I love to travel, mainly to Africa where I was born, I enjoy reading and playing bridge. I go for rambles in the countryside. I collect stamps and go to T'ai Chi classes. I love my two cats and my garden birds. I adore the African wildlife and try to help Conservation groups.
Snow leopard fitted with GPS tag
By Rebecca Morelle - BBC News.
The collar works out the cat's position several times a day. The habits of the most elusive of the big cats, the snow leopard, may no longer remain such a mystery. For the first time, a team has fitted a snow leopard with a Global Positioning System (GPS) collar to track the secretive creature's movements. The 35kg (75lb) female was captured on the Purdum Mali ridge in Pakistan.
Over the next few months, the international team aims to fit four more snow leopards with the high-tech collars. Thanks to their solitary nature, the steep, rocky terrain they inhabit, and their twilight activity, snow leopards are extremely difficult to study, says Ashley Spearing, who is about to join the research team out in the Chitral Gol National Park in the Pakistan-Afghanistan borders. And because of this, he says, much of the information on their movements and habitat use is based on anecdote, extrapolation or older research using less-accurate radio collars.
SNOW LEOPARDS
Between 3,500-7,000 snow leopards estimated in wild
Live in high, rugged mountains of central Asia
Shy, elusive and solitary animals
Home-range is unknown
In captivity, live up to 21 years
Adults weigh between 35-55kg, and stand about 60cm tall
Pale dense fur covered in unique dark spots for camouflage
Female snow leopards mate every other year
Usually 2-3 cubs born in litter
GPS technology, the researchers believe, will give them a wealth of data they can mine. Mr Spearing said: "This study is the first time GPS technology has been used to track snow leopards. It is going to give us very accurate, detailed knowledge of the size of the cats' home range and the sort of day-to-day movements they make." The collars, when fitted, use GPS to pin-point the exact position of the cats several times a day. This information is then beamed to researchers' inboxes via the US-French Argos-satellite data-relay system.
It keeps a close-watch of where the animals are moving, resting or sleeping. But this is the easy part - capturing the animals to get at this data is more difficult. As the animals move around their home ranges, they often travel along ridgeways and cliff bases, marking their route to warn off other animals. "We use those marking sites to place non-invasive foot snares," said Mr Spearing. "They also contain a radio-device so when it is triggered, it sends a signal to let us know." Each morning, working in temperatures of -5C to -20C, the team sets off at daylight from their base-camp, to check each of the 15 snares, in total covering about 10-13km (6-8 miles) and climbing 600-900m (2,000-3,000ft).
Project leader Tom McCarthy, who is the conservation director of the Snow Leopard Trust, describes it as some of the steepest terrain he has ever worked in. Once an animal has been snared, it is anaesthetised, its age, sex, size and weight assessed, and then the radio collar is fitted, before the animal is released. The fact the team has captured a snow leopard so early on in the project has given the researchers hope that they will be able to collar their target of five cats.
And the signal from the tagged cat, called Bayed-e-Kohsaar, which in Urdu means In Memory of the Mountains, has already revealed where and when she has moved since being fitted with the collar. The collar will stay attached to the animal for 14 months before it drops off. Brad Rutherford, director of the Snow Leopard Trust, says the data gained from the project will be vital for conservation of the cat. It is thought that between 3,500 to 7,000 snow leopards exist in the wild, in the high mountains of Central Asia, but they are under threat.
They have been on the IUCN's Red List of endangered species since 1972, at risk from habitat fragmentation, depletion of prey, hunting for pelt and bone, and retaliation killings from livestock herders. Mr Rutherford said: "The biggest thing this project will tell us is how much space a snow leopard needs.
"And you would think in 2006 that we would have that answer, but unfortunately, because the cats are so elusive, we don't. Estimates range between 65 sq km and 1,000 sq km. "You cannot have an appropriately sized protected area with that kind of discrepancy." He adds the study will also give important secondary data, such as whether the cats avoid human settlements and roads, or cluster around livestock areas. "All of this information will help us to craft better conservation efforts on the ground," he says.
The study is a joint collaboration between the Snow Leopard Trust, the Northwest Frontier Province Wildlife Department and WWF-Pakistan.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Rare bird's stronghold protected.
