"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
The African Wildlife Foundation has an opportunity to match all donations made by new donors by 31 May 2019.
New donors can DOUBLE THEIR IMPACT
Help the charity raise $100,000 by that date and your gift will be doubled. Give $10, and will become $20. Give $25 and it will become $50. Double your impact with your gift – you give what you can and want to give, and it will be doubled!
The funds raised will help save elephants, rhinos, lions and other species from wildlife traffickers.
So how will your donation help? What difference will it make?
The African Wildlife Foundation says that:
Sniffer dogs will track poachers to their hiding places
Co-ordination among wildlife authorities will deter poachers
Canine detection teams will bust smugglers with 90% accuracy
Law enforcement and prosecutors willuse AWF training to build cases against wildlife criminals and impose just sentences
New technologies, including drones, will incrase surveillance and a new cybersecurity initiative will help identify international trafficers and disrupt online sales
The charity are looking for 500 new donors by 31 May 2019 UPDATE: THEY GOT THEM :-) But you can still donate!
The email I had this morning says that Candice Bergen will kindly double your gift of any amount. But the charity is needing these donors if that’s to happen.
They are on the way to achieving that goal – so if you can donate to charity, please take a look at the African Wildlife Foundation and join 500 others (or maybe more!) in making a difference to wildlife.
However, gardens have an important top play in providing havens for wildlife – in giving them food and shelter.
The more wildlife friendly we can make our gardens, the better a chance wildlife will have.
There’s plenty we can all do to help, such as making a feeding station for hedgehogs – we’ve put a hedgehog hotel in our garden. You can build a small pond for amphibians, or create a log pile for insects. Pretty much all the flowers in our garden are wildlife friendly and it gives us huge pleasure to watch the wildlife enjoying them.
It’s easy to do.
And the good news is that PTES have put a kit together to help you make your garden more wildlife friendly!
All you need to do is to donate £5 and you can receive your special Wildlife Friendly Garden Kit, with everything you need to turn your garden into a wildlife haven.
Kits include:
garden wildlife guide on the importance of your garden to wildlife and the species you’re likely to see.
garden wildlife planner of monthly wildlife friendly activities all year round.
garden wildlife poster with 12 top tips to make your garden more wildlife-friendly.
PTES supporter booklet introducing PTES and their vital conservation work.
There’s news from South Korea of a rare Asiatic black bear having been spotted in the DMZ.
The DMZ is the Demilitarised Zone which divides North and South Korea. The area is very cut off and as a result, it’s become a pristine nature reserve.
In fact, the DMZ has become a real haven for plants and wildlife; the South Korean government predict that over 100 endangered species call the area home and the Ministry of Environment estimates that there are over 5,097 animal and plant species there, such as the red-crowned crane and black-faced spoonbill.
It’s thought there are about 3,050 red-crowned cranes left in the world so they are a very endangered species indeed. However, it’s also a migrating route for birds and the Eurasian lynx has been spotted in the area too.
Although South Korean soldiers reported seeing bears in the past, there wasn’t any photographic evidence. The South Korea National Institute of Technology installed cameras – and the bear was spotted!
The bear seen is thought to be between 8 to 9 months old, weighing about 25 to 35 kilograms. They think the bear is a descendant of the Asiatic black bears lived in the DMZ for a long time
The DMZ is 155 miles long and 2.5 miles wide and it runs across the Korean Peninsula. It’s heaviliy mined and fortified with barbed wire with surveillance cameras and electric fending. It was created after the armistice which brought an end to the 1950-53 Korean War.
Hiking trails are being established in the DMZ now as recently ties between North and South Korea have improved.
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
The petition is calling for world leaders to forge a new agreement such that at least 50% of our lands and oceans must be protected and restored.
A global study has just found that every insect on the planet is on track to be wiped out – causing life on Earth to collapse – and that includes humans.
The petition says:
To world leaders:
"We global citizens are deeply concerned by scientists warning that ecosystems critical to sustaining life on Earth could collapse in our lifetimes. We call on you to meet existing targets to protect biodiversity, forge a new agreement so that at least 50% of our lands and oceans are protected and restored, and ensure our planet is completely sustainably managed. This must take into consideration the needs of human development and have the active support of indigenous peoples. This long-term goal for nature can restore harmony with our home."
Nature has never needed such a strong voice and scientists are offering a way to defend nature and people too – put half the planet under protection. At the moment, France, Germany, Canada and other countries are about to hold talks to look at the idea before a global summit on extinction.
This is all happening at the time Sir David Attenborough’s programme Our Planet streams on Netflix, hoping for an audience in 190 countries. It could be over ONE BILLION people watch it – that’s one in seven (give or take a few) on the planet.
The petition calls on these leaders to back protection for half the earth.
