a last resort but the situation is critical for rhinos
    De-horning is a last resort but the situation is critical for rhinos


    Once removed, the horns are photographed and taken by armed guard to a secure vault where they are categorised.

    Never should we look back and say "I should have helpd them when I had the chance." 

    Unknown (from Rhino 911's website)

    Visit Rhino 911’s website here. 

    You can donate to Rhino 911 to help.  Donations help in three ways:

    1. Treating rhinos and transporting them if they  have injuries or need surgery; 
    2. De-horning rhinos, which has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to deter poachers from harming and killing rhinos; 
    3. Rescuing rhinos;  many are treated for injuries and airlifted to one of many rhino orphanages that Rhino 911 works with.  Plus, of course donations are given to the orphanages so that they can buy the special formula milk every growing rhino needs!

    There’s a video you can watch at but carries a warning that some parts of it may be disturbing to some viewers.

    Visit Rhino 911’s facebook page

    Keep safe, everyone involved.

    Images copyright to Rhino 911

     

  5. Pangolins need all our help. 

    I’ve had an email from SumOfUs.org about a petition for pangolin lovers.  They have some really good campaigns on SumOfUs and are achieving some great results

    Pangolins  they need our voice, and our signature to tell Facebook "to increase  the enforcement of wildlife trafficking policy and make sure that no threatened or endangered species’ parts are sold on your platform."

    Click to tell Facebook to shut down its disturbing pangolin trade


    Pangolins are the most trafficked animal on the planet.  Up to 2.7 million of them are killed by poachers every year.  Poachers want to sell their parts to traditional medicine shops.

    A new report says that Facebook it worse, because they are letting traffickers sell pangolin parts on their platform!  Report investigators searched translations of pangolin in different languages, and there was listing after listing, even though Facebook has already signed an international coalition to stop this sort of thing! They just need to enforce their own rules.

    Click to tell Facebook to shut down its disturbing pangolin trade