Newfoundland to document endangered pony

MANITOBA CO-OPERATOR

The now-endangered Newfoundland Pony will be the subject of a new photo archive to preserve the memory of its role in rural development of the province.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government announced Wednesday it will work with the Newfoundland Pony Society and Memorial University’s history department to compile a “photographic history” of the pony.

The plan for the photo archive is to publish submissions in book form, featuring stories and photos from the province’s residents.

“The Newfoundland Pony was an important part of life in rural Newfoundland and Labrador for many decades,” the province said in its release. “Sturdy and dependable, the Newfoundland Pony plowed gardens, hauled fishing nets, kelp and wood and provided families with transportation.”

But the pony population “plummeted” as modern technology replaced it in the functions it performed, the province said. It declared the Newfoundland Pony an official heritage animal in 1997.

The Newfoundland Pony population worldwide now totals less than 400 animals, the province said, and though “concerned individuals from across Canada” have been able to stabilize the population, the pony continues to be identified as a “critically endangered species” by Rare Breeds Canada.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s own population of Newfoundland Ponies has previously been estimated at fewer than 160, down from an estimated 9,000 in 1935.

Calling the animal “one of the most enduring figures of this province,” provincial Natural Resources Minister Kathy Dunderdale said it’s the province’s responsibility “to preserve those parts of the collective memory of the past for the benefit of the future.”

People interested in sharing stories or photos for the Newfoundland Pony project can contact Christopher Youe at Memorial’s department of history at 709-737-8420 or by e-mail.

The Newfoundland Pony Society in late 2007 got $6,000 in provincial funding for a project to compile an inventory of historical records on the Newfoundland Pony. The society has previously called for owners to register their Newfoundland Ponies with the society and to confirm through DNA analysis if they suspect they own a purebred.

Rare gibbon faces extinction

THE JAKARTA POST

The Indonesian Primatological Association warned Thursday that Indonesian could lose the unique Owa Jawa (Javanese Gibbon) in less than a decade unless serious action is taken to protect the species.

A 2008 survey found only 2,000 Javanese Gibbons (Hylobates moloch) still lived in Java’s forests, mainly in Ujung Kulon National Park, Tangkuban Perahu Mountain, Ciremai Mountain and Papandayan Mountain, almost half as many as the 4,500 reported in 2004.

“The threats to the Javanese Gibbon include habitat degradation and fragmentation, and the trapping oftheir young to be kept as pets,” Made Wedana from the Indonesian Primatological Association told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The survey was conducted in December 2008 in 63 areas throughout West and Central Java.

The study found only 300 Javanese Gibbons in Ujung Kulon National Park and said the species stands a 50 percent chance of extinction within the next 10 years, or three generations.

The survey blamed dwindling forest areas in Java for the drastic decrease in the gibbon population, and said surveyors found animal traps and Javanese Gibbons being kept illegally for sale.

Only 5 percent of the Javanese Gibbon’s former habitat now remains due to progressive and vast deforestation.

Made said the grey-colored primate, which has a loud and distinctive voice and eats fruit bugs and leaves, requires the safety of a heavy forest canopy for survival.

“The current scarcity of this gibbon demonstrates the critical condition of Java’s forest,” Made said.

“I think we have to be more concerned about our forests, not only to save the Javanese Gibbons but to ensure human survival,” Made said.

“The Javanese Gibbon is not as popular as the Orangutan, but we have to protect them or these creatures will entirely disappear.”

The Javanese Gibbon is one of 10 high priority animal species in Indonesia that need special treatment. Besides Javanese Gibbons, Orangutans (Pongo abeii) and Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) are also on the critically endangered list. (naf)

Bird ‘pushed to edge of extinction’

THE PRESS ASSOCIATION

Continued illegal persecution of hen harriers is pushing the bird of prey to the brink of extinction in England, the Government’s conservation body warned following satellite tracking trials.

A report by Natural England said hen harriers were particularly at risk from systematic persecution and disruption in areas managed for red grouse or gamebird rearing.

As a result, there are critically low numbers of breeding pairs on areas which provide suitable habitat and could support healthy populations.

Natural England chairman Sir Martin Doughty said the hen harrier had become the “emblem of man’s callous disregard” for the country’s wildlife.

Only a quarter (26%) of breeding pairs on red grouse moors manage to produce fledged chicks, while Natural England said there was “compelling evidence” that persecution continued at communal winter roosts.