Aquatic warbler numbers have fallen dramatically in recent years. The future of mainland Europe's rarest songbird, the aquatic warbler, looks brighter following a deal to protect a key breeding site, campaigners say. The UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) part-funded the purchase of land in Poland's Biebrza Marshes.
The RSPB hopes it will prevent further loss of important habitat in the area. It is the first time in the society's 117-year history that it has secured land outside of the UK. The RSPB provided a guarantee of £400,000 (590,000 euros) of funding to a European Union project that aimed to manage land used by the aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola).
"Using RSPB funds to secure land purchase overseas is an exciting development for the society," the RSPB's chief executive, Graham Wynn, said. "The Biebrza Marshes support 80% of the European Union's population of the globally threatened [bird]."
Since 1970, the bird's population has fallen dramatically following the destruction of breeding sites, with many wetlands being drained for agricultural use and rivers being transformed in to canals.
The warbler breeds in lowland marshes, with water less than 10cm deep. It migrates to west Sub-Saharan Africa for the winter, although its exact destination is uncertain.
The project, developed by the RSPB and the Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP), will form a blueprint for the management of approximately 415 sq km (160 sq miles) of fens and wet meadows, primarily in Poland but also in a small part of Germany.
Within this area, 28 sq km (11 sq miles) will be restored as wetlands for breeding the aquatic warbler.
Izabela Flor, OTOP's chief executive, said: "The wildlife of Biebrza Marshes is incredibly important and distinctive; four out of five of all of the European Union's aquatic warblers are found here, as well as about half of the EU's greater spotted eagles."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
British soldiers kill white rhino.
White rhino numbers have dwindled to less than 200 in Kenya. British troops training in northern Kenya have shot dead a white rhinoceros after it charged at them. The four soldiers were confronted by the adult male after they got lost at night on an exercise in the bush. The shooting happened on Friday evening in Laikipia, north of the capital Nairobi. The area is popular for wildlife viewing.
White rhinos are killed by poachers who want their horns for use in traditional Chinese medicine or as ornaments. Laikipia conservancy senior game warden Dickson Too said the soldiers had been "forced to shoot at it". "We don't consider it a deliberate act of killing, they were just acting in self-defence," he said.
Mr Too added the rhino had been found the following day and the Kenya Wildlife Service had removed its horn.
Kenya Wildlife Service spokeswoman Connie Maina said British troops had a base near Laikipia and regularly underwent training in the area.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Rare zoo lion cubs poisoned
By Amber Henshaw BBC News, Addis Ababa.
The zoo's lion cull is blamed on budget restrictions. Rare Abyssinian lion cubs are being poisoned at a zoo in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, and their bodies are then sold on to be stuffed. The zoo, founded by Ethiopia's former Emperor Haile Selassie, says they poison a number of cubs each year because they do not have the space or money to look after them.
"We can send them to the forest and to some governmental palaces but most of the time we send them to the taxidermists," said the Lion Zoo administrator Muhedin Abdulaziz. He said the taxidermists pay about $175 (£90) for each cub and they are then sold for $400 (£210). No-one at the zoo is happy about the situation and local conservationists are angry.
One Ethiopian conservationist, who did not want to be named, said he had been offered 11 cubs last year. "They told me I could take and keep them but I don't have land to keep them...and it was not easy to get land." "Finally I was told they gave them to the taxidermists and they were killed and poisoned."
Emperor Haile Selassie started the Lion Zoo 57 years ago. It collected lions from across the country and was a symbol of his reign. The Abyssinian Lion is distinguished by its small size and the male's black mane. Eight pairs of lions live in the zoo, which is in the Siddist Kilo area of Addis Ababa. There are currently three cubs there.
Few lions remain in Ethiopia's game parks. The conservationist said he would like to see sanctuaries set up around the country for the lion cubs. "If we have a sanctuary, or maybe we can reintroduce them back into the wild, that can preserve natural resources," he said. It is something that Mr Muhedin would also like to see.
He said they were asking their bosses to expand the zoo so they did not have to keep poisoning the cubs.
The taxidermists pay $190 for each lion cub. "For the time-being our immediate solution is to send them to the taxidermists but the final and best solution is to extend the zoo into a wider area." Mr Muhedin said the wildlife office sends vets to kill the unwanted lions. "They kill them by poison and automatically they are taken to the taxidermist's office.
