UK animals back from the brink of extinction

Clockwise from left to right: red kite, pine martens, ladybird spider, water vole, corncrake, large blue butterflies. Photographs: Press Association

While the red squirrel, common toad and European eel may face the same grim future as Britain's once-native wolves, bears, lynx, wild boar and beaver, other species have shown there is hope amid the gloom.

As two animal and plant species are lost every year in England, conservationists say urban sprawl, hunting and pollution are to blame for the massive biodiversity declines.

However, habitat protection, hunting controls and captive breeding have led to significant successes for Britain's wildlife. Water quality in UK rivers has also improved so much in some places that a number of species, including otters and water voles, are returning to waterways from which they had vanished as habitats improve. The Thames, the Mersey and the Tyne, rivers which 50 years ago were classified as "biologically dead", are now home to thriving wildlife populations.

The following is a selection of species that have bucked the trend for dwindling populations. All have returned from the brink of extinction in the UK, with some even once declared extinct in the wild.

Birds

The UK's birds have seen a dramatic reversal of fortune over the past decade. Almost 60% of Britain's rarest birds, including once near-extinct species such as the red kite, bittern, avocet and osprey, have seen numbers increase over the past decade. Five birds of prey which became extinct in the UK have returned. Ospreys, white tailed eagles, honey buzzards, marsh harriers and goshawks all successfully managed to re-establish themselves in this country. Other birds including the corncrake, eagle owl, grey partridge and cirl bunting have also seen a population resurgence. The great bustard – the heaviest flying bird and one of Europe's most threatened species – in 2009 bred in the wild the first time in almost 200 years in the UK.

Insects and spiders

A decade ago there were only 56 ladybird spiders in Britain, when a breeding and reintroduction programme began. The number of ladybird spiders in the wild is now thought to be more than 1,000. Among the UK's rapidly declinging butterfly species, the heath fritillary – Britain's fastest disappearing species – has seen a comeback, while conservation efforts have seen five more species starting to recover. The other butterflies are the high brown fritillary, the wood white, the silver-spotted skipper, the adonis blue and the large blue - which 25 years ago was extinct.

Mammals

Pine marten sightings have been reported in England and Wales almost 15 years after the animal was declared extinct in both places. The widespread return of the otter, which had undergone a huge population decline because of pesticide pollution, is evidence of improving river water quality. There is also good news for the water vole, which 20 years ago had the fastest declining mammal population in the UK. The water vole was once common across the UK but after a dramatic decline 90% had disappeared. An Environment Agency survey last year found 30 "vole hotspots". The polecat, once extinct from England, has recolonised naturally from a few sites in Wales.

Amphibians and reptiles

Researchers at the University of Sussex helped with the reintroduction of the northern pool frog, a long-lost species native to England. The natterjack toad has also been making a successful comeback to the Lincolnshire coast, thanks to a project by Natural England and the University of Sussex. The sand lizard narrowly avoided extinction in England but has recovered thanks to natural reintroduction.

Green shoots: Send us your pictures of birds in gardens

A coal tit feeding in a garden Photograph: David Jones/PA

Birds are everywhere in November and it's fairly easy to entice them into your garden (or onto a balcony) with a little bribery. Unfortunately, getting good photos of them can be a challenge. But with a little bit of knowledge and preparation, you can boost your chances of success.

Garden birds tend to be small and fast-moving. It's well worth spending some time watching them before you start trying to take photos. Let's assume you have a bird table or a feeder hanging up. Work out where the birds are coming from, where they perch on their way in and where they head afterwards. Then you can work out where to position your camera and how to get closer.
It's also useful to know which birds are using your garden. Different species eat different food and behave in different ways. For example, greenfinches like to eat sunflower seeds or peanuts and will happily perch for minutes at a time, filling their faces. Nuthatches, blue, great and coal tits also like sunflower seeds and nuts but tend to stage speedy raids on a feeder - dashing in, grabbing a beakful of food, and flying off.
Other birds like robins, dunnocks and blackbirds are less likely to use a hanging feeder, but will come to a bird table. Starlings and jackdaws will eat anything, anywhere. Different tactics are required from the would-be photographer.

Try the RSPB's interactive bird identifier if you're not too confident with your bird ID, and find out which foods attract particular species.

Early morning sees the peak of feeding activity. Birds, especially small ones at this time of year, use up considerable energy overnight just keeping warm. So there's a rush to feed first thing to replenish those reserves. Of course, for you there's the added bonus of soft morning light, but it might involve an early start. Still, if you're only going out to the garden, at least you don't have to travel far.
Getting close to garden birds is hard work, unless you can get them used to your presence. But the good thing about your backyard is that you can treat it as your personal studio. You can do things that would be frowned upon in a public location. You could consider hiding in your shed or even getting a small portable hide, but if that seems a bit over the top, commandeering a wendy house could work, too.
As well as putting out food and water, think about what the birds are going to be sitting on and what's in the background. Feeders and tables are great for attracting birds but aren't necessarily that pretty. Strategic positioning of pretty, lichen-covered branches nearby can be a good option. If you have goldfinches visiting your garden, find some teasel heads for them to perch on - a much nicer, natural perch than a bird feeder.

Taking a more holistic view of your "studio" can pay dividends. You don't need to stop mowing the lawn or plant trees everywhere, but choose shrubs and flowers that are good for wildlife - for example, plants that have berries or attract insects. Think about digging a wildlife pond - birds need to drink and bathe every day (even in winter) and you'll probably enjoy the sights and sounds of dragonflies and frogs in spring and summer.

Carol Ann Duffy – the newest of the bee poets

Bees – miraculous insects that have moved many a poet into action. Photograph: Uwe Anspach/AFP/Getty Images

When Carol Ann Duffy's first collection of new poems as poet laureate was published this month, she joined a long list of acclaimed scribes dating back to Roman poet Virgil who have eulogised the honeybee in verse for their social organisation, honey-making abilities or pollination services, or employed them as a potent metaphor and symbol.

In The Bees, Duffy's "winged saviours" – to borrow a phrase from another famous bee poet, Sylvia Plath – are woven throughout the collection to symbolise all that is good in the world and necessary to protect. In many of the poems she draws attention to the seriousness of their plight. In Virgil's Bees, for example, the poem she wrote in the Guardian for the 10:10 campaign to reduce carbon emissions, her clarion call to save the planet is to "guard them" [the bees] "the batteries of orchards, gardens".

People understand that bees are a barometer of the environment, that their demise is a warning system that our ecosystem is in jeopardy. Albert Einstein may never have actually said that if the bees disappear of the face of the earth man only has four years left to live, but its message resonates.

I'm no poetry critic and I find many poems inaccessible, but Duffy's bee collection is a heartfelt lyrical wake-up call to the dangers facing these miraculous insects and, by extension, humankind.

In Telling the Bees, she tries to impart the full horror of what dying bees means for humanity with the ending, "No honey for tea," which evokes those final haunting words, "Is there honey still for tea?" from Rupert Brooke's famous First World War poem The Old Vicarage, Grantchester, a paean to the safety and civility of England.
Ariel is Duffy's fierce attack on intensive agriculture's pesticides and monoculture that are threatening bees. "Where the bee sucks, neonicotinoid insecticides in a cowslip's bell lie," she warns, describing its systemic nature as "sheathing the seed" and "seething in the orchards", while the land is "monotonous with cereals and grain".
I never thought when I became a beekeeper that it would widen my appreciation of poetry, and open up a new world of celestial creatures bearing honey as a gift of heaven, (to paraphrase the Virgil in his beekeeping thesis, Georgics IV).

Neither did I expect when I was researching my book A World Without Bees that poetry would come to mind as I witnessed 40,000 white hives lying empty and silent in what looked like a mass grave in the Californian desert. But it was Sylvia Plath's 1962 poem, The Arrival of the Bee Box, where she compares a new beehive to the coffin of a baby, that lingered.

Award-winning poet Jo Shapcott told me that A World Without Bees had inspired some of the poems she wrote for last year's Poetry of Bees, an event commissioned by the City of London Festival and Poet in the City 2010 One of the poems was specifically on the mysterious bee killer, colony collapse disorder.
Now that poets have joined the bee rescue party, we would do well to head their warnings. In Duff's cautionary poem, The Human Bee, of people pollinating orchards by hand when all the bees have been killed – as happened in the southern Sichuan province of China following pesticide poisoning – her protagonist, The Human Bee, laments: "But I could not fly, and I made no honey." It perfectly illustrates how we can never replace nature's master pollinator.

Defenders of wildlife

Renowned for its majesty and nicknamed "the king of the jungle," the lion possesses both beauty and strength. Lions vary in color but typically sport light yellow-brown coats. Mature male lions are unique among big cats due the thick brown or black manes that encircle their necks and protect them while fighting.

