"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
Do you love bats and want to know how to help them?
Have you found a bat in your home?
One of the problems facing bats is that many people who find them in their homes try to kill them with poison. This is wrong – there are alternatives to dealing with bats.
Batpoison.com was set up because research showed that 400 to a thousand people in the US search for the term “bat poison” every month; even more looked for “how to kill bats”.
Batpoison.com is designed to help people discover why bat poison is bad, and to give you alternatives to removing bats from homes. It’s also got information on how bats benefit us.
Birdlife International report that there’s a new forest conservation initiative to save one of West Africa’s few remaining tropical forests.
The area covers over 350,000 hectares and it’s called the Gola Forest. It goes across the Liberia and Sierra Leone borders, and it’s the largest remaining block of Upper Guinean Forest.
The area is an important for one for biodiversity – it boasts:
49 mammal species
327 bird species
43 amphibians species
over 200 species of tree
over 60 species there threatened call this home including - it’s got the world’s second biggest population of Western chimpanzees.
it’s an overall carbon sink and helps to reduce the impacts of climate change.
But the area has suffered deforestation and degradation
Logging, agriculture, mining and conflict have caused the loss of vital biodiversity. It’s reduced the ability of the area to cope with climate change – and impacted on local people who depend on the forests for their livelihood.
There’s protection now in place
The governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone have signed agreements in 2011 and 2020 to manage the forest and protect the biodiversity there.
And back in August 2020, the EC funded Programme to Support the Conservation of Forest Ecosystems in West Africa was implemented to conserve the Gola Forest.
The project should help to manage conflict between communities sharing the same forest resources. It will support the management of five protected areas. Local people will be trained and empowered to undertake the management of the forest – the programme will be training community eco-guards so that there are joint patrols by the two countries. A bio-monitoring programme will also be put in place.
As eco-guards, local communities will be involved in protecting the forests which will in turn give them an income. Many were hunters, miners, loggers and farmers before.
Two community based ecotourism ventures will be supported by the project, and a sustainable logging model in Liberia will be piloted. Over 50,000 people in 160 communities will benefit from the programme.
Restoration staff have been working to restore the Singkil Swamp Wildlife Reserve.
It’s a vital area, locally and critically, because it’s home to breeding populations of Sumatran orangutans and other critically endangered species.
And the great news is that staff working to restore the area spotted a Sumatran Orangutan there! So their work is paying off – it’s great when wildlife move into an area that’s been restored!
The area is important for people as well – hundreds of thousands people rely on the deep carbon-rich peatlands – they are vital as natural carbon sinks. If they were drained, dangerous levels of pollution would be released into the atmosphere. This makes the area important to all of us as well.
This is not the first time recently that orangutans have returned to restored forest - in December 2020, SOS reported that as land had been reclaimed and restored, so orangutans had returned!
The ecosystem restoration programme is operated by the Orangutan Information Centre, with local staff and farmers. The sites being restored are sited in the Leuser Ecosystem which is a protected area, and the sites being restored have been damaged by illegal activities, mostly the clearing of forests for palm oil plantations.
This Sumatran orangutan is in one of the trees planted by the restoration team at the Cinta Raia III restoration site.
And there are other ways to help - read more about the campaigns SOS run, help them fundraise or simply learn more about orangutans and the issues facing them. Or you could make a donation, either a one off or monthly.
The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital is going to partner with several leading research institutions to breed koalas and protect the future of the species! And the koalas will be released into the wild!
The goal is to have up to 60 breeding koalas on site.
In the first instance, these will be sourced from the mid north coast, with a view to releasing selected offspring to certain areas within a couple of areas. Selected koalas from other New South Wales locations will be bred in separate areas for eventual release back to their places of origin.
Each partner brings its own specialist knowledge and expertise:
The Australian Museum specialises in population genetics, and by applying DNA-based tools, it will be possible to gain a better understanding of the unique history and habitat requirements of specific threatened populations, and that will enable the partners involved in the project to develop more targeted management strategies.
The University of Sydney has expertise in genetics and understanding how to improve breeding and translocation decisions for koalas.
The incredible part of all this is that the breeding facility is going to be funded by the donations made from the public to the Go Fund Me fundraiser during the terrible bushfires of 2019/2020.
It’s a very exciting development for koalas and will help the hospital stop the decline of koala populations and establish new koala groups in New South Wales.
Cheetahs are most numerous in the wild in Namibia. Currently there are about 7,100 to 7,500 cheetahs in the wild. They are the world’s fastest land animal, capable of doing speeds from 0 to 60mph in 3 seconds, which is an incredible feat. They can go up to 70 mph! They use their tails to steer and change direction when they are running, a bit like a rudder on a boat.
This year, the Cheetah Conservation Fund celebrates its 30th Anniversary. It has been working to protect and build healthier ecosystems for cheetahs so that they can survive and thrive in the wild.
Donate! There’s a match fund until 31 December up to the tune of $275,000. If you donate, you can also choose a gift with your donation while supplies last.
Sponsor a cheetah being cared for at the Cheetah Conservation Fund’s headquarters – the most difficult bit will be choosing which cheetah to sponsor! They came in as orphaned cubs, or were being kept as pets, or were injured and came to the centre for help.
Teachers and students can help spread the word and discover lots about cheetahs - there are resources here