In one 12-month period, six birds fitted with satellite transmitters were tracked from the hen harrier stronghold of Bowland Fells into parts of the North Pennines managed as driven grouse moors – and literally disappeared off the map.

They have not been recorded subsequently, while in another incident three signals “went dead” in one geographical area between 2007 and 2008. Monitoring work since 2002 revealed that the relative tiny area at Bowland, Lancashire, was the site of more than two-thirds of the 127 breeding attempts by the once-common hen harriers during that time.

Bowland, where Natural England and the RSPB work with private landowners and gamekeepers to manage the area in a way that supports the birds, is the only place in England where the bird has increased since the hen harrier recovery project started in 2002.

Sir Martin said: “Following seven years of intensive monitoring and detailed research, the picture is unequivocal – hen harriers are being persecuted while they attempt to nest and birds are simply not returning to their breeding areas the following spring.

“The hen harrier should have a much wider range than it does which begs the question why its breeding success is now restricted to one regular site. The simple answer is that this magnificent bird is being persecuted to the brink of extinction as a breeding species in England.”

Third of Britain’’s mammals ‘face extinction’

NEWSPOST ONLINE

London, Dec 28 (ANI): The hedgehog, water vole and hazel dormouse are among a number of British mammals that face extinction, according to a new research.

The study commissioned by the People’’s Trust for Endangered Species has concluded that climate change and habitat loss are to be blamed for the dramatic increase in the number of mammals that face becoming seriously endangered.

The research found that unpredictable and extreme weather conditions, combined with hotter, drier summers and wetter winters, were causing changes in the distribution and behaviour of some species, such as the hazel dormouse.

The report, the seventh annual assessment of the state of land mammals in Britain, revealed that the Bechstein’’s bat, one of the country’’s rarest  mammals, has shown a marked decline while the number of soprano pipistrelle bats has fallen by 46 percent in six years.

According to the report, more effort is needed to help the endangered species, which now number 18 – more than 30 percent of Britain’’s mammal species – up from 10 last year.

Only two species on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan list, the otter and the lesser horseshoe bat, have increased their numbers.

“Next year, the focus of biodiversity conservation in England will shift from individual species to a more integrated eco-system approach, incorporating climate change adaptation principles and establishing complementary species and habitat conservation,” the Guardian quoted Professor David Macdonald, conservation biologist in the wildlife conservation unit at Oxford University and co-author of the report, as saying.

The report also said that although modern agricultural practices and the disappearance of hedgerows have had a significant impact on mammals such as the hedgehog, “conflict” between mammal species, particularly involving the invasive American mink, is also posing problems for conservationists.

Mink-free zones on a large scale need to be established to stop the “catastrophic decline” of water voles that has been seen over the last 20 years. (ANI)

Camel Species Unique To Pakistan Should Be Saved From Extinction

MEDINDIA.COM

Environmentalists in Pakistan are worried over the gradual decline in the number of some camel species unique to the region. Sea intrusion in the Indus delta and the depletion of the mangrove forests are playing havoc with biodiversity, they warn.

Also the coastal species require sweet water for survival, but the flow from the neighbouring provinces has also dried up, compounding the woes of the region.

The Kharai camel or Indus deltaic camel is an indigenous breed. The one-humped variety is considered an iconic symbolic of the Sindh province.

Of the four major breeds found in Sindh, it is the Kharai camel that has the capability to survive difficult environmental conditions. It has remained the first preference of the natives for centuries. It is also used in racing in the Gulf countries.

But the breed could be vanishing slowly because of the indifferent attitude of the authorities. The country could also be poised to learn of the much-need foreign exchange that could be earned through the export of the Kharai camels, Dawn reports.

Kharai breed derives its name from Kharochhan meaning salt water swamps. In Sindhi language the word “Khao” means saltish. Khara or Kharo tract is a coastal zone of the Arabian Sea forming southern belt of Sindh.

Masood Ahmed Lohar, national coordinator GEF (Global Environment Facility) SGP (Small Grants Programme) UNDP, who has launched conservation and promotion of Kharai camels from coastal town Shah Bandar in collaboration with an NGO, Shah Bandar Development Society, said that deltaic population was dependent on its biodiversity and environment for their survival.

Center for Biological Diversity to fight for ribbon seals

KTUU.COM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Center for Biological Diversity says it will keep fighting for the ribbon seal.

The group petitioned to list ribbon seals as threatened or endangered because of shrinking sea ice.

