Positive Wildlife News 2023

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UngulateNerd92

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Release of 10 quolls boosts ‘insurance’ population of endangered marsupial

The animals were released into Aussie Ark’s 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary

In a “globally significant moment” which gives a near-extinct species a second lease at survival, 10 eastern quolls have been released into a New South Wales nature reserve.

The animals were released into Aussie Ark’s 400-hectare Barrington Wildlife Sanctuary in the state’s Upper Hunter region, bolstering a flourishing insurance population of quolls.

The eastern quoll was declared extinct on the Australian mainland in 1963.

The Barrington population is the largest on the mainland and has been established through the Tasmanian Quoll Program where the marsupials are still found in the wild.

“This is a globally significant moment,” Aussie Ark managing director, Tim Faulkner, said.

“Here we are, releasing healthy, happy animals back into the Australian bush. It’s a spectacular culmination of five years of hard work and proof again of the success of our breeding and rewilding program.”

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...-insurance-population-of-endangered-marsupial
 
Massive intact lake in Northwest Territories to become Indigenous protected area

The Sahtu ́K’aowe Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area is set to move ahead and conserve the world’s eighth largest lake, after an announcement at COP15 biodiversity conference.

The eighth largest lake in the world is one step closer to becoming an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area.

Tsá Tué, or Great Bear Lake, is the backyard, the highway and the provider for the community of Délı̨nę, according to Délı̨nę Ɂek’wahtı̨dǝ́ (Chief) Danny Gaudet. Tsá Tué covers more than 31,000 square kilometres — roughly the same size as Vancouver Island.

The Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government, Northwest Territories and Canada committed to establishing the proposed Sahtú K’aowe Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area, which would conserve Tsa ́Tué, by signing a letter of intent on Dec 17. The announcement was made at COP15, the United Nations biodiversity conference, which is concluding in Montreal on Kanien’kéha territory. The letter of intent also commits to exploring options for long-term funding.

Tsá Tué will bring Canada about 0.3 per cent closer to its goal of protecting 25 per cent of land and water by 2025. The three levels of government agreed to include Tsá Tué in Canada’s protected and conserved areas database. Gaudet said they reached the terms of the letter of intent over the past month, and aim to have an agreement finalized in the spring and do all the necessary work to fully establish Sahtú K’aowe by 2025.

Massive intact lake in Northwest Territories to become Indigenous protected area | The Narwhal
 
National park construction helps rare gibbon population climb

Every morning in the lush green mountains in the Bawangling area of the National Park of Hainan Tropical Rainforest, choruses of whistles ring to awaken the primeval rainforest in China's tropical island province of Hainan.

It's the songs of the Hainan gibbons, who live in rainforest trees over 10 meters tall and rarely set foot on the ground. The black-crested apes can only be found in the Bawangling area.

National park construction helps rare gibbon population climb
 
Brazil's Lula Taps an Amazon Activist for Environment Minister

Brazil’s President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Thursday that Amazon activist Marina Silva will be the country’s next minister of environment. The announcement indicates the new administration will prioritize cracking down on illegal deforestation in the forest even if it means running afoul of powerful agribusiness interests.

Both attended the recent U.N. climate conference in Egypt, where Lula promised cheering crowds “zero deforestation” in the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest and a key to fighting climate change, by 2030. “There will be no climate security if the Amazon isn’t protected,” he said.

Brazil's Lula Picks Amazon Activist for Environment Minister
 
Five endangered Iberian lynx set free to populate new territory in Spain

Five Iberian lynx have been released into the wild in southern Spain this week as part of an expanding breeding programme aimed at conserving one of the world’s most endangered feline species with distinctive long black ear tufts.

Darting out of their crates one by one, Saturno and Sotillo, two male lynx bred in captivity, and two wild-born females, Solera and Ilexa, along with her kitten Terre, will be free to reproduce and populate the mountainous Sierra Arana area in the Andalusian province of Granada.