Fast Facts

Height: 4 feet (1.2m) (males).
Length: 5-8 feet (1.5-2.4m) (males).
Weight 330-500 lbs (150-227 kg) (males).
In general, female lions are smaller than males.
Lifespan: 10-14 years.
Top speed: 50 mph (81 km/hr), for short distances

Diet

Lions consume a wide variety of prey, from wildebeest, impala, zebra, giraffe, buffalo and wild hogs to sometimes rhinos and hippos. They will also feed on smaller animals such as hares, birds and reptiles. Lions are also known to attack elephants when food is scarce.
Population
The lion population in Africa has been reduced by half since the early 1950s. Today, fewer than 21,000 remain in all of Africa.
Range
Though lions used to live in most parts of Africa, they are now found only in the south Sahara desert and in parts of southern and eastern Africa. Historically, in addition to Africa, lions were found from Greece through the Middle East to northern India. See a lion range map >>

Did You Know?

Both male and female lions roar, and that roar can be heard over five miles away!

The only social member of the cat (Felidae) family, lions live in large groups called "prides," consisting of about 15 lions. Related females and their young make up the majority of the pride. A single male, or sometimes a small group of 2-3 males, will join a pride for an indefinite period, usually about 3 years or until another group of males takes over.
Lions within a pride are often affectionate and, when resting, seem to enjoy good fellowship with lots of touching, head rubbing, licking and purring. The males are territorial, and will roar and use scent markings to establish their domains.
Females do almost all of the hunting. They are mainly nocturnal and work in teams to stalk and ambush prey. Lions inhabit grassy plains, savannahs, open woodlands and scrub country. These landscapes allow the hunters to creep stealthily through vegetation and leap upon their unsuspecting prey.

The Fall Season for Florida Hunting

Florida hunting seasons are a little hard to keep track of for visitors who aren't familiar with the territory. The Wildlife Management Areas offer their own dates, but seasons on private property and other locations tend to run fairly consistent from year to year. They do, however, vary depending on the region of the state a hunter happens to be in.

• In general, the fall archery season starts between September and October, depending on the zone. The southern part of the state tends to kick of the season the earliest with the north coming online the latest. The next season to open is deer-dog training in October throughout the state. Crossbow comes next between October and November, followed by muzzleloader and general gun.

• The famous Florida Osceola turkey comes up for grabs in a very brief period throughout the state. Typically, the season runs only a few days, right near Thanksgiving. Holmes County, however, offers no fall gobbler season at all. This turkey was named after the famous Seminole Chief Osceola.

• An alligator harvest also runs in the fall. The rules and regulations for this particular draw are a bit different than those that apply to other game. Several months of advanced preparation is generally needed to take part.

EASTERN COUGAR DECLARED EXTINCT

The Eastern Cougar Walks The Earth No More. Photo (of a Western cougar):USF&WS

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Concludes That The Last Eastern Cougar Was Killed Sometime During The Twentieth Century

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service today announced its conclusion that the Eastern cougar, or mountain lion, no longer exists. The negative conclusion of a five-year USFWS survey of the issue is certain to be controversial: During recent decades, many people have reported sightings of cougars east of the Mississippi, and some environmental activists have claimed that wildlife agencies have ignored or even concealed evidence of the Eastern mountain lion’s continued existence.
Today’s finding will likely result in the removal of the Eastern cougar from listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)—an outcome that seems destined to trigger further charges of government conspiracy. According to cougar-conspiracy theorists, official acknowledgement of a breeding population of Eastern cougars would cause inconvenience to governments and industries because of the measures that would have to be taken to protect them under the ESA.
The five-year review of the Eastern cougar’s status was headed by USFWS biologist Mark McCollough, who is based in Maine. According to McCollough, 90 percent of alleged cougar sightings in the East—and with the exception of a tiny remnant population of Florida “panthers”— are the result of misidentifications of other types of animals. The few authentic sightings of cougars in the eastern U.S. have involved animals that either escaped or were released from captivity, McCollough says.
In a 2007 interview with the editor of AllAboutWildlife.com, McCollough said there may be as many as 1,000 cougars living in captivity east of the Misssissippi.
However, according to the McCollough, individual cougars from the species’ Western populations occasionally stray into the East. In fact, one cougar, originally from the Black Hills of South Dakota, was shot and killed in downtown Chicago several years ago. It is possible that Western mountain lions could eventually recolonize parts of the East.
Although Eastern mountain lions have been treated as a separate subspecies of cougar, many wildlife biologists doubt that there were ever enough genetic differences between Eastern and Western cougar populations to warrant a subspecies designation. 

LEONARDO DiCAPRIO, POACHERS, AND THE WORLD’S ENDANGERED TIGERS

A Critically Endangered Tiger Wades, Blissfully Unaware Of The Plight His Species Faces. Photo:Moni Sertel

It May Be Untrue That Poachers Are Still Killing A Tiger A Day. But That’s Only Because The Illegal Hunters Are Running Out Of Tigers.