On Tuesday federal wildlife officials announced the ribbon seals don’t currently face extinction, and do not need to be protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The Center for Biological Diversity says it will file a notice of intent to sue, saying the denial ignores science on global warming and the law.

Endangered birds facing food, water shortage this winter on Texas coast

STARTELEGRAM.COM

LAMAR — Some 270 whooping cranes are wintering on the Texas coast — four more than last year — but the endangered birds face food and water shortages due to drought, a federal official says.

The world’s only wild flock of whooping cranes spends winters in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge before returning to Canada and Wood Buffalo National Park.

Counting captive birds, the global population stood at more than 500 in September. The low was 15 in 1941.

Tom Stehn of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said blue crabs, which in a good year make up 80 to 90 percent of the cranes’ diet, are in short supply. Wolfberries, another main food source, are also scarce. — The Associated Press

FRANCE: 5 ENDANGERED MONKEYS STOLEN FROM ZOO

AGENZIA ITALIA

(AGI) – La Fleche (France), 30 Dec. – Five monkeys belonging to a protected species have been stolen from a zoo in an area near le Mans, la Fleche, which is situated in the west of France.
The thieves – who were so audacious as to carry out the raid in daylight – forced locks, cut enclosures and opened cages to steal the animals, which are all endangered and therefore protected by the Washington Convention, which regulates the international trade of wild animals rare. The news was reported by sources from the local Gendarmerie. The coup was carried out in such a precise way as to lead investigators to guess that it was perpetrated by specialist criminals, expert in the handling of primates and equipped with specialised equipment. The La Fleche zoo will press charges against the mystery thieves. The specimens stolen are two marmosets, two capuchin monkeys and a cotton-top tamarin; all three species are facing every greater risk due to poaching and the destruction of their habitat, originally from Central or South America.

Illegal activities involving sales of rare wild orchids can lead to extinction

THESTARONLINE

JOHOR BARU: Illegal activities involving smuggling and sales of rare wild orchids could lead to the extinction of the endangered species and disrupt the biodiversity of Malaysian jungles.

Technical adviser to the Malaysian Nature Society, Vincent Chow said such illegal activities must be curbed to ensure that such species do not disappear from existence.

“In Johor, traders of wild orchids are now focused on a specie that grows in the high grounds of Gunung Belumut and Gunung Ledang. We must put a stop to such activities or lose our heritage in the jungles,” Chow said.

According to Chow, smuggling and illegal sales of wild orchid species in Gunung Panti near Kota Tinggi had resulted in the extinction of the species. He said the most sort after wild orchid species was the Paphiopedilum Barbatum, which could fetch RM5,000 to RM10,000 a plant.

“Smuggling wild orchids and selling them to international clients through the internet has become a lucrative business.

“Those involved are blinded by money and are willing to compromise the biodiversity of our jungles.

“Orchid lovers are willing to buy wild orchids through the internet even though such practice is illegal under the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITEs),” Chow said. —Bernama.

Endangered sea mammal slaughtered in Andamans

NEHA SINHA – INDIANEXPRESS.COM

New Delhi: THE dugong, a massive sea mammal often mistaken by sailors as the mythical mermaid, has most of its last viable populations in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The population here too, of these slow breeding, 13 feet long animals, is only 25-30. Now, there’s one less.

The long arm of poaching has not spared the pristine Andaman and Nicobar Islands. A breeding female dugong, protected under Schedule One of the Wildlife Protection Act, was hacked to death by poachers around Christmas on Neil Island. The meat of the dugong may have been used as fish bait and was chanced upon by scuba-divers in the area.

“Tourists in Neil island, part of the Andaman complex, woke up to the sight of a mutilated carcass of the dugong on beach number 3 of Neil islands. We found the carcass dripping with blood. We had spotted the same animal with a calf on the beach so it is now unlikely the calf will survive on its own. Its shocking that anti-social elements can operate like this,” said Lucan, a scuba-diver in the area. The Chief Wildlife warden of the area, Khajan Singh, has deputed a senior forest department official to investigate the matter.

The number of dugongs, which exist only in areas with shallow waters, mostly with coral reef formations, has dwindled enormously in the past few years due to indiscriminate hunting. There is current evidence of the dugong living in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Though they existed in the Gulf of Kutch, there have not been any recent sightings of the animal there. They are also found in the Great Reefs in Australia.In 2008, the Cabinet approved India joining international efforts to protect and manage dugongs. Dugongs are legally protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. They are listed in Appendix-I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and in Appendix II of the Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) to both of which India is a signatory.