5 Endangered Iberian Lynx Set to Populate New Territory
 
Manatees survive Florida's first cold spell better than feared

Already famished manatees managed to avoid any mass die-offs or the need for any dramatic rescues during Florida's first significant cold snap of the season, which sent temperatures plummeting across the state around Christmas.

But with more chilly days ahead this winter, Florida wildlife officials continue to keep a close, worried watch as they struggle to keep the species afloat by hand feeding them lettuce at the Florida Power & Light Co. plant in Port St. John, for a second year in a row.

“We’re in full operational mode,” Capt. Thomas Van Trees of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said Wednesday during an online update of FWC efforts to feed manatees in the wild and rescue them in the cold. "We’re really going full-steam ahead."

Florida manatees survive winter cold spell better than feared
 
Endangered Manning River turtle hatchlings spotted in New South Wales after four years of surveying

Endangered Manning River turtle hatchlings have been spotted in the wild for the first time since surveying for the freshwater species began in 2019.

Key points:
  • The species is at risk from declining habitat, predation and seasonal impacts, including bushfires and floods
  • The hatchlings give researchers an indication about the endangered species' nesting and breeding habits
  • A Manning River turtle breeding conservation program is also underway
"They are absolutely beautiful, tiny turtles … about the size of a 20-cent piece with a beautiful distinct pattern on their back," Hunter Local Land Services' (HLLS) Rye Gollan said.

"It's pretty special to find them."

Featuring a notable yellow stripe, the Australian turtle lives only in the middle and upper reaches of the Manning River catchment, near Taree, on New South Wales' Mid North Coast.

In a bid to identify key Manning River turtle refuge habitat and nesting areas, and direct conservation measures, HLLS and the MidCoast Council have spent four years surveying for the species.

https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/101777512
 
Governor Hochul Signs Legislation to Conserve 30 Percent of Land and Water in New York by 2030

Legislation (S.6191A/A.5390B) Sets Conservation Goal to Promote Biodiversity and Preserve Land and Water.

Supports National Goal of "America the Beautiful" Initiative Set by President Biden.

Governor Kathy Hochul today signed legislation (A.5390B/S.6191A) that sets the goal to support and contribute to national efforts to conserve at least 30 percent of U.S. land and water by 2030. This legislation will promote biodiversity and preserve New York's wildlife, forests, and clean water sources, which are all essential to New York's health and economy.

"New Yorkers rely on our clean water for recreation, forests to provide wildlife habitats, and the outdoor spaces for jobs and adventures," Governor Kathy Hochul said. "It's more important than ever to safeguard these resources and setting the goal to conserve 30 percent of public land by 2030 will ensure we're protecting our State for future generations."

Legislation S.6191A/A.5390B establishes the goal and requires the Department of Environmental Conservation and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to develop strategies and a methodology to achieve the goal while collaborating with a broad group of stakeholders. These efforts will build on the State's existing conservation efforts.

Governor Hochul Signs Legislation to Conserve 30 Percent of Land and Water by 2030
 
In a First, Hawaiian Petrel Chick That Hatched at a Predator-Free Site on Kaua‘i Takes Flight

The fledgling gives conservationists hope that Endangered Hawaiian Petrels will establish a thriving colony within the fence-protected area of Nihokū.

For 10 years, a consortium of partners* led by Pacific Rim Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and supported by American Bird Conservancy (ABC) have worked at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on Kaua‘i to establish a predator-free colony of Endangered Hawaiian Petrel (‘U‘au) in a bid to save the species from extinction. That hard work paid off this November, when, for the first time, a Hawaiian Petrel chick that was hatched by translocated parents fledged from the fence-protected area known as Nihokū. Now that this individual has successfully flown off to sea, a Hawaiian Petrel colony has officially been established in Nihokū — a triumph for this long-running project.

