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World Land Trust Press Releases
Press releases from the World Land Trust, an international conservation organisation working to preserve the world's most biologically important and threatened lands.
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First Ever Harpy Eagle Re-introduction into Programme for Belize forests
Iraq war hits wildlife conservation
First Ever Harpy Eagle Re-introduction into Programme for Belize forests
Press Release dated: Tuesday, May 06, 2003
One of the world's most powerful birds of prey, the Harpy Eagle is considered to be near extinction in Central America. In an attempt to save them the Peregrine Fund has been captive breeding them and liaising with Programme for Belize regarding re-introduction. A few weeks ago the first pair of six month old eagles were flown into Belize City and were released into the wild later that day into PFB's Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area (RBCMA). This new programme aims to re-instate a breeding population of Harpy Eagles within Belizean forests.
Despite their enormous size, measuring up to 1 metre long with a 2-metre wing-span, Harpy Eagles are surprisingly inconspicuous. As like other birds of prey, Harpy Eagles tend to stay within or below the forest canopy, hunting from perches for mammals, in particular sloths and monkeys. In recent years, viewings of Harpy Eagles have become few and far between, as these magnificent and distinctive birds of prey have become extremely rare within Belize as a result of direct persecution and loss of habitat. It is believed that no breeding pairs survive in Belizean forests, a situation that is widespread over Central America. In response, the Peregrine Fund (Panama) has been captive breeding Harpy Eagles for a number of years now, and to date has successfully released 13 individuals, in an attempt to build up numbers to a breeding population.
The Peregrine Fund has adopted a method of breeding Harpy Eagles, which has been designed to minimise human contact as much as possible, to avoid any dependence on human presence. Whilst close monitoring and initial feeding of the newly released pair takes place for the first six months, great care is taken to ensure human presence is not detected.
A specific re-introduction procedure has been designed to increase the Harpy Eagle's chance of survival, as neither bird is able to hunt for itself yet and would starve without human intervention. An artificial nest site nest site has been constructed within the Chiquibul Forest Reserve in Central Belize, where initially the birds will be fed and monitored. Gradually the amount of food is decreased, encouraging independent hunting. It is anticipated that once the Harpy Eagles are completely self-sufficient, they will be re-captured and transported to the Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area (RBCMA) located towards the north of the country, leaving the artificial nest-site free for the introduction of a new pair of Harpy Eagles.
The quarter-million acre RBCMA is the largest private reserve in Belize, owned by Programme for Belize, and was originally purchased in 1989 with support from the World Land Trust and other NGO's. To find out more about this project see the WLT website. For further information about the Peregrine Fund see www.peregrinefund.org.
For more information, contact: John Burton
CEO
World Land Trust
jab*at*worldlandtrust.org (To avoid spam, we cannot show the email address in full. Please replace *at* with the symbol @ in your email address field.)
Web site: http://www.worldlandtrust.org
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Iraq war hits wildlife conservation
Press Release dated: Friday, May 02, 2003
John A Burton, World Land Trust:
War can have a devastating direct effect on wildlife - witness the oil spills during the first Gulf War which killed thousands of seabirds and other wildlife. But one of the side effects of the recent world crisis is its impact on international wildlife charities. After the first Gulf War in 1989, donations to the World Land Trust dropped dramatically, and in 2001 the September 11 attacks had an even more catastrophic effect on the WLT. As some of our supporters will remember, September 11 was the day chosen to launch a fundraising campaign for the purchase of over 15,000 acres in Patagonia. A reception had been sponsored in central London, a video made of the project, and David Bellamy had come to London to launch it at a press conference in Burlington House, Piccadilly, in the heart of London. Unsurprisingly virtually no publicity was generated, as understandably people's minds were diverted to other events.
During the recent conflict the staff at the WLT have been working very hard to maintain the level of donations needed to keep its projects active. By developing its Internet presence the WLT has been able to draw on a wider public, but fundraising has been difficult, as many people concentrate on humanitarian aid. However, the threats to wildlife persist. Throughout the world day by day the forests continue to disappear. Ecotourism, often put forward as a way of making wildlife pay, is also a casualty of war, with fewer tourists traveling during disturbed times. Already our Belizean partners have reported falling numbers of visitors this year.
The reserves we are buying in Ecuador to form natural corridors for wildlife cost as little as $10,000 to $20,000 each - and these contain species found no where else in the world. A donation of £25 will help save an acre, for ever, It only costs $3000 a month to maintain the protection of the 15000 acres of the Estancia La Esperanza in Patagonia. Possibly the only good thing to come out of the financial crisis in Argentina, is that our running costs have fallen, as our dollars go further
To give our efforts at conserving endangered species some perspective, it costs in the order of £25,000 an hour to keep a Tornado bomber in the air over Iraq - enough to buy 1000 acres of rainforest. One Challenger Tank costs over £4million - enough to buy a quarter of a million acres of rainforest. And in some places land is even cheaper. British taxpayers have no choice, but to contribute to this, but at least by making a donation to conservation, they can get some of it back from the government to help conserve wildlife. Every £1 donated through Gift Aid allows charities to claim 28p back in tax.
For more information, contact: John Burton
CEO
World Land Trust
jab*at*worldlandtrust.org (To avoid spam, we cannot show the email address in full. Please replace *at* with the symbol @ in your email address field.)
Web site: http://www.worldlandtrust.org
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Sir David Attenborough, World Land Trust Patron
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