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
 


Search Take Action for Wildlife Conservation
 


 RSS Feed

» Listings for September 2022

  1. International Red Panda Day is on 17th September 2022

    Posted on

    It’s International Red Panda Day on Saturday 17th September – are you ready to celebrate red pandas and raise awareness of them?

    How much do you know about red pandas?

    Here are 15 Fantastic Facts About Red Pandas  from the Red Panda Network - for instance, did you know that they glow in the dark? 

    Threats to the Red Panda

    The biggest threat to red pandas is habitat loss and fragmentation.  Agriculture and settlement conversions have fragmented forests.  These areas have been degraded because of herding and resource harvest.  Now there are 400 forest patches – unprotected and isolated.  They are reducing the ability of the red pandas to survive

    Other threats are livestock herding, free roaming dogs and disease, bamboo lifecycle and world climate change.  And wildlife crime is also a worry.

    We need to protect red pandas from poachers and restore their forest habitat so that they have everything they need to both survive and thrive!

    But the good news...

    The Red Panda Network, who celebrate their 15th birthday this year, say there is a LOT to celebrate.  For a start, red panda numbers are improving in eastern Napal, a project area, according to population data. 

    So how can you help the Red Panda Network help red pandas?

    Plant a Red Panda Home to reverse the effects of deforestation. 

    The Red Panda Network is working with local communities to plant trees and to restore and reconnect the habitat of red pandas!  This is in Nepal.  The aim is to establish a biological corridor, which enables red pandas and other species to survive and which is protected by the community. 



    This year, over 84,000 trees have een planted, and roughly 10 hectares have been purchased.  54,815 saplings have been planted over 35 hectares!

    Since 2019, 336,380 trees have been planted, thus reforesting 461 hectares of red panda habitat in Nepal.  The trees are planted and fences installed to protect the saplings.  The network buys private lands in key habitat areas - it also helps the local community by giving green jobs to locals.

    Not only that, there are now 12 anti-poaching networks in Nepal!  In 2021, the teams patrolled for 437 hours.  They covered about 197 km in 36 Community forests!  That's some going! 

    Join the Party for Red Pandas!

    Ways to help the Red Panda Network:

     

    Visit the Red Panda Network here

  2. Frozen Planet II starts tonight, Sunday 11 September 2022, on BBC1 at 8pm

    Posted on

    Sir David Attenborough is back with a new series, Frozen Planet II.   It starts at 8pm on Sunday 11th September 2022 on BBC1.

    He starts in Antarctica. Emperor Penguin parents leave their chicks as spring arrives.  And to survive, the chicks have to find their own way across dangerous sea ice to the Southern Ocean. 

    Killer whales and Weddell seals feature in tonight’s programme, the former generating their own waves to wash the seals off their ice floes.   

    Frozen Planet II by Mark Brownlow and Elizabeth White

    with over 250 stunning photos.
    Available from Hive.co.uk

    From Antarctica, the series moves on to the Himalaya, home to the Pallas’s cat who has incredibly dense fur (needed for the Mongolian winter).  And then North of the Great Steppe is the boreal forest, frozen for six months of the year, home to the majestic Siberian tiger who is on the look-out for black bears in winter, as they  hibernate in caves.

    The Arctic Circle’s tundra is home to musk ox, whose calves face the danger of hungry grizzly bears in spring.

    And north of that lies the Arctic Ocean, where the hooded seal lives.   Males can produce a bright red balloon out of their left nostrils to make themselves irresistible 

    All the areas are threatened by climate change. 

    We still have time to save these frozen wildernesses.  But we need to act

    Visit the Frozen Planet II’s website.