Tadesse Haile from the Ethiopian Wildlife Department said he did not have any information about it and that he had never heard of cubs being poisoned. Between 1,000 and 1,200 people visit the zoo each day. Meat to feed the lions costs about $4,000 (£2,100) a month. The Lion Zoo is also home to baboons, monkeys, rabbits, Egyptian geese and goldfish.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Why are penguins such good box office?
WHO, WHAT, WHY? The Magazine answers...
Penguins' extreme parenthood struggle has resonance. Despite all the hype, the latest James Bond film was beaten at the US box office by a film starring animated penguins. It follows the success of March of the Penguins, and as they top the bill in the BBC's Planet Earth.
They look adorable, walk upright, and we like to think they share our emotions - attributes that seem to be a winning combination for movie-goers.
The animated movie Happy Feet took $42.3m (£22.3m) in its US opening weekend, beating the much-hyped Bond movie Casino Royale. The figures will not be mirrored in the UK, where Happy Feet is not released until 8 December. But it is a lot of money for a schmaltzy, unlikely story about singing penguins.
It comes after the Oscar and box office success last year of French documentary March of the Penguins, best documentary feature at the Oscars and the second-highest grossing documentary on its release (after Fahrenheit 9/11).
Penguins also star in the latest series of BBC One's Planet Earth, leading the first episode, Ice Worlds. They return this Sunday to come under attack from seals. The voiceover man on the trailer for Happy Feet tells us that, "What makes you different can make all the difference in the world."
For penguins, that may be the way they walk upright. As humans, we are attracted to creatures that share our traits - hence the popularity of Meerkats, which can stand on their hind legs, and chimpanzees, which have a very human face.
"Very few animals walk around on two feet, the way they waddle and their strange shuffling gait connects people to them," says Justin Anderson, assistant producer on Ice Worlds.
Beyond that, the high interest value of their lives is a gift to any wildlife film-maker. Theirs is an unparalleled struggle through extreme adversity to achieve what may people want - parenthood.
"It's probably the best example of parenthood on the planet," says Anderson. "The male spends 115 days without eating, with the egg on his feet, in permanent darkness in the least hospitable place on the planet. His partner walks 200km to the sea to feed. The extreme effort chimes if you are a parent."
Compared with the exploits of more familiar wildlife - elephants, big cats, etc - the unfamiliar, inaccessible world of penguins is a box office bonus. There are money shots to be had from their behaviour - how they toboggan along on their stomachs; their grace in water; their amazing mating rituals.
It is those pairing rituals, and the clumsy way they tackle their second home on land that gives them the comedy ingredient - take the slapstick "handbags at dawn style" slap fighting between the females as the competition for males intensifies.
"There's an obvious comedy value to them," says Anderson. "In Emperor penguin courtship, there are 20,000 of them. They look identical to us, but the idea that there is this high degree of selection - because they are desperate to make sure they pick a strong partner - is funny."
Our attempts to anthropomorphise their behaviour are key, but translating that to ticket sales depends on "developing their talents", says Nick Hunt, reviews editor at film magazine Screen Daily.
In the case of Happy Feet, director George Millerm has proved his credentials in bringing the animals to life. The man behind the outstandingly successful 90s film Babe - which starred a talking pig - clearly knows a thing or two about drawing a big family audience to a film about animals.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Birds of a feather.
By Sean Coughlan - BBC News Magazine.
When more than 1,500 people descended on a Devon coastal spot last weekend it was to catch a glimpse of a seabird that is more typically seen in parts of Asia. Birdwatchers are a force to be reckoned with, but don't call them "twitchers". Like a flock descending unexpectedly from the skies, they appear in their thousands in out-of-the-way places, identifiable by long lenses, green-rainwear plumage and a steely determination to tick a name off a list.
The birdwatchers are in the news again, after descending on the seaside village of Dawlish in Devon, where a long-billed murrelet had been spotted for the first time in Britain. Some travelled from as far as Durham and Manchester - an awfully long trip just to spy a feathered creature that, on a murky day, might be mistaken by a non-expert for a sea gull. "It's an amazing adrenaline rush. It's a bird you might have thought you'd never see. It's the sense of the rarity," says Howard Vaughan, who has been birdwatching since he was five years old.
