» Listings for 2019

1. Polar bears heading to unusual places as sea ice melts

   Posted on 2:00pm Thursday 9th May 2019

   I had an interesting email from Polar Bears International (PBI) today. They have noticed that polar bears are showing up in odd places.   An exhausted polar bear was seen recently in a village on Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula – and that’s 600 kilometers plus from its home range. Their Senior Director of Conservation, Geoff York, thinks this could be that the bear hitched a ride on an ice floe and drifted south, as the ice broke up earlier in the Bering and Chukchi seas this spring.  Unusual and fast ice loss this year has displaced polar bears form their preferred hunting areas.   Seals give birth to their pups in spring In snow lairs or on the sea ice surface.  This makes the polar bear’s dinner more abundant and accessible than at any other time of the year. However the Russian polar bear was far from this area. It was decided to air-lift him back north, to Chukotka in the Russian Arctic. But there have been other unusual occurrences in the region over several months.  Some have been far from the sea.   This could be because of unstable ice cover. Sustained early sea ice is bad news for polar bears Polar Bears International know from other regions that sustained early sea ice break up doesn’t do polar bears any good.  Fewer hunting opportunities Decreased body condition Impacts on reproduction which aren’t good Negative impacts on survival, especially the old and  young If there’s less sea ice in the Arctic, it gets more difficult for polar bears to make a living from the frozen ocean.  Of course people living on the Arctic rely on stable ice to get around on, and to gather food.  We all need a frozen Arctic ecosystem to regulate our climate.    So we ALL need the Arctic to be in good health. Polar Bears International works in 3 ways: Education and outreach.  As more polar bears appear onshore, the charity works to help keep polar bears and people safe, with outreach on best practices for avoiding human-polar bear conflict.   These include getting rid of things such as open garbage dumps and installing bear-proof ones.  Research – the charity is studying the effectiveness of using surveillance radar to detect approaching polar bears.  This means alerts can be given before a bear enters town.  PBI help with research on the best deterrants – and that includes putting together a  history of polar bear attacks, and their causes to help avoid future conflicts. Climate Action. PBI is one working to solve the climate crisis, sharing their knowledge of polar bears and coming up with solutions.  This includes the Climate Alliance training program for zoo staff members, outreach to motivate citizen involvement, and advocacy to policy makers on the urgent need to act. Get involved and help polar bears

    

    

2. Congratulations to Bayara, moving mountains for snow leopards

   Posted on 8:00pm Wednesday 8th May 2019

   There’s an inspirational woman who is working to help snow leopards in the South Gobi Desert.   And fantastic news - she's received the 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize. Bayarjargal (Bayara) Agvaantseren received the award for leading a successful 10 year effort to protect the snow leopard habitat of Tost Mountains. Bayara helped create the 1.8 million-acre Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve in the South Gobi Desert. It’s essential habitat for snow leopards. In April 2016, she persuaded the Mongolian government to cancel all 37 mining licences within the reserve!  As of June 2018 there are no active mines there. The problem for Mongolia's snow leopards Only 4,000 to 7,000 snow leopards remain in the wild.  Nearly 1,000 of them live in Mongolia’s steep mountain ranges and ravines.   But they face problems: Poaching Cubs are being snatched for sale Killing for livestock depredation Habitat loss Over 80% of the nation’s exports are minerals.  The South Gobi Desert is a major mining hub.   Coal, uranium, copper, gold, oil and gas are attractive to huge operations by Russian, Chinese and Mongolian companies. Mining activities destroy snow leopard habitat and fragments it too.  It pushes communities deeper into the snow leopards’ territory and causes more human-snow leopard conflict. Bayara made a difference Enter Bayara.   She was a teacher and tour guide but when she interpreted for a scientist who came to study the snow leopard, she became fascinated with them.  She founded the Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation back in 2007.  She worked for many years with herder communities on conservation projects and community initiatives. The Foundation provides livestock insurance for herders, it supports research initiatives and it has a handicraft program run by women. And when she discovered about mining operations in the Tost Mountains, which bridges two national parks in the South Gobi, Bayara acted as an envoy for the community. She met with government officials to advocate that Tost become a federally protected area.   Her collaboration with environmental journalists on a huge public outreach campaign resulted in the formal designation of the 1.8 million acre Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve. This is the first federally protected area in Mongolia that’s protected for snow leopards.   The area has a core breeding population of snow leopards; it forms an area of over 20,000 million acres of protected snow leopard habitat in the South Gobi. Bayara put pressure on the government authorities to mollify the mining licences.  Changing the locals' perceptions of snow leopards As well as persuading the government to protect the area, which cancelled all active mining licenses within the reserve, Bayaran moved perceptions of snow leopards amongst herder communities.  They now see the snow leopard as a part of their identity. You can help by making a donation Today, Bayara is also the Mongolia Director for the International Snow Leopard Trust.   You can support her work through the Snow Leopard Trust which at the time of writing was matching all donations made to her.  Visit Snow Leopard Conservation Foundation Visit the Snow Leopard Trust All donations for Bayara's efforts up to $20,000 will be matched by the Edrington Group and Snow Leopard Trust UK, so your gift has double the impact today!