BY PAUL GUERNSEY
How many Leonardo DiCaprios would it take to save the world’s remaining endangered tigers?
In November, DiCaprio, the Hollywood star, arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia, to attend an international conference on tiger conservation that was being hosted by Vladimir Putin, the most powerful Russian politician as well as a huge fan of endangered tigers, of which his country has a few hundred still living in the wild. Mr. DiCaprio expressed his deep concern as a dedicated conservationist, set a wonderful example by taking out his own checkbook, and—perhaps most importantly—helped direct a bright, if temporary, spotlight of public attention onto wild tigers, which are in grave peril of forever slipping off the face of the earth within the next decade.
At this desperate point, the cause of tiger conservation can certainly use all the attention it can get. However, the twenty-first century tide of factors rising against tigers has become so strong it is uncertain that anything—even the power of the stars—will be able to turn it. But, of course, we have to try.
All in all, perhaps somewhat more (or somewhat fewer) than 3,000 tigers remain at large in Asia’s dwindling wildernesses, down from an estimated 100,000 a century ago and falling fast, mostly to the snares and rifles of poachers who feed a lucrative illegal Asian market for their hides, bones and body parts. So devastating has the poaching been that loss of habitat, by far the main threat to most of the world’s other endangered species, is only second on the list of daunting problems facing tigers.
India, the country with the largest remaining tiger population, provides a good illustration of the species’ plight: In 2003, conservationists estimated the number of Indian tigers at 3,600. Today, a mere 8 years later, there are only around 1,300 Bengal tigers left in the country, with most of the loss caused by illegal hunting.
Nor is India an exception. Late last year, TRAFFIC, the international wildlife-trade monitoring network, reported that over the previous decade, law enforcement authorities in the 13 Asian “tiger range” countries—India included—had seized parts of 1,069 tigers that had been killed illegally. Because only a portion—and undoubtedly a small one—of poached tigers are ever recovered by law enforcement, the actual number taken by traffickers is presumed to be a shocking multiple of TRAFFIC’s figure.
The Amur, or Siberian, tiger subspecies native to Putin’s Russia has been the single bright spot in the otherwise dark picture of global tiger conservation. Down to fewer than 40 individuals in the 1920s, Siberian tigers have rebounded to a population of between 450 and 500 due to government protection. However—and in spite of the interest of Putin and other highly placed Russians—conservationists say that recently there has been a worrisome increase in the poaching of Russian tigers. The upsurge is doubtlessly due to the fact that the Chinese border lies close to the narrow strip of coastal Far Eastern Russia that is home to the remaining Amur tigers, and folk-medicine manufacturers, wine makers, and boutique restauranteurs in the increasingly affluent China are willing to pay top dollar for all kinds of tiger parts, including bones, eyes and penises. The skin, meat, bones and organs of one tiger can reportedly fetch from $25,000 to $50,000 at the end of the retail chain, and wild tigers are much more highly prized than the ones Chinese entrepreneurs are now raising in pens because they allegedly contain more “magic.”
According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, an international anti-poaching organization, by the mid- to late 1990s, illegal hunters were killing a wild tiger every day to supply the lucrative and growing Asian market. An EIA spokesperson told AllAboutWildlife.com that probably fewer tigers than that are currently being killed—but only because they’ve become so scarce that illegal hunters are having a harder time finding them. (More on the Chinese market for tiger parts here.)
In St. Petersburg, Leonardo DiCaprio posed for a photo with Vladimir Putin, and he generously pledged $1 million of his own money toward easing pressures on the world’s remaining, desperately beleaguered tiger populations, which are divided among five surviving subspecies. (Three subspecies have already been driven into extinction, and the extinction of one other, the South China tiger, is strongly suspected.) In addition, the actor, in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund, has since launched a new public campaign to call attention to the threats faced by this critically endangered predator species.
Nor were DiCaprio and Putin the only high-profile people to appear at the International Tiger Conservation Forum: Other attendees on hand to talk about tigers included Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, the prime ministers of Nepal and Bangladesh, supermodel Naomi Campbell, actor Dick van Dyke, and World Bank head Robert Zoellick. Although tiger forums have been held in other years and in other countries, Putin’s event was exceptionally high-profile and well-attended because of his sponsorship, as well as the fact that it was taking place at the close of the Chinese Year of the Tiger, which ended February 2.
Conservationists in attendance pointed out that never before have high-level world leaders—meaning the politicians who showed up, rather than DiCaprio and Campbell—met to discuss the fate of a single, non-human species. The same groups expressed approval over the forum’s resolution to double wild tiger populations by the next Year of the Tiger—2022—as well as at least a bit of optimism about the fact that various governments, conservation groups and individuals at the forum had pledged a total of $330 million in funding and loans for projects related to tiger conservation over the next five years, a figure that works out to somewhere around an astonishing $100,000 per wild tiger remaining in the world.
And, if wishes, good will, and the sincere concern of celebrities and world leaders could immediately be converted into concrete accomplishment, then the Putin event would have already succeeded in saving tigers from extinction. Unfortunately, few organizations involved with saving the tiger seem to think that the steps taken in St. Petersburg go far enough, or even necessarily herald a meaningful turn in the tiger’s plunging trend.
For example, while the sum of money “pledged” for the next five years sounds impressive, the World Wildlife Fund, one of the leading international conservation groups, says that “new” monies promised in Russia actually amount to around $127 million, including Mr. DiCaprio’s $1 million and at least $50 million that the WWF itself will be pitching in—with hopes of coming up with an additional $35 million.
That funding must be divided among 13 countries (though not necessarily evenly) and sustain effective tiger-conservation efforts for half a decade . . .
Other organizations assert that much of the money discussed in St. Petersburg, in addition to not being enough to get the job done, also is not targeted specifically at tiger protection or conservation, despite being earmarked for conservation projects in tiger habitat.
AllAboutWildlife.com asked two conservation leaders active in directly trying to prevent tiger poaching—one in India, and one based in London and working internationally—how they assessed the outcome of the St. Petersburg forum.
Debbie Banks, lead campaigner for the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency, told us the following during an exchange of e-mails:
“EIA is generally of the view that it is a good thing that the Global Tiger Recovery Program and Leaders Declaration has been signed and that there is some level of commitment to double the tiger population by 2022. We recognise that it is unprecedented for world leaders to convene over a single species, as 5 did during the high level segment of the Forum.
“However, we remain concerned that countries were promising to undertake actions that they have been promising since the last Year of the Tiger. We didn’t get any sense in the lead up to the Forum that there had been an honest appraisal of why so many of those earlier promises and commitments remain unimplemented, or that underlying factors had been identified and will be addressed.
“We captured our comments on the Forum itself on our blog . . . and we¹ve set out what we believe are short-term and long-term indicators of future progress in this report, Enforcement not Extinction: Zero Tolerance.
“Regarding the sum of money pledged in St Petersburg, for a start it comes nowhere close in generating enough to save wild tigers, but the other factor to bear in mind is that a lot of the funding pledged is tied up with forest and REDD [carbon emissions] projects, relating to some parts of the tiger’s range but not all of it. Other funding streams committed at the meeting were in loans.
“Big money and loans often get tied up in red tape and are slow to be released. Only a small portion of funds committed so far could potentially be channelled into rapid action funds to go straight to anti-poaching units or investigation teams to pay for things like informants, fuel, assistance with court cases, etc. Also, the chances of those funds trickling down to localised NGOs [Non-governmental organizations] or NGOs that are not embedded in the process of implementing the GTRP, is slim.
“Further, the amount of money that has been pledged for tigers is dwarfed by the anticipated investment of $4.7 trillion into infrastructure [development] projects that may well dice up the tiger’s habitat even further.
“EIA’s work focuses much more on the transnational criminal networks controlling the trade in tigers (and other Asian big cats), by looking more at the market end of the trade. Unless action is taken at that end of the chain, then tigers in the wild will always be under threat. Our report, Enforcement not Extinction, highlights the fact that effective enforcement to combat the trade is not rocket science; if we, as a small NGO, can find traders in China offering tiger skin, bone, teeth, claws, if we can get their names, telephone numbers, if we can get them to talk about the trade, their perceptions of enforcement, their connections across borders, well then surely the Chinese government can [do the same].
“Certainly there has been a decline in the volume of skins openly for sale in China since we began our intensive forays into the market places in 2005. The trade is much more under the counter than it used to be, so it’s not so easy to “count” what’s out there now. We’ve adapted our methodology and are more targeted in our approach to understand[ing] the dynamics of the trade, so that official enforcement agencies can develop more informed strategies. It is still relatively easy to encounter traders; ­ we just haven’t had the resources to cover all potential trade hubs, so its not possible to be scientific about it. It’s more of an indication that the problem definitely hasn¹t gone away; stock is still moving into the retail end of the chain, and evidence from seizures in India and Nepal show that it’s still fresh from the jungles (as opposed to captive bred).
“I would say that in looking forward, and reflecting on the promises made in St Petersburg, real indicators of change would include evidence of official investigations surrounding seizures, confirmation that actionable intelligence is being shared between relevant countries (preferably via INTERPOL), that trans-national operations are being set up to target the criminals that are controlling the trade, evidence of swift and meaningful convictions against poachers, traffickers and consumers.”
Banks concluded, “If we start to see these signs of increased investment in enforcement, and that it is becoming more sophisticated and strategic, then I think we can have hope.”
For the Indian perspective, AllAboutWildlife.com communicated with Belinda Wright, executive Director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), who told us:
“As you can see from the attached figures, poaching figures over the past four years have remained fairly constant. Considering the fact that tiger numbers have presumably reduced, this is not good news. Protection in the field is abysmal and the pressure on wild tigers remains severe. Prices for tiger parts have skyrocketed—due to the rarity of wild tigers and China’s growing economy— and there is more incentive than ever for tiger poachers. And even if a poacher is caught, the judicial system is so overburdened that it takes years for a case to reach a conclusion. In the last decade 882 people have been accused in tiger poaching and seizure cases, but only 18 people have been convicted in just six court cases. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to be optimistic that tiger poaching in India and elsewhere can be drastically reduced in the foreseeable future.
“Another very serious concern is the widespread poaching of [the tiger's] prey species for meat. In many areas tigers have no choice but to venture out into human habitation in search of food. This in turn leads to increased human-tiger conflict.
“The problems are: poaching, lack of protection and good enforcement, lack of convictions in the courts, low prey density and poaching of prey species, habitat encroachment, human-related disturbances, human-tiger conflict, no accountability for park managers, and lack of
political support to implement recommendations. Also, at least six tiger reserves are severely affected by [political] insurgents.
“The needs are: better intelligence-led, professional enforcement, improved infrastructure and training for field staff, the filling of field staff vacancies, better leadership, political support for tiger conservation measures, etc.
“Despite the gloomy overall picture, in the past couple of years the Government of India has made some important initiatives for tiger conservation. These include a huge increase in funding—funds for anti-poaching, infrastructure, tiger monitoring and the relocation of villages from inside tiger reserves. . . . Special Tiger Protection Forces are being established to police the tiger reserves. There is also a huge increase in both awareness and interest in tiger conservation issues in India’s civil society.”
A complicating factor in the so-far halting efforts to gear up against poachers operating in fragmented tiger habitats scattered across vast regions of Asia is that wildlife poaching itself recently has been evolving into a sophisticated international crime network. South African authorities report that rhinoceros poachers in that country have taken to using helicopters and night vision optics—equipment at least as good as that of the country’s wildlife law enforcers themselves. 