In a First, Hawaiian Petrel Chick That Hatched at a Predator-Free Site on Kaua‘i Takes Flight
 
Mexico dismantles illegal fishing cartels killing off rare vaquita porpoise
  • At a press conference, a top navy official confirmed that the Mexican government has arrested members of criminal groups dedicated to illegally fishing totoaba in the Gulf of California.
  • Totoaba bladders can go for as much as $80,000 per kilo, earning them the nickname “the cocaine of the sea.”
  • Illegal totoaba fishing practices have contributed to the drastic population decline of vaquita, a small porpoise on the brink of extinction.
  • Although the government’s arrests could slow the threats against the vaquita, other criminal groups are also interested in trafficking totoaba, suggesting that the fight to conserve marine populations in the gulf isn’t over.
Some of the country’s most ambitious and successful wildlife traffickers are now in jail, officials announced.

Mexico’s navy confirmed in a press conference that members of cartels dedicated to the trafficking of totoaba have been arrested and put in prison, effectively dismantling some of the main organized crime groups contributing to declining fish populations in the Gulf of California.

Since 2019, officials have managed to arrest seven members of the “Totoaba Cartel” and the leader of the “Cartel of the Sea,” both of whom targeted the endangered fish species for its treasured swim bladder, considered a delicacy when dried and sold at markets in China.

Now, those groups appear to be defunct, the navy said.

https://news-mongabay-com.cdn.amppr...cartel-killing-off-rare-vaquita-porpoise/amp/
 
A big win for the planet – and people – in Alaska

This year ends on a high point for conservation, sustainable development, and Indigenous rights in Alaska.

With our partners at The Conservation Fund and other members of the Bristol Bay Victory Challenge (BBVC), we're proud to announce the successful establishment of a 44,000-acre conservation easement protecting four of the world's most important rivers for salmon habitat. These easements will permanently protect land owned by the Pedro Bay Corporation, an Alaska Native corporation, and will bisect the route that Pebble Mine developers proposed for a road that would lead from the mine to a shipping port on Cook Inlet. The persistent threat of Pebble Mine drove the creation of the BBVC, a five-year, $50 million, Indigenous-led fundraising campaign to conserve this pristine watershed and its wildlife, while investing in the future of its local communities.

A big win for the planet - and the people of Alaska
 
LATAM announces alliance for the conservation of 575,000 hectares of savannah and forests

LATAM has announced a new alliance with the Cataruben Foundation in CO2Bio, a project for the conservation and restoration of floodable savannah and forests in South America. Located in the Colombian Orinoquía, the project expects, to capture 11.3 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030 in a 575,000-hectare property of savannah and forests.

The Colombian Orinoquía project has the support of the Natural Wealth Program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and will benefit 700 families in the area along with helping biodiversity, water regulation and carbon capture.

LATAM announces alliance for the conservation of 575,000 hectares of savannah and forests – Business Traveller
 
I am grateful that my governor is making water conservation a priority! Water conservation is pivotal to wildlife conservation.

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs Makes Water a Top Priority in First State of the State Speech

Today, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs gave her first State of the State address to the newly elected legislature. During the speech, Governor Hobbs recommitted to her campaign promise to address the state’s worsening water crisis and outlined her approach to stabilizing Arizona’s water supplies and building a more resilient future for the state.

The Colorado River is on the verge of crashing. Without great action, the water supply for millions of people, farms, businesses, and habitat is at risk–and there is a real risk of significant reduction in Colorado River water flowing through the Grand Canyon and through the Lower Colorado River along the Arizona-California border. Meanwhile, unlimited groundwater pumping across most of the state continues to threaten rural communities’ livelihoods and our state’s remaining flowing rivers.

Governor Katie Hobbs Makes Water a Top Priority in First State of the State Speech
 
Diversity returns to Lakeland stream after restoration puts its bends back

Nature ‘in charge again’ at Swindale Beck for first time in 200 years as award-winning conservation project bears fruit.

After months of hard work extracting spoil using diggers to reshape and create new channels and restore a Lakeland stream to its natural state, the rewards for Lee Schofield were almost instant.

“It was like flicking a switch, the natural process switch. As soon as the water started flowing through the winding channel, nature was back in charge again, and all of that diversity came back, almost as if by magic,” said Schofield.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...-stream-after-restoration-puts-its-bends-back
 
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