Positive Wildlife News 2024

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The tribal leader dedicating his life to protect Philippine’s critically-endangered national bird
  • Tribal leader Datu Julito Ahao has dedicated nearly 40 years of his life to protecting Philippine eagles, a critically endangered national bird, in the wild.
  • Considered an “unsung hero” by conservationists, he has ensured the survival of 16 juvenile eagles in the wild and founded the Bantay Bukid forest guard program to conserve the raptor’s habitat around Mount Apo, the country’s tallest peak and frontier of the bird’s conservation.
  • There are an estimated 400 pairs of Philippine eagles left in the wild, with their existence under persistent threat from deforestation and hunting or trapping.
  • Ahao is a trusted partner of the nonprofit Philippine Eagle Foundation, a leading conservation organization in the southern Philippines that hatches and breeds the eagles in captivity.
The tribal leader dedicating his life to protect Philippine’s critically-endangered national bird
 
First beaver kits born on estate

Two beaver kits have been born on an estate four years after their parents were introduced.

The pair are believed to have been born in May or June on the Lowther Estate near Penrith, Cumbria.

Their parents, Glen and Dragonfly, live in a fenced-in enclosure following their licensed release.

Elizabeth Ogilvie, ecologist at the Lowther Estate, said: "It has been a joy to watch the beaver kits through the trail cameras this summer."

Beavers are native to mainland Britain but were hunted to extinction in the 16th Century by people who wanted their fur, meat, and scent glands.

Conservationists argue their reintroduction creates wetland landscapes which benefit other species.

First beaver kits born on Lowther Estate in Cumbria
 
Tigers “Return” to Kazakhstan, After 70 Years

They had disappeared in the last century. A government project has imported two specimens of Amur tigers from the Netherlands that will live in freedom in a national park.

Tigers have been absent from the steppes of Kazakhstan for seventy years . Local authorities are now trying to reintroduce them to an area near Lake Balkhash , in the central-eastern part of the country. Until the last century, in fact, that area was home to Caspian tigers , also known as Turan tigers, which became extinct in the mid-twentieth century, hunted by humans who saw them as a threat to their safety and livestock. The last Turan tiger was killed in 1948.

To bring the felines back to this area, two Amur tigers , a male and a female, will be imported from the Netherlands , with four more to be added in 2025. The news was announced on September 23, 2024 by the Kazakh authorities.

Le tigri "tornano" in Kazakistan, dopo 70 anni - LifeGate
 
RDN expands protected land with purchase of forested area on Gabriola Island

The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) has added to the protected area on Gabriola Island with the recent purchase of over 30 hectares of land adjacent to its second-largest public park.

The 31.5-hectare undeveloped forested lot, known locally as ‘Wilkinson Woods’, is located next to the northwest corner of 707 Community Park, and was bought by the RDN for a total of $850,000.

RDN expands protected land with purchase of forested area on Gabriola Island | NanaimoNewsNOW | Nanaimo news, sports, weather, real estate, classifieds and more
 
Daktari JG said:
Pakistan reports nearly doubling of Indus River dolphins
Indus Dolphin - A model for biodiversity conservation efforts

not sure the story on the photo but that poor dolphin is missing most of its lower beak :(
Click to expand...
The injury is from being caught in a set fishing net. The dolphins either rip off their lower jaw trying to escape (because the teeth are entangled in the mesh), or the jaw is cut off by the fishermen when they find the body and need to get it out of the net.

That particular photo is from 2001 (see this interesting 2024 article, which includes lots of information on why the dolphins' population dropped so much in the first place: Can Pakistan’s Indus River dolphins be saved?).
 
Planned South Carolina nature preserve to join 10,000 acres of protected land in Upstate

The property will be open to the public after the state’s natural resources agency takes it over in 2025.

A 1,000-acre property is set to become a state-operated nature preserve next year, joining a larger tapestry of land protected from development in South Carolina’s Upstate, the state Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday.

Conservation group Naturaland Trust purchased the property, known as Saluda Bluffs, in 2023 using a $9 million grant from the state-funded Conservation Bank. This allowed the land trust to close on the property sooner than if the state had bought it outright.

Now the state Department of Natural Resources, with help from the state Office of Resilience, will reimburse that money back to the Conservation Bank to use for future preservation projects. The agency will take over the property at the beginning of 2025 to run as the South Saluda Wildlife Management Area, according to a news release.

“This is another huge victory for conservation in South Carolina and a tribute to invaluable partnerships,” agency Director Robert Boyles Jr. said in a news release.

Located just south of the North Carolina border, the preserve will be open to the public, according to the conservation agency.

Planned SC nature preserve to join 10,000 acres of protected land in Upstate • SC Daily Gazette
 
New 75-acre nature preserve opens in southern Indiana, features miles of trails

A new nature preserve in southern Indiana was unveiled on Tuesday.

The Melvin and Vickie Jensen Nature Preserve and Trails are located at 1430 N. Tucker Road in Georgetown. The 75-acre preserve includes several miles of trails open to the public in Floyd County.

“Melvin Jensen was known for the love he had for his property,” Floyd County Director of Operations Don Lopp said in a news release. “He reached out to us before his passing in 2022, and his family has been very supportive of what he wanted to do in terms of maintaining his dream of a park and a trail system.”

New 75-acre nature preserve opens in southern Indiana, features miles of trails
 
Chlidonias said:
The injury is from being caught in a set fishing net. The dolphins either rip off their lower jaw trying to escape (because the teeth are entangled in the mesh), or the jaw is cut off by the fishermen when they find the body and need to get it out of the net.
Click to expand...

By comparison to birds entangled in fishing line, I would suspect that the net gets tightly entangled, cuts the flow of blood, the affected body part dies and falls off.
 