CHINA PERMITS TIGER TRADE

China seems to be permitting its people to trade in the skins of a critically endangered animal. Photo:B_Cool/Wikimedia Commons

International Investigators Charge That China Is Quietly Allowing Trade In Tigers Skins

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a London-based international wildlife-trafficking fact-gathering organization, is sounding the alarm over the Chinese government’s apparent relaxation of prohibitions against the sale of tiger skins. Commercialization of tigers, a rapidly vanishing Endangered species, is forbidden by international agreement.
China’s actions are crucial to tiger conservation. Because China is the world’s largest market for tiger products, survival of the remaining wild tigers depends on that country’s willingness to educate its population about tiger conservation, as well as to enforce anti-trafficking laws—both its own, and those agreed upon by the international community.
Among the hundreds of animal species in danger of going extinct in the near future, tigers have attracted more international attention than most. Nonetheless, population numbers of all tiger subspecies continue to dwindle: Currently, there are approximately 3,200 tigers remaining in the wild. Well over 100,000 tigers roamed a number of Asian habitats in the early to mid-20th century.
Although trade in tiger parts is illegal in China, in 2007, the Chinese government created an exception for registered and labeled tiger and leopard skins of “legal origin.” However, only recently has the EIA found evidence of actual, “legal” trade of tiger skins being conducted in China.
According to a recent EIA announcement, “Although previously committing to end trade in the parts of Asia’s big cats it appears China has resumed trade in tiger and leopard skins via the implementation of its 2007 Skin Registration Scheme.
“The Scheme allows for tiger and leopard skins from ‘legal origins,’ including those from captive-bred big cats, to be registered, labeled and sold; EIA believes this provides the perfect cover for illegal skins to be laundered and seriously undermines China’s promise to last November’s International Tiger Summit in St Petersburg by re-opening trade at a time when the rest of the world is seeking to end it.
“And EIA has already discovered several examples of skins for sale online, which appear to have formal permits.”
Currently, around 6,000 tigers are kept at several “tiger farms” around China. Investigators from the EIA and other conservation organizations have long reported a thriving illegal commerce in tiger skins, bones, organs, and other parts that often is only half-heartedly discouraged by Chinese authorities. Some wealthy Chinese people enjoy eating tiger meat and organs in exclusive restaurants. In addition, tiger parts are also used to make a variety of popular Chinese folk medicines. China’s consumption of all sorts of tiger parts has climbed steeply over the last decade as more Chinese people have gained affluence and the ability to afford the exotic and costly products.
Chinese officials have suggested that legalizing the sale of the country’s farmed tigers might remove the incentive for wildlife poachers in tiger-range countries to kill wild tigers for sale in China. However, most tiger conservationists vehemently disagree, saying that a legal domestic market for tigers in China would make it easier for black marketeers to “launder” their wild-killed animals by selling them as farm-raised. In addition, conservationists fear that, even with a market awash in abundant farm-raised tiger parts, many Chinese connoisseurs will continue to prefer wild-killed tigers because of the natural “magic” they contain—and will pay a premium to get them. 

USING CHIMPS AS GUINEA PIGS

A Chimpanzee Behind Bars At The Warsaw Zoo. Photo:Andrzej Barabasz

Should We Be Using Endangered Chimpanzees As Medical-Research Subjects?

Great apes—chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans—will soon become exempt from medical research in the United States, if a U.S. congressman from Maryland gets his way. Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett recently introduced legislation that would phase out invasive medical research on apes in America.
All wild apes are listed as either Endangered or Critically Endangered animals by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Nine other countries as well as the European Union already forbid or restrict research on apes, which are the closest living relatives to humans, and have been demonstrated to possess many of our problem-solving abilities, including tool use.
Rep. Barlett, in an August 10 op-ed article for The New York Times, said that he comes by his knowledge of primate research first hand: he is a former U.S. Navy physiologist who helped develop respiratory devices for astronauts by testing them on monkeys.
“At the time, I believed such research was worth the pain inflicted on the animals. But in the years since, our understanding of its effect on primates, as well as alternatives to it, have made great strides, to the point where I no longer believe such experiments make sense — scientifically, financially or ethically. That’s why I have introduced bipartisan legislation to phase out invasive research on great apes in the United States,” Rep. Bartlett said in his Times essay.
Chimpanzees are the most widely utilized of the great apes in medical research. According to Rep. Bartlett, caging and experimenting on chimps stresses them in ways that are similar to the ways humans would be stressed under similar circumstances. He said that chimpanzees as susceptible to a variety of stress-related illnesses, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rep. Bartlett says that, not only would eliminating apes from medical research be the most humane thing to do, but that replacing chimps with computer modeling and other, more up-to-date, research techniques would also save money.
“. . . many new techniques are cheaper, faster and more effective, including computer modeling and the testing of very small doses on human volunteers,” Rep. Bartlett wrote in his essay. “In vitro methods now grow human cells and tissues for human biomedical studies, bypassing the need for whole animals.
“Such advances have led to a drop in primate research. Many federally owned chimpanzees were bred to support AIDS research, but later proved inferior to more modern technologies. As a result, most of the 500 federally owned chimpanzees are idling in warehouses. Ending chimpanzee research and retiring the animals to sanctuaries would save taxpayers about $30 million a year.”

CONNECTICUT COUGAR WALKED FROM SOUTH DAKOTA

The Connecticut Cougar On The Wisconsin Leg Of His Incredible Journey. Photo Was Taken By A Motion-Activated Camera.

INCREDIBLE JOURNEY!
Mountain Lion Killed In Connecticut Was Wild, And Likely Born In The Black Hills

A male mountain lion struck and killed on a Connecticut highway in early June was a wild animal that was likely born in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and traveled on its own to the East Coast, Connecticut wildlife officials announced today.
During a hastily assembled conference call, the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Daniel C. Esty, said that several genetic-testing laboratories around the country had confirmed that the young, 140-pound male mountain lion was the same animal that had been sighted a number of times in Minnesota and Wisconsin during 2009 and early 2010. Confirmation came from genetic material recovered from scat, hair, and blood samples collected in the two Midwestern states. Further, the cat’s genes indicated that it had originated among the easternmost breeding population of wild cougars, which inhabits the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Wildlife biologists assume that the Connecticut lion was born in the Black Hills and migrated East over several years, swimming broad rivers such as the Hudson as it did so. Porcupine quills were found under the cougar’s skin, evidence that it had hunted the spiny creatures in order to feed itself. Scientists plan to continue studying the animal in order to learn, among other things, what else it had eaten on its journey.
According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, there are no breeding populations of mountain lions east of the Mississippi. In fact, after a 5-year investigation, USFWS earlier this year concluded that the eastern mountain lion was extinct, the last one having been killed in Maine in the 1930s. According to the agency, most cougars sighted in the East are captive animals that had either escaped or been released.
However, USFWS acknowledges that cougars from breeding populations in the West—mostly from the Black Hills, where 150 or more cougars live—sometimes wander into the East. According to wildlife officials, young male lions are especially prone to wanderlust.
Several years ago, in fact, a cougar from the Black Hills was shot and killed by police in downtown Chicago.
By all accounts, however, the Connecticut cougar’s journey was one of the most remarkable ever documented for a North American mammal. From Minnesota, where wildlife officials first picked up the animal’s trail, the cougar traveled nearly 1,200 miles to reach the stretch of highway in Milford, Connecticut, where it was struck and killed by an SUV. The previous distance record for an American mammal was about half that number of miles. In addition, scientists are not yet giving the cat official credit for the approximately 300 additional miles it probably had walked to get to Minnesota from the Black Hills. So far, the only evidence of that leg of the incredible journey is circumstantial.
Although conservation officials say the cougar’s solo journey should be celebrated as a sign that some types of American wildlife—cougars included— are making a comeback from near-extinction, they add that people on the East Coast should not expect to see more mountain lions in their backyards. The Connecticut cougar was probably an exceptional animal, with an especially strong sense of adventure; few, if any, of his South Dakota relatives are likely to repeat his incredible journey. 

ALL ABOUT WILDLIFE ON FACEBOOK

The Three Bears Are AllAboutWildlife's New Face On Facebook. (Susanne Miller/USFWS)

Visit Our New Facebook Page!

Since we launched this website two years ago, traffic on All About Wildlife has zoomed from zero to more than 80,000 individual visitors per month—and it keeps on growing!
So, with all the people now stopping by to learn about endangered species and other wildlife, we finally decided we needed a Facebook page where Wildlife fans could gather to learn the latest news, maybe leave a comment, and perhaps even get in touch with us, or with one another. We’ve all got a lot in common, after all!
So, here it is; please have a look. Let us know what you think . . . and don’t forget to “Like” us! 

