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Conservation Project News

Conservation projects news from the World Land Trust, an international wildlife conservation charity working to protect threatened wildlife habitats worldwide.

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Monday, 19 March 2007:

Elephants reclaim vacated land (India) 

Evidence of the elephant presence: Footprints (top) and damage to trees. Click on the images to see larger versions.

World Land Trust (WLT) is working with Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) in securing the Tirunelli-Kudrakotte elephant corridor in Wayanad, Kerala State.

About 9 acres of the land have already been purchased. The four families who sold it to WTI have moved out and are now farming elsewhere, and elephants have already started using the corridor, as can be seen in the photographs.

The vacated lands include those previously leased to the occupants by the government and the owners have have already transferred all the rights and the land to Forest Department. Meanwhile, WTI has approached the government requesting them to protect the area as a reserve forests and/or declared a part of the wildlife sanctuary.

(From a report by Dr.PS Easa /WTI)

Labels: India

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Hand-raised elephants released into the wild (India) 

WLT's partner, the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), have recently released six elephant calves in Manas National Park - this is the first time that elephants have been rehabilitated and released back into the wild in India. The elephants had previously been cared for at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation in Assam, which WTI run with support from the Government Department for Environment and Forestry.

The Centre was the first of its kind in India and was developed because of the annual floods in nearby Kaziranga National Park, which results in the loss of a large number of animals. The Centre has handled more than 400 cases, with half of those being released. Most cases can be released within a few days, which increases the chances of them reintegrating into the wild. This is more difficult during the floods, which can last for 3-4 weeks.

The Centre has previously been successful in the release of young elephants within 48 hours of rescue, which were reintegrated back into their own herd. However, this has not been possible for all the elephants - either because the herd has not been found or because they have rejected the young elephant. These elephants remain at the Centre where they are looked after until they are old enough to be released and reintegrated into the wild.

Releasing elephants in Kaziranga National Park would be difficult because they are at carrying capacity within the Park and there is already human-elephant conflict in the area as there are a number of villages around the Park. Therefore, for this first release, WTI decided to transfer the elephants to Manas National Park, where there would be lower risk of conflict with people and the elephants could be integrated into a wild herd.

For more information, read the WTI news release:
Hand-raised elephants will return to wild

Labels: India

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Co-operation in Saving Rare Orchid Sites (Ecuador) 

Botanist Lou Jost, who has been surveying the orchids on FJ reserves for the past few years, has been working on three important botanical sites in the Pastaza valley, in an unprotected strip of forest between Sangay and Llanganates National Parks, which the WLT will be raising funds for to protect. One small area of limestone gorge along the Rio Anzu was found to contain a spectacular display of thousands of slipper orchids and while there Lou Jost discovered about 20 new species of Teagueia orchids, and a further 25 in a genus which previously had only 6 known species. (For further information visit Lou's website: www.loujost.com)

Meanwhile, WLT-US is providing funds to EcoMinga Foundation, where Lou Jost is a biodiversity specialist, to identify, purchase and mange critical sites for the conservation of endangered orchids in Ecuador. One of the priority areas is the Mera forest in central Ecuador. Situated between the Andes and the Amazon basin, this is a rich center of endemism providing home to 51 unique plant species endemic to this very small area.

Labels: Ecuador

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Successful breeding of El Oro Parakeets in artificial nest boxes at Buenaventura (Ecuador) 

El Oro Parakeets on top of one of the nest boxes (top) and eggs laid by one of the parakeet pairs. Click on the images to see larger versions.

The El Oro Parakeet was only discovered in 1980 and not described until 1988 and it is only known to occur in the Buenaventura reserve which is owned and protected by WLT's project partners, the Jocotoco Foundation.

In an attempt to boost numbers, in 2006 FJ installed 39 next boxes which have been closely monitored.

The boxes have proved to be very successful so far, and we recently received reports that at least 10 eggs had been laid in three of the boxes.

Labels: Ecuador

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Friday, 16 March 2007:

Jaguar in Sierra Gorda photographed (Mexico) 

Jaguar photographed in Sierra Gorda. See a larger image of the jaguar here.

"Dear friends, I just wanted to share with you our first photo of a Sierra Gorda jaguar", wrote Roberto Pedraza in an email from Mexico.

"We placed the cameras in one of the core areas of the reserve, very near to the two properties we just purchased with the support of the Netherlands National IUCN Committee. We got this picture just yesterday. I went there with my dog, Camila, who is usually very exuberant, but on this occasion she was really nervous and shy - I'm sure the jaguar was in the area and Camila felt its presence. We are very excited to find a Jaguar in the area as we didn't know they occurred there and were expecting to get Puma on camera. We think this is a young animal and believe that the mother is also in the area as we found quite big tracks. Will be placing the cameras there again and can't wait to see what we photograph. Vivan los jaguares!!!"

Kirsty Burgess, Programme Manager of the World Land Trust, and Roger Wilson are currently visiting Mexico to meet with Roberto Pedraza of Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda, to discuss land purchase and tree planting opportunities for WLT.

Labels: Mexico

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