Congress Passes Bill to Protect Nearly 300,000 Acres of Wetlands and Beaches

The BEACH Act updates and expands a protected system of coastal land that buffers people and birds from flooding.

Today Congress passed the Bolstering Ecosystems Against Coastal Harm (BEACH) Act, which adds roughly 280,000 acres to a system of protected coastal lands on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.

“At Audubon, our mission is to protect birds and the places they need,” said Elizabeth Gray, CEO of the National Audubon Society. “The passage of this legislation exemplifies our comprehensive approach to conservation, which focuses on habitat protection and climate resilience. By securing vital habitats for shorebirds like American Oystercatchers and Piping Plovers, we protect these species, save taxpayer dollars, and strengthen coastal defenses against storms and flooding. With strong bipartisan support, this bill demonstrates the critical role of public policy in realizing our vision for a world where people and wildlife can flourish.”

Congress Passes Bill to Protect Nearly 300,000 Acres of Wetlands and Beaches
 
Endangered mountain trees making a comeback in Scotland, study shows

Endangered mountain trees and shrubs are making a comeback in Scotland, a study has shown.

Endangered mountain trees and shrubs are making a comeback in Scotland, mitigating the effects of extreme weather, a study by the University of Stirling has shown.

Montane scrub provides protection from flooding, avalanches, rockfalls and landslides, as well as supporting a range of rare insects and scarce birds.

Overgrazing by deer and sheep on Scotland’s peaks since the 18th century contributed to a rapid decline in high-altitude woodland. By the 1990s native montane willows were nearly extinct, with the largest remaining patch equivalent to the size of a tennis court.

Since then, almost 400,000 montane willows have been planted within 2,659 hectares managed for the restoration of mountain woodlands across Scotland, bringing the trees back from the brink of extinction.

The area these special arctic-alpine plants occupy has increased a hundredfold since the 1990s thanks to the efforts of conservation charities and private estates working on a long-term vision for nature recovery.

A review of progress made over the last 30 years has been carried out by PhD researcher Sarah Watts, of the University of Stirling’s Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Endangered mountain trees making a comeback in Scotland, study shows | About | University of Stirling
 
Previously extinct bloom reintroduced at False Bay Nature Reserve

Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis recently reintroduced the Cape Water Lily, known as the Nymphaea nouchali var. caerulea, to the Rondevlei section of the False Bay Nature Reserve, which is a Ramsar site of wetland significance.

Previously extinct bloom reintroduced at False Bay Nature Reserve
 
Indigenous guardians embark on a sacred pact to protect the lowland tapir in Colombia
  • An Indigenous-led citizen conservation project in the community of Musuiuiai in Putumayo, Colombia, aims to obtain data on the lowland tapir’s presence and understand the environmental factors affecting the species.
  • According to spiritual beliefs, a divination from an elder in the 1990s pushed the community to move to a high-priority region for tapir conservation. Beliefs in the mammal’s sacred status supports conservation efforts.
  • The lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) is listed as vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN Red List; in Colombia, it’s threatened by habitat loss and hunting.
  • Using a biocultural approach to conservation, Musuiuiai was named an Indigenous and Community Conserved Area (ICCA), whose members now hope to reduce tapir hunting in neighboring tribes through outreach and collaboration.
In the forest’s fecund gloom, José Muchavisoy leads the guardians of the territory as they scan the undergrowth for trails left by their target. Strangely splayed paw prints, dung among the leaf litter and mud wallows where the creature cooled off during the hottest hours of the day are hints it was recently here. If they’re lucky, they might hear its shrill whistle and catch a glimpse of the animal as it bolts through the trees, looking like a vestige of the ice age.

Indigenous guardians embark on a sacred pact to protect the lowland tapir in Colombia
 
Proof in Action: Snow Leopard Conservation That Works

Community-based and led conservation practices have been part of Snow Leopard Trust’s modus operandi for decades. However, the performance of such programs is rarely measured, making it difficult to assess their impact. A recent study evaluated the effectiveness of our large-scale, community-based conservation initiatives in five countries.

Proof in Action: Snow Leopard Conservation That Works
 
Old Farmland Transforms into Field of Conservation Dreams

Innovation, intelligence and patience are what make Mark Haberstich a brilliant conservationist. He manages the Aravaipa Canyon Preserve for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Arizona.

Isolated Aravaipa Canyon is one of the true natural Arizona wonders, featuring a desert steam, majestic cliffs and bighorn sheep. Located about 50 miles northeast of Tucson, the preserve includes lands at both the east and west end of Aravaipa Canyon, as well as preserve lands intermixed with public land on the canyon’s south rim.

17 years ago, TNC Arizona acquired the 100-acre Cobra Ranch Farm which connects with the Aravaipa Canyon Preserve. Most would simply retire the water rights as a conservation benefit as we deal with intensifying climate change impacts on water scarcity. Not Mark. He had an out of the box idea that, with time, became a conservation success that still protected our water and increased biodiversity.

Old Farmland Transforms into Field of Conservation Dreams
 
Friedlander Tract Deal Reached, Will Permanently Protect 749 Acres

Polk County's Conservation Lands program is set to finalize a $5.2 million deal that will bring another large tract of land into permanent protection. It will become part of the "Big Green Network" of environmental lands will forever form limits to the potential urbanization of the Lake Wales area.

The vision of a Big Green Network emerged as one of the major elements of the Lake Wales Envisioned project to assure that Lake Wales remains a livable area in the face of enormous development pressure. The plan, led by area citizens and compiled by Dover, Kohl & Partners, a prominent urban planning firm, calls for the creation of two major swathes of protected wildlife habitat east and west of the city.

Friedlander Tract Deal Reached, Will Permanently Protect 749 Acres
 
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