HEAT HURTS TEXAS WILDLIFE

The Texas Drought Hits Wild Animals Up And Down The Food Chain, From Bugs To Bats

Wild animals in Texas tend to be tough; mammals, birds, and reptiles alike are used to high summer temperatures and seasonally scarce water. This summer’s super drought, however, which has involved extremely low rainfall and record heat for weeks on end, is completely different from what most Southwestern creatures are accustomed to. A lot of wildlife is being dangerously stressed.
Texas wildlife officials have received reports of female deer abandoning their fawns because because they can’t find enough food or water to produce the milk needed to feed them.
Along the Texas coast, meanwhile, fish, shellfish, and birds that inhabit estuaries have had to tolerate water that is much saltier than usual, owing to the fact that far less fresh water is arriving from the state’s parched rivers. Oysters in particular are being hard hit.
Many plants have been unable to grow due to the lack of rain, which means lean times and low reproduction for the insects that feed on them, as well hunger for the animals that feed on insects, such as birds and bats.
Even mosquitos have it hard, because a large percentage of their breeding pools have dried up, making it difficult for them to maintain their numbers. While fewer mosquitos might might seem like a good thing to most people, creatures that depend on them for a food source—fish, bats, and birds—have been suffering.
Drought damage to flowering plants is likely to prove a particularly serious problem for the long-tongued bat (above), a rare species that feeds on nectar and pollen. There may be no more than a few hundred long-tailed bats in existence, and with flowers in short supply, their numbers could dwindle further.
With luck, weather patterns in Texas and the rest of the drought-stricken Southwest will moderate by next summer. However, many scientists caution that, in the coming years, record heat and scare rainfall may become more common in some parts of the U.S., as well in other parts of the world, due to ongoing global climate change

SAVING WILD HAMSTERS

Are Hamsters An Endangered Animal?

How could the hamster possibly be an endangered species when we see them in every pet store we visit?
For one thing, there are around 25 different species of wild hamster. They occupy grassland habitats in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Populations of some hamster species are more abundant than others, and many species face serious threats due to human activities that affect their ability to find food and nesting sites.
For another, when conservationists talk about the possibility of a species becoming endangered or threatened, they are referring to its population and prospects in the wild, not in captivity. Many species of animals actually are extinct in the wild even though their domesticated numbers are huge—the dromedary, or one-humped camel, is one example. In fact, the hamster species that we see most often in pet stores, the golden, or Syrian, hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), is listed as a Vulnerable species in the wild on the International Union For The Conservation Of Nature Red List Of Threatened Species. This means that the golden hamster’s population is declining significantly in its natural habitat.
The IUCN lists two other hamster species, Brant’s hamster and the Romanian hamster, as Near Threatened, which means that their numbers are shrinking—although they are not disappearing quite as quickly as those of a Vulnerable species such as the golden hamster.
No hamster species is yet listed by the IUCN as Endangered or Critically Endangered, which are the organization’s most serious designations, and the ones that indicate that a species is fast approaching extinction in the wild. However, some hamsters are close to being extirpated—which means ‘regionally extinct’—in parts of their native range.
In addition to the IUCN’s assessments of the threats facing species across their entire native ranges, many individual countries, states, and provinces produce their own lists of endangered and threatened species. These national and regional assessments are important, because sometimes even an animal that is designated by the IUCN as a species of Least Concern can find itself in need of protection in one or more parts of its range.
One example of a species holding its own in many portions of its range, but facing grave threats in others, is the European hamster (Cricetus cricetus), also called the “great,” or “black-bellied,” hamster. This large (up to 10 inches, or 25.4 centimeters, long) hamster, whose native range includes most of Eastern and Western Europe, is officially designated as a species of Least Concern by the IUCN because, although it is slowly declining in number across most of its range, many populations remain reasonably healthy. However, in some countries to which it is native, the European hamster is in big trouble.
One place where the great hamster has been almost extirpated is in France, which has only a few hundred native hamsters remaining. There are so few French black-bellied hamsters left in the wild because much of their original habitat is being used by humans for agriculture, and has also been disrupted by roads and housing developments. In addition, in the past, people killed the animals for their fur, and to prevent them from eating crops.
Recently, the European Court of Justice ruled that France had not done enough to protect its wild hamsters, and said that the country would face nearly $25 million in fines if it did not begin using more hamster-friendly agricultural practices. For example, hamsters probably would do better if more fields in northeastern France were planted in grass and alfalfa rather than corn.
Conservationists estimate that around 800 wild hamsters remain in France. Although the number dropped to as low as 200 several years ago, and has therefore risen recently, European wildlife experts would like to see the animal’s population recover to around 1,500 in the French corner of its range. Having a larger hamster population in France would make it less likely that a disease or a single natural disaster would be able to wipe them all out.

EXTINCTION AND EXTIRPATION

The American Red Wolf Has Been Extirpated From Most Of Its Range. Only a handful remain at large in the wild.

Extirpation Means ‘Local Extinction’

Everyone knows what the words “extinct” and “extinction” mean. They tell us that a species has vanished from the earth, just like the dinosaurs. Since life began on our planet, about 99 percent of all species that ever lived have gone extinct—most of them due to natural causes. Extinct are the tyrannosaurus rex, the woolly rhinoceros, the mastodon, the trilobite, and the saber-toothed tiger.
Humankind played no role in most of these extinctions. However, we are responsible for many hundreds of the most recent ones. The passenger pigeon is gone because of us; so is the wild dromedary camel, the dodo bird, the Javan tiger, the dusky seaside sparrow . . . the list could go on and on.
But many other species, although not yet extinct, have disappeared from large areas of their original, natural habitat. Wildlife experts say that these creatures have been extirpated from parts of their former range.
“Extirpation” means completely gone from a particular region—in other words,”locally extinct.” For one example, the American red wolf used to be common throughout much of the Southeastern U.S. But by 1980, Canis rufus had been extirpated everywhere but along a narrow strip of coastal eastern Texas. If that last small band of less than two dozen wolves had been killed off, the species would have gone extinct. Fortunately, they were spared.
In fact, the remaining red wolves were rounded up and placed in a captive breeding program. Since then, some of these captive animals have been released into one area of North Carolina, where they have since been breeding successfully. Red wolves still roam the wild thanks to the efforts of wildlife conservationists.
Similar successful efforts have been made on behalf of other animals, including the California condor, the American bison, and the white rhinoceros. Some of the saved species have then been able to repopulate areas from which they were extirpated by humans.
However, many other species have not been so fortunate. They have gone extinct—and extinction is forever. 

Our Thoughts on Montana's Proposed 2011 Wolf Hunt

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) is currently planning Montana’s second public wolf hunt, and FWP is looking to reduce Montana’s wolf population this year.
While last year’s wolf hunt quota was 75, this year FWP has proposed quotas that would allow 153, 186 or 216 wolves to be killed during the hunting season.
Besides the big spikes in this year’s proposed quotas, last year’s wolf hunt had a few hiccups, so it will be interesting to see what type of hunt Montana designs for this fall.
(Of course, with a decision on whether to return Endangered Species Act protections to wolves in Idaho and Montana pending in federal court, these hunt alternatives could become moot later this summer.)
At this time, NRDC opposes any wolf hunt in Montana (or any other state in the Northern Rockies).  Before a sustainable wolf hunt can be implemented, wolves must be fully recovered in the Northern Rockies, with significant genetic connectivity between the subpopulations and adequate state management plans in place.
We’re not there yet.
Scientists call for a minimum of 2,000 wolves in the tri-state area of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.  Of critical importance to the long-term health and viability of Northern Rockies wolves is a larger wolf population with legitimate genetic exchange between the subpopulations of central Idaho, northwest Montana, and greater Yellowstone.  Currently, there are roughly 1,700 wolves in the Northern Rockies.  Full recovery is essential for wolves to successfully disperse between subpopulations and fulfill their ecological role.
Once recovery has been achieved and its long-term viability ensured, a hunt that sustains the population at recovery levels could reasonably be implemented, and NRDC would not oppose such a hunt.
This spring, however, FWP instituted new lethal control guidelines, allowing USDA-Wildlife Services to kill wolves at suspected wolf depredation sites without getting permission from FWP.  A hunt on top of increased lethal control, especially a hunt that more than doubles or nearly triples last year’s quota, is irresponsible.  When implementing changes, FWP should be more conservative and evaluate results before instituting additive changes.
FWP must adequately consider the ecological value of wolves on the landscape.  Studies have shown that wolves influence ungulate herds, which allows trees and vegetation to grow, which, in turn, improves habitat for many other species.  Wolves have reduced the coyote population in Yellowstone National Park, which has increased the number of pronghorn.  The incredible ecological benefits that a viable wolf population brings by restoring natural ecosystem function must be better appreciated and considered.
In FWP’s hunt proposal’s “Supporting Information,” FWP states that connectivity between subpopulations in the Northern Rockies may be affected by the hunt quotas, and that quotas may need to be adjusted.  FWP should not propose any actions that risk connectivity.  Natural dispersal between subpopulations is critical to the long-term health of the species and successful restoration of wolves in neighboring states.
Proposed hunting areas and quotas were set by FWP to have more wolves killed in certain locations to protect livestock and elk/deer herds.  Wolves should not be killed to protect elk or deer herds when the state ungulate populations remain largely over objectives.  And attempting to protect livestock through a general wolf hunt is misguided.
FWP is attempting to reduce Montana’s wolf population with hunting, which indiscriminately removes wolves from packs, rather than targeting problem animals.  Wolves have evolved under complex family-based social structures, and maintaining pack structure is important for several reasons.  Among others, pack disintegration has been tied to a potential for increased livestock conflicts.  Management policies should look beyond numbers to biological and ecological considerations.