    

3. Chicago, please switch your lights off after 11pm in the migratory bird season

   Posted on 9:00pm Wednesday 24th Apr 2019

   Chicago is an amazing city, with an incredible shoreline but it’s not a happy place for many birds during the migration season. The problem in Chicago Every year, 6,000 birds die in one square mile area of downtown Chicago.   Why? Well, Chicago sits in the middle of one of the busiest areas for bird migration.   Twice a year, 5 million birds fly through this course twice a year.  They are exhausted by the time they reach Chicago. And that’s when they really hit a problem – literally. Up to ONE BILLION migratory birds die every year, colliding with skyscrapers.   Birds use the stars to point them in the right direction.  That means the problem is worse at night, when tall skyscrapers are lit up all night – that confuses and disorients the birds.  And they crash into the buildings. The solution in Chicago It's easy!  All it needs is for buildings to turn off their lights after 11pm during the migratory season. Chicago already “encourages” buildings to switch their lights off, but encouragement isn’t enough.  To save birds, the Lights Out policy needs to be mandatory. How you can help with this solution Care2.com have a petition telling Chicago city officials to require buildings to shut the lights off at night during bird migratory season.  (It’s hardly environmentally friendly to keep the lights on, anyway.) Sign the petition to get these lights switched off in Chicago.

    

4. Triple your impact for the Natural World on Earth Day with the Sierra Club

   Posted on 8:00am Monday 22nd Apr 2019

   Today is Earth Day – and today that means a chance to TREBLE your impact to protect this one planet we have. The Sierra Club are working to do the following (and I quote from their email): Keep our wild places wild by making the Roadless Rule permanent Protect endangered animals from extinction by protecting the Endangered Species Act from attacks by the Trump administration and Congress Ensure everyone has access to clean air and water by resisting attacks on the safeguards keeping toxic pollution out of vulnerable communities. Make a gift to support our work right now and it will go THREE TIMES as far towards helping the Sierra Club fight to protect our vulnerable communities, clean air and water, precious public lands and wildlife—in the courts, in Congress, and in the grassroots.    Rush your Earth Day gift before midnight and it will be TRIPLED by the Club’s generous donors up to $300,000.  The Club will also send you their Insulated Cooler Tote Bag, Free. The Sierra Club’s 3.5 million plus strong community have helped it achieve some incredible victories: They’ve got 119 cities to commit to 100% clean energy from San Diego to St Petersburg They’ve retired 287 dirty coal plants – this can only improve the health and wellbeing of everyone They’ve got anti-environmental officials such as Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke and Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Scott Pruitt out of office. They’ve countered the Trump administration over and over again, helping to block oil and gas drilling on iconic lands and offshore, helping pass legislation to protect wild places, and continuing to shut down dirty coal-fired power plants and coal mines. They must keep fighting.  So please make a gift to support the Sierra Club as it fights to protect vulnerable communities, clean air and water, precious public lands and wildlife—in the courts, in Congress, and in the grassroots. DONATE TODAY 22 April 2019

    

5. Amur/Far Eastern Leopards on the rise

   Posted on 3:00pm Friday 19th Apr 2019

   Researchers doing some photo monitoring in the Vorontsov Land of the Leopard National Park have identified 91 adult leopards, as well as 22 cubs! As a rule, a qualitative increase is possible when the population has at least twice as many females as males. The high percentage of cubs too is good news.  The new trend amongst Far Eastern Leopards suggests stabilisation of this rare cat’s population.  They are also known as Amur Leopards. The Land of the Leopard National Park accounts for about 70% of the leopard’s natural habitat.  This was a key decision:  it means that the Far Eastern Leopard can now live safely on an area of almost 2,800 square kilometres.   To count the wild cats, national park employees went through nearly a million camera trap images.  About 10,000 of them had leopards on them! To complete the picture, experts from the Russian national park are eagerly waiting for the results that their Chinese colleagues are producing; they too have been monitoring photos. These data are vital now that the Land of the Leopard has become a “birth centre” for the spotted cats; many young leopards move to the Chinese borders to look out new territories.  Some return, but a certain number stay in China – and that means that the leopard population can grow! Far Eastern Leopards is an autonomous non-profit organisation. Far Eastern Leopards’ mission is “to protect and restore the Far Eastern Leopard population in its historical habitat in the Russian Far East. It supports the photo monitoring at Land of the Leopard and the Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve.  About 360,000 hectares are being monitored in the national park.  400 automatic camera traps can be found in the national park, so it’s the largest camera trap network in Russia! Camera trap images enable scientists to do several things: to determine the size of the animal population to monitor changes in their life cycle to estimate their physical condition to determine their behavioural traits.  Find out about Far Eastern Leopards here – there’s lots of information on Far Eastern Leopards and also the organisation trying to protect and restore the species. Reasons for the very low numbers of these leopards are: Reduced feeding supply – the prey they live off have been dying out because of poaching and deforestation Habitat destruction and infrastructure development – forest fire risks have increased because of deforestation and mining;  roads make the areas more accessible to humans Poaching – leopard skin and body parts are used in oriental medicine