Mr Vaughan works at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' latest venture - a wetland habitat at Rainham Marshes in Essex, reclaimed from the Ministry of Defence and officially opened this week. It shouldn't be a surprise that when his mobile rings, it plays a recording of nightingale song. But for starters, let's get the language right. Birdwatchers are not "twitchers", they're "birders". And there's much more to their lifestyle and natural habitat that isn't immediate visible.
How do the birders all know to turn up at remote corners to look at a rare sighting? They use pagers. Dedicated birders use messaging services about where and when birds are appearing - and for the super-league of spotters, this can mean scrambling like fighter pilots to get to the destination first. This doesn't necessarily mean battered Ford Fiestas or bus passes. A wealthy elite would think nothing of hiring a helicopter to get to the other end of the country before the bird disappears.
As with train-spotting or stamp-collecting, this is the obsessive male collecting gene (and it is a predominantly male hobby) in action. Mr Vaughan says that he once travelled to the Orkneys on a day-trip to try to catch sight of a rare feathered visitor. The battleground for this competitive side of birdwatching is the "list" - which is the catalogue of all the birds that someone has seen. Experienced birders could have more than 400 different types of bird on their lists.
Such is the urgency for collecting more names, that Mr Vaughan talks of the "tick and run brigade" - those who spot the bird, tick the list and barely stop to eat their sandwiches. "We've had people who have driven down from Northumberland, spent 15 minutes here, got back in the car and driven home. They didn't even walk around the site."
There is no "list police"; no way of verifying whether someone really has glimpsed all the creatures they claim. Although anyone suspected of over-stating their "conquests" is known in the trade as a "stringer". Anyone who travels to see a bird which refuses to show itself, has been "dipping". Mr Vaughan once spent a fruitless eight hours, waiting for a "no show".
But walking around Rainham Marshes, it's hard not to be impressed by Howard Vaughan's passion for his subject, and his ability to spot them at a distance like they were old friends. When he points out a kestrel, I can make out its elegant lines clearly enough. But when he starts reeling off the birds on a stretch of marshy water, they look like a blur of wings and feathers.
How does he tell them apart? He says he has a sort of sixth-sense that tunes into not just shape and colour, but the way birds move and their behaviour. "It's almost instinctive," he says. And this also means tuning into changes - and seeing the evidence of climate change. Little egrets, once a rarity, are "here every day now. It must be to do with the weather, there's no way round it". This new reserve, a patch of green against a gritty industrial background, is a sign of the level of interest among birders. Mr Vaughan says that there were 11,000 people visiting the site before it had even officially opened.
It's certainly a popular hobby, with the RSPB estimating there are three million birdwatchers. It's also a serious business proposition. Ian Dickie, senior economist at the RSPB, says 290,000 people travelled to see ospreys last year, spending £3.5m. Birdwatchers looking for the white-tailed eagle spent £1.5m. And he points to trends such as the growth of short-break holidays for birdwatchers.
But it's not all optimistic news. There's always one fishpaste in the sandwich selection. At 34, Mr Vaughan belies the image of the retired, time-to-burn birdwatcher. And he sees "worrying signs" of a lack of younger enthusiasts. In his formative days there were bird-spotting clubs for children, he says. But now there are few adult volunteers willing to run such groups and young people are not getting a chance to have such outdoor experiences.
What are they missing? "There are those moments... like it's 5am and you're listening to a dawn chorus and it feels like you've got it all to yourself. "Or you might have got up really early and been waiting for hours and then 40,000 birds fly overhead together. You get that same kick that means you just say 'wow' and start to laugh."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Japanese begin annual whale hunt.
By Chris Hogg - BBC News, Tokyo.
Japan says that hunting whales is its sovereign right. Six Japanese whaling ships have set sail for their annual hunt in the south Atlantic. Japan's fisheries agency says the fleet has a target of 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales.
Environmentalists have condemned the hunt in the southern ocean whale sanctuary, which will last for several months. Japan hunts whales every year, and is strongly opposed to a ban on commercial whaling imposed two decades ago. It says it hunts whales so that its scientists can measure the size of the populations and their feeding and breeding habits. The meat from the catch is sold and the proceeds used to pay for the research programme.