Wildlife Films – why we think they’re important

In any good wildlife film, there is ‘that scene’ which makes the whole thing come alive. In the utterly incredible BBC series Planet Earth, ‘that scene’ for me was the wild dog hunt in the first episode – the one filmed from a heligimble (some sort of high-tech military camera thing). The scene takes in an aerial view of a wild dog hunt from from start to finish. The footage shows the pack’s incredible co-operative hunting methods as they run down an impala through the woodland on an Okavango island. The footage was shot at Chitabe – a Wilderness concession.

Through the years, a startling number of wildlife documentaries have been filmed on concessions operated by Wilderness in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia and mainly Botswana. We believe that wildlife documentaries have an enormous role to play in conservation. A very small proportion of the world’s population will ever travel to Africa’s wildlife areas. Wilderness manages to host about 35 000 visitors a year which leaves about 6 999 965 000 people who we don’t reach!
For most of these people, film is as close as they will ever get to Africa’s wild places – film provides them with their only experience of the continent’s remarkable species. The importance of wildlife documentaries is thus something Wilderness embraces whole-heartedly. We hope that the films made on our concessions will inspire our guests to spread the conservation message and encourage people who haven’t visited Africa yet to come and see the wonders on offer.
As mentioned, not everyone will get the chance to experience remote wilderness areas and intact ecosystems, yet their actions in the large cities of the northern hemisphere and the impoverished rural communities of the Third World will nonetheless affect the conservation of these areas. Knowing that these wild places exist and understanding their importance will do wonders for the political and social will to conserve them.
Our belief in the value of wildlife film is reflected in our regular hosting and assistance of filmmakers producing high-quality, authentic wildlife documentaries that cover a wide variety of landscapes and species. Beyond this we regularly host film crews from all over the world looking for specific footage to feature in ground-breaking documentaries that enlighten, educate and mobilise conscious and concerned people all over the world.
We salute the contribution that wildlife filmmakers make to the world of conservation. Wildlife filmmaking icons such as Dereck and Beverley Joubert (Eternal Enemies, Relentless Enemies, Ultimate Enemies, Rhino Rescue), Mike Holding and Tania Jenkins (Swamp Cats, A Wild Dog’s Story), Aquavision (Dive to Tiger Central, Valley of the Golden Baboon, The Greatest Shoal on Earth) and many others have filmed their own documentaries or taken footage for master pieces like BBC’s Planet Earth, and Nature’s Great Events – The Great Flood on Wilderness concessions.
During the production of Rhino Rescue, Dereck Joubert commented:
Beverly and I have had the opportunity many times to step back and look at Wilderness, and each time find that this company does not come up wanting. Its people, its policies, its business ethic, its environmental efforts, all make Wilderness what it is, and while I am sure that there is morale building going on all the time, it needs to be said again, Wilderness can be proud. …it needs to be said that we could not have done anything without Wilderness, and the people directly hands on.
Wilderness will continue to support the efforts of authentic wildlife filmmakers as they search for the scenes that will inspire and mobilise conservation throughout the world.

(Botswana) Wildlife Photography vs Wildlife Hunting

Gaborone — An expert on Friday warned that the banning of hunting in preference to photographic safaris could have a devastating effect on the environment and the wildlife it is expected to preserve.
Wildlife management expert, Dr Larry Patterson said on Friday that the photographic safari model has high financial rewards but studies have shown that it can cause serious environmental degradation. “Although most ecologists would claim to be educationally sophisticated and environmentally concerned, they rarely understand the ecological consequences of their visits and how their day-to-day activities have physical impacts on the environment,” he said at the Kalahari Conservation Society (KCS) annual fundraising dinner, attended by among others President Ian Khama, cabinet ministers, Phandu Skelemani, Dorcas Makgato-Malesu, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Dr Larry Patterson, a wildlife management expert warned that the banning of hunting in preference to photographic safaris could have a devastating effect on the environment and the wildlife it is expected to preserve.

Patterson has worked in Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia and conducted wildlife management consultancies for international organisations.

He said a survey conducted in 2010 among staff and clients at two facilities in the Okavango Delta asked questions about perceived environmental experiences such as number of animal sightings, encounters with other tourists, number of boats, vehicles, aircraft and tranquility.
“All were quite positive but…asked what they thought about doubling numbers in the next 10 years, they almost all said the experience and the environment would be degraded. Staff was more critical but understandably ‘unofficially’, being unwilling to bite the hand that feeds them,” he said.
Patterson added that a recent study at a tourists resort of Xakanaxa criticised the government for lack of a proper management plan, after finding that 6,000 hectares of land had three up-market lodges and accommodation for 50 employees, two public campsites, two group campsites for mobile safaris, a commercial marina with 30 licensed boats, an airstrip, as well as 250km of roads with 300 vehicles on a busy day. He praised the hunting model because of its very low environmental impact. He said the model allows extensive areas of low scenic value to be used. He said the usual hunting quota off-take is 2-4 percent, which is insignificant in population dynamics.
“Properly administered hunting is not detrimental to wildlife populations. This is absolutely certain. Evidence is widespread and well-documented,” he stressed.
Patterson attributed the increasing number of wildlife population entirely to the hunting industry. The expert says in South Africa private ranches number 10,000, while Namibia has 1,000, compared to Botswana’s only 100.

In response to Botswana's intention to outlaw wildlife hunting, Wildlife management expert Dr Larry Patterson states that properly administered hunting is not detrimental to wildlife populations and this evidence is widespread and well-documented. The photographic safari model has high financial rewards but studies have shown that it can cause serious environmental degradation.

He expressed hope that in future the majority of wildlife in Botswana will be on private land. He said recreational use of game ranches relieves congestion in parks and wildlife management areas. He said photographic and hunting models for wildlife management should be supported for their conservation value.
He acknowledged that some hunters may be unbalanced fanatics and bad behaviour by such unscrupulous elements hurts the image of the hunting industry. “Human emotions dictate that a majority of people are unable to divorce hunting ethics from conservation.
They see it as unfair that a hunter should use a high-powered rifle and modern technology to collect his animal and even worse that he should derive pleasure from it. The hunting industry needs to clean up its act and its image more so in this part of the world where it is saddled with the historical baggage of colonialism and the Boer image,” Patterson said.

Do Wolves Deliberately Hunt People?

Yes, they do. One reason is when wolves have rabies, but these only account for about half the times that wolves eat people.

Wolves rarely attack people in North America . . . a lot of the reported cases were exaggerated or completely false, due to an economic incentives for inventing such incorrect data. However such reports are not entirely false, and are likely to increase as wolves and people become more likely to come into contact with each other in the future.
The affects of wolves on livestock in America are not significant in general, being a small fraction of those which die from natural causes.
The same applies to wolves killing dogs in America . . . it does happen, but is only a very tiny effect on the population.
Livestock and dogs, as well as people in Europe and Asia are more likely to be killed by wolves than in America.
For more details on this, see The Wikipedia data on “Wolf attacks on humans”

Agression and warning, the intensity of its gaze an expression of the power of its determination for survival and freedom.

Be a part of some Utah deer hunting history

Photo by Paul Bohman

By Don Allphin - Herald Correspondent

If you would like to take part in a bit of Utah's deer hunting history, this just might be your last opportunity. At 7 a.m. on July 27, the remaining deer tags, approximately 3,200 for the general rifle and muzzleloader hunts in the Northern Region of Utah, go on sale.

They can be purchased online at the Division of Wildlife Resources Web site (www.wildlife.utah.gov) or at any of the 300 license agencies spread throughout the state or in the regional DWR offices.

In Utah County, that office is located in Springville at 1115 North Main Street, and the phone number is 801-491-5678.

Just as an aside to this story, general season elk tags go on sale on the same date and at the same time.

The Division of Wildlife Resources is changing the way we hunt deer in Utah. There was a time in the not-so-distant past that residents could simply purchase a deer tag and go hunting wherever they wanted across the state.

Then, due to extreme hunting pressure in specific areas that historically produced larger deer, or in sections that struggled to maintain strong deer populations, wildlife officials came up with a plan to limit the pressure by dividing the state into regions, and holding yearly drawings to determine who could hunt in each region.

This plan was met with opposition from every part of the state. Regional boundaries made little sense to many hunters who wanted to hunt the entire Strawberry Valley, for example, but after the changes were forced to choose which part of the valley they wanted to hunt since it had just been split in at least two ways.

Other problems were just as frustrating. Families that had hunted together for generations and lived in very popular regions found themselves without licenses to hunt deer in their proverbial own backyard because they weren't lucky enough to "draw" permits.

Wildlife managers eventually noticed that the buck-to-doe ratio in the state was and still is less than desirable based on comparisons with other popular hunting states, and therefore in an effort to fine-tune the management process have now once again changed the rules. Instead of having five regions in the state, in 2012 the state will be broken down even further into 30 smaller hunting areas which will now be called "units."

By doing so, it is hoped that tighter controls over the management and harvest in each hunting unit will ultimately result in a healthier deer populations statewide.

It is very easy to criticize any of the management plans of the DWR. And, by no means can I state categorically that this new system will be any better than the old. Wildlife managers were forced to find alternatives to the current program. Highway mortality, poaching, weather-related mortality and loss of winter range were all factors officials considered before determining the new course of action. And in the end, an ever-increasing human population in Utah still very much enjoys hunting deer.

Today, quality deer hunting is a huge draw, not only to residents of Utah but to others who will pay top dollar for an opportunity at bagging a big Utah mule deer buck. Bringing hunters from other states to our motels, our sporting goods stores, restaurants and grocery stores provides a very real boost to our struggling economy.

Regardless of the reasons or the rationale, 2011 just might be the last opportunity you might have to walk up to a sales counter and purchase a deer permit and enjoy an old-fashioned family deer hunt.
For more information, contact me.

Wildlife

11 Jul 2011

An after work trip with Norm Winterman saw a return to Cliffe in warm, still conditions - there was lots of insect activity and in the next 2 hours we had 40+ Scarce Emerald Damselflies. Here's a male....

Soon however, we located the main prize - 8+ Southern Emerald Damselflies - a recent colonist to the UK.

Male:

Female:

2 Water Voles were a pleasing site, and a smart adult summer Spotted Redshank was on the Black Barn pool - smart trip!!

09 Jul 2011

First family trip for quite a few weeks saw us start at Bluewater with an attempt at the trim trail and a couple od Red-Eyed Damselflies.

Shoreham - a very large female Adder was basking on top of one of the tins - awesome sight!!

A few more hours spent at Dene Park Wood - good to meet James Lowen and his daughter here, but again no Purple Emperors. We did enjoy Purple Hairstreak and 2 Silver Washed Fritillaries amongst the usual species.

New Hythe - with Leigh and Kieran asleep in the car, I ventured down to the SW corner of Abbeymead pit with Owen. We met up with Phil Sharp, a very pleasant local and soon had a Lesser Emperor patrolling up and down in front of us at close range - the blue saddle was obvious at all ranges - superb!

A great trip!

08 Jul 2011

Norm's garden:

Pine Hawk Moth

07 Jul 2011
Norm's Garden:
Bordered Sallow (right) and Brown Line Bright Eye:

Knott Grass :

06 Jul 2011
Norm's Garden:
Oak Eggar Dark Sword Grass :

Lesser Spotted Pinion :

Campion :

Elephant Hawk Moth Dingy Footman :

Small Rivulet :

We headed down to Dene Park in the afternoon, but had no luck with Purple Emperor. We did see quite a bit of stuff here though, including 12 Beautiful Demoiselles, Brown Hawker, 2 Southern Hawkers and 6 White Admirals. 

White Admiral:

Comma:

Beautiful Demoseille:

This fungus certainly drew our attention! :

Dryhill - a few Broad-Leaved Helleborines were just starting to flower. Again, several hundred plants present at this site. 

04 Jul 2011
Norm trapped a Lesser Spotted Pinion ( he traps about 300 yards away from my garden )
03 Jul 2011
Checking the weather forecast saw myself and Simon heading North to the Lake District for the day. We arrived at Honister at 10:45am and immediately headed up the steep track to the plateau.

We couldn't have timed it better - bright sunshine, warm with little wind saw us admiring 15+ Mountain Ringlets bounding across the grassy plateau - a new UK butterfly for me ( after a few failures at this site in years gone by ). They were smaller than I was expecting and had broad, fat abdomens. Here's a selection, including a hand shot that I didn't give any thought to when it was taken......

Once we had our fill it was back down the mountain to the car park and off to Ulpha, a Large Heath site. Today I learnt a valuable lesson - there are 2 Ulphas in the lakes, and guess which one the sat nav took us to? Bollocks!! Eventually we found the right one and walked out to Meathop Moss - it was hot so everything was very active, but we had 30+ Large Heaths, a superb Emperor Moth and several Northern Eggars - nice!
Just a few miles away was Arnside Knott where we ended our trip. Lots of large Fritillaries were flying but proved hard to id as they were so active. We had 30 un ided, 10 Dark Green Frits, 1 High Brown Frits, 2 Small Pearl Bordered Frits, 1 Northern Brown Argus and a Grayling.
The drive home was a bit of a slog, but we arrived home with smiles on our faces!! 

29 Jun 2011

A superb Striped Hawk Moth was trapped in Dartford overnight in Norm's garden....

26 Jun 2011
A day trip to France with Paul, Trevor and Simon looked superb on paper and the gen also looked good as we heading across the channel on the Eurostar. Searching through the dunes we could not locate the refugia that was supposed to be on site - 6 foot hinged doors set in concrete - we were a bit deflated but did locate a damp area full of tiny Natterjack Toadlets. 

After a lot of searching and scant reward we decided to head back early and do a couple of sites in Kent on the way home.
Here's Paul having a kip on the train - looks like a state funeral! 

First stop was a private site on the East coast of Kent that holds a healthy population of Wall Lizards - we had great views of several basking in the sun. 

Parkgate Down was our last stop and once we got our eye in we had 15+ Musk Orchids on the bank there. 

So, despite the lack of some of our targets, a good day with the usual great company and a bit of jam on the way home! 

Could have been worse - we could have gone to Scotland.............

19 Jun 2011
After a sleep over a trip was hatched with myself and Andy taking our 2 6 year olds down to Somerset for the day. On arrival Collard Hill was cool and overcast with some rain! - not ideal!! However, we did locate a few Large Blues, a butterfly that became extinct in the UK in the 1970s and now has been reintroduced to several sites in the South-West - it relies on a particular ant to look after it's caterpillars - a strategy that probaly lead to it becoming extint in the first place!!. A few trolli ( Wasp ) orchids also pleased us as did the warm welcome we received from the various wardens on site. A Marbled White showed well on the way back to the car.
Heading back, a quick look at a spot I visited 5 years ago produced a single flower of a bee x fly orchid hybrid still out, though the rest of the plant had gone over.
A whistle stop at Bentley Wood gave us White Admiral and Silver Washed Fritillary, but Purple Emperors had yet to emerge.
However, although it was time to go home, the fun was just beginning!! Andy's car engine light came on, then started flashing, then the engine cut out and we glided to a halt on a country lane! Reading the manual we worked out that if the light flashed then the car must not be accelerated - we crawled home along the A303, M3 and M25 at 50 mph, our eyes fixed on the engine light. Fortunately our 2 sons were knackered so slept the whole way home - result!!!
 

Trolli Bee ( Wasp ) orchid:

Large Blue:

Marbled White:

Bee x Fly Orchid hybrid:

18 Jun 2011

Shoreham area.

Ringlet:

Common Shrew:

11 Jun 2011

Entry road to Dartford Football club.

Bee Orchid:

05 Jun 2011

A family walk in windy and cloudy conditions was conducted at the strategic location of Lullingstone golf course, where I 'luckily' located 6 pristine Dark Green Fritillaries and 3 Lizard Orchids - nice!! At least it felt like a proper summer at last with cool winds and drizzle!!!

Here's a Lizard Orchid flower starting to unfurl...

Later on I visited a local mother to see a few good local species - Rannoch Looper which is currently invading the South-East and the localised Red-Necked Footman.

Rannoch Looper:

Red-Necked Footman:

04 Jun 2011

Another trip to Sheppey to search for Dainty Damselfly - and being the first weekend since James Lowen's Thursday sighting it was going to attract a crowd - 6 of us in total and we all knew each other!!! Again it felt cool with less wind than yesterday and there was more activity - Common Blue Damselfly, Common Bluetail, Red-Eyed Damselfly and Black-Tailed Skimmer kicked things off and as the heat started to rise, there it was.......a male Dainty Damselfly!! Extinct for many years in the UK, it was rediscovered last year at 3 sites on the Isle of Sheppey. I think it could have been overlooked as the ID is quite subtle - these photos illustrate some the features to look for.

Pleased with this it was off into East Kent to search for Late Spider Orchid - we found around 10 in flower but numbers were well down on previous years. I had very good views of the RDB moth Black Veined Moth - a species restricted in the UK to 2 chalkland slopes, both in Kent.

Parkgate Down produced a few resonable Monkey Orchids, but again no Musk Orchids.

The day ended at Yocklett's bank with the highlight being a rather fine specimen of Greater Butterfly Orchid.

A fantastic day!!

03 Jun 2011

The morning was spent unsuccessfully searching for Dainty Damselfly on Sheppey - not helped by the high winds and Owen getting a severe attack of Hay-Fever!!

The evening was spent with a crew looking for Scorpions at the same site as earlier this year - fabulous little critters, especially when they glowed green in the UV light I was using to locate them. One large individual was particularly impressive.

30 May 2011

Monkey Orchids starting to go over at Parkgate Down.

Next was East Blean Woods where the numbers of Heath Fritillaries had increased somewhat since last weekend - I had 80+ around the carpark! Had a good chat with local Dylan - check out his car when you see him next - it's a winner!! ( day-glo orange above, white below - top combination!!).

We finished up at Westbere where 10+ Scarce Chasers showed well - a successful little trip!
28 May 2011
2 good moths trapped locally.....
Grey Arches:



Small Angle Shades:

Burnished Brass:

Freyer's Pug:

22 May 2011

A laid back 'Team Hunter' outing started well with 160+ Man Orchids at Preston Hill

, and, despite the very windy conditions at Sevenoaks a few insects seen including Banded Demosielle and a brief Downy Emerald.

Azure Damselfly:

Harlequin Ladybird:

Pleased with this we headed to Holborough Marshes, the only site I know in Kent for Early Marsh Orchid.......

Nearby we located Hairy Dragonfly and Red-Eyed Damselfly on the stream by Brooklands lake.

 An early finish today, although I popped out to Greenhithe to see 2 Sanderlings Andy had found earlier - a good local bird and the end of another great weekend!!!

21 May 2011

A morning out in Kent produced quite a few good sightings in glorious sunny weather.

At Dartford I had 29 Man Orchids, then at Stockbury a few Lady Orchids, 3 Bird'sNest Orchids, 2 Man Orchids and 1 Fly Orchid.

After a site recce elsewhere I visited East Blean woods where 8 smart Heath Fritillaries were on the wing in the car park - a very rare butterfly in the UK:

Pleased with this I attempted to twitch a Bluethroat at Oare but had no luck - a Hobby showed very well hawking dragonflies right in front of us.

Home for lunch I picked up Owen and spent the afternoon looking for bugs at Rainham RSPB on a trip lead by Howard Vaughn - we had an excellent time, seeing loads of superb insects. Here's a selection....

Udea Olivalis:

Agapanthia villosoviridescens:

Spindle Ermine ( micro moth ) caterpillar:

Some hatching larva:

Other sightings included Pyrochoa serraticornis, Roschel's Bush Cricket, Dock shield Bug, Horned Treehopper (awesome looking beast!!)

Brilliant!!!

18 May 2011

A few moths trapped in North West Kent:

Alder Kitten:

Alder Moth:

Bird'sWing Moth:

Green Silver Lines:

Satin Lutestring:

15 May 2011

For reasons better known to the instigators, several species of amphibian have been either introduced or reintroduced into the English countryside over the last 100 years or so  and today a group of us met up to attempt to see some of them in their new homes.

London was our first stop at a waterworks and 5+ Edible frogs were easily seen amongst the weed.

Here’s the frog   paparazzi  in action…..

 

A short drive north and Pool Frog was added to the day list where 9+ were present on a small pond – the males were displaying and battling each other in the centre of the pond.

 

Midwife Toad was next – what a tiny species!!! but a little cracker!!

 

This one is sat on my hand!!

 

The rest of the day was spent on a Norfolk heath trying unsuccessfully to find Pool Frog at a reintroduction site in the cooler and cloudier conditions.

We did have Great Crested Newt and a recently emerged Four-Spotted Chaser showing very well.

En route home we had a brief detour for 4 Stone Curlews, strutting around on their chosen close cropped heath.

 

A cracking day out in great company ( and my trusty little diesel kept the fuel costs down )!!

14 May 2011

A bird searching day with Andy, Barry and Gary – hard work, but good fun to get us all together again.

At Cliffe we had 2 stints fly over, that in our heart of hearts were Temminck’s but we didn’t get conclusive views as the birds headed off into Essex.

We headed slowly towards Sheppey seeing 15+ Slow Worms at one site and ending up at Shellness to watch the falling tide – 2 sum plum Sanderlings entertained as did 2 Little Terns and Andy ( Hubble ) scoping distant raptors on the mainland!

We finished up at Elmley with 3 ridiculously distant Spoonbills, 3 much closer drake Garganeys and a knob –end in a helicopter trying to land on the reserve in the Spitend area – the sort of footage that would make ‘Springwatch’ watchable!!.

We also had 4 Black-Necked Grebes at one site during the day.

07 May 2011
A couple of hours spent watching the foreshore at Dartfprd paid off with a few good waders - 5 Grey Plovers ( 3 in sparkling summer plumage ) took the honours, but 5 Greenshanks, 2 Whimbrels and 2 Bar-Tailed Godwits were also good to see so close to home, though I was surprised to have a Green Hairstreak fly past me! 

The late afternoon was spent near Shoreham on the North Downs and in the warm conditions it was not a surprise to see 12 Slow Worms, 1 Common Lizard and 2 Adders. A White Helleborine was in flower and several Man Orchids were located - another pleasing trip at this top site.

02 MAY 2011

An early start saw us checking out the moat at Arundel castle – 2+ Water Voles were located and showed well for the family and a Grey Wagtail zipped through.

Here’s Ratty ( must have had the camera the wrong way round! )

We then spent a few hours at Arundel WWT where another Water Vole was seen from the reedbed boat cruise.

We ended our mini break at Oreham common to find the Water Shrew ditch completely dry!!!

Lots of Nightingales singing here.

01 MAY 2011

A short family break started again at University Way – today there were 3 Little Ringed Plovers, 1 Wood Sandpiper and 1 Greenshank on the rapidly drying pool. Here’s the Greenshank…

Onto the woodland around Chiddingfold and the trees were sheltering us from the strong winds. 2 Nightingales were seen singing out in the open, though I had left my digiscoping kit in the car – D’oH!!! Over 20 Wood Whites were flying along the wooded rides and views were very good of this delicate butterfly….

We also saw Red Admiral, Green Veined White, Speckled Wood, Brimstone and Orange Tip. 1 Early Purple Orchid was in full flower.

Brimstone:

Our lunch stop was at a site new to me – Kithurst Hill near Storrington and a little cracker it proved to be!! I spent 2 hours in one meadow enjoying the fantastic variety of butterflies here……

Duke Of Burgundy:

Small Blue:

Also seen were Green Hairstreak, Holly Blue, Common Blue, Small Copper, Dingy Skipper and Grizzled Skipper – fantastic!!

Other wildlife was represented by Common Lizard, Early Purple Orchid and Common Twayblade.

Time was marching on so off to Pulborough Brooks where the kids used the Play park and I had a quick look around the reserve trying to avoid the hordes of robin strokers – however it was worth it – Nightingale seen well…

…and at the view point I located 6 Garganeys ( 4 drakes and 2 females ), 2 Wood Sandpipers and a Greenshank.

Time for dinner and a Travelodge!!

30 April 2011

6:20 – 6:35 am, University Way: 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpipers, 3 Little Ringed Plovers and 1 Greenshank.

6:45 – 7:15 am: Rainham Tip car park: 1 Grasshopper Warbler and 40+ Bar-Tailed Godwits were all good to see.

8:15am: After a quick breakfast it was on to Norm’s to have a look through his moth catch from the night before.

Angel Shades:

We then headed to Shoreham to look for day flying moths:

Pyrausta nigrata:

We also had Small Purple Bar, Pyrausta aurata, Burnet Companion, Common Carpet, Adela reaumurella and one of the Treble Bars.

Other wildlife was represented by several Slow worms, 1 Adder, Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Green Hairstreak, Brimstone, Holly Blue, Broad-Bodied Chaser and an in-flower Man Orchid.

Green Hairstreak:

Grizzled Skipper:

En route home a walk around a local wood gave us a Square Spot moth and a very approachable Hairy Dragonfly.

Nice!!

29 April 2011

A walk around Rainham in murky conditions provided the hoped for Bar-Tailed Godwits – 35+ including 32 on the Dartford side of the Thames. 2 Whimgrels flew over and Reed and Grasshopper Warbler were added to the year list.

However, the main highlight today was the flooded field off University Way….. 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 LRPs, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, and best of all, possibly the grottiest Spotted Redshank I have ever seen! Result!