But environmentalists reject the idea that this is a scientific study. They say politicians and bureaucrats allow the hunt because of intense lobbying by a small but vocal minority. They quote opinion polls suggesting that the majority of Japanese people rarely or never eat whale meat and do not support whaling in the southern ocean. The reality is that many Japanese you talk to do not understand what all the fuss is about. Japan says the fleet will try to catch several hundred minke whales, which are quite small. The stocks, it says, are relatively plentiful.
It will also try to kill 10 fin whales, which are larger and rarer. The catches are authorised by the International Whaling Commission. Japan has reason to be bolder this year. At last year's IWC meeting, it persuaded a majority of other nations to make a symbolic show of support for an eventual lifting of the ban on commercial whaling. And last month another of its allies, Iceland, decided to resume commercial whaling for the first time in seven years.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Beijing dog policy sparks protest.
Protesters say police detained 18 people. At least 200 people have protested in the Chinese capital, Beijing, against restrictions on pet dog ownership. Demonstrators holding stuffed toy animals said new rules limiting families in the capital to owning one small dog each were inhumane. They said a ban on larger breeds would lead to dogs being confiscated and culled. In August, a mass cull of dogs caused uproar in south-west China. The 'one dog' policy was announced as part of a campaign to combat rabies.
The protest was watched by many police, who demonstrators say detained 18 people. One protester said the rule that pet dogs could be no taller than 35 cm was nonsense. "We hope the world will support us in stopping the meaningless hurting and killing of dogs," she said, adding, "the height of a dog doesn't make them guilty or fierce!" Rising wages have led to a boom in dog ownership, but high fees have meant most dogs are unregistered and unvaccinated.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Duty to save albatross - Charles.
Prince Charles applauds efforts to halt the birds' decline.Prince Charles has said he believes the world has a duty to save the endangered albatross from extinction. The heir to the British throne said the demise of the iconic sea-bird would be "such an appalling commentary on the way we treat the world".
Campaigners say about 100,000 birds drown each year after becoming caught on longline fishing hooks.
The Prince of Wales made his comments in TVE's Earth Report programme, to be broadcast on BBC World this weekend. "I feel it our duty to ensure that we do not lose any species if we possibly can help it," he told the programme.
Campaigners said the birds were primarily being killed unintentionally by longline fishing boats operating in the Southern Ocean. The vessels use lines up to 120 km (75 miles) long, each with thousands of baited hooks, to catch species such as tuna and swordfish.
"There are 21 species of albatross in the world, and 19 of those are classified as being under threat of extinction," Ben Sullivan, of BirdLife International, told the programme. Mr Sullivan said the population of black-browed albatross in South Georgia was declining by about 3-4% each year. "There are many of these species that are declining at a rate that is clearly unsustainable," he added.
Conservationists are working with fishing fleets in the region to cut the number of birds being caught on the lines. Because albatrosses were only active during daylight, conservationists said that night-time fishing cut the number of fatalities considerably.But there were also measures that could be used during daylight hours, Mr Sullivan suggested. "Adding weights to the lines means that the lines sink more quickly, so the quicker they sink, the faster they are out of reach of albatross and other sea-birds," he said.
Streamer lines, a rope tied to the end of the vessel with a buoy at one end and a series of streamers hanging from the line, were another option. "The cost of a streamer line, at about $50 (£26), is nothing compared with the value of any of the high target species such as tuna or swordfish, which can be worth several thousand dollars for a single fish," Mr Sullivan revealed. Some fishing crews said they preferred to find fish on their hooks, not birds. "I didn't know it was so easy to avoid catching birds, because... longliners and fishermen don't want birds in the line, because they tangle the lines and they avoid having a good catch," a captain of one boat said.
Prince Charles applauded the efforts of the conservation groups: "These mitigation measures have been shown to reduce the damage to albatrosses to almost zero. "So how do you then get the message across that these measures should be used at all times in all these fishing areas?" he asked. Campaigners estimate that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing was responsible for up to a quarter of all albatross deaths. They said these vessels were not interested in efforts to reduce the number of birds caught on the lines, and the sheer scale of the Southern Ocean made it difficult to patrol. The prince concluded: "A lot is dependent on the retailers and big stores - they also can make a huge difference by deciding that they are going to obtain their fish only from certified stocks."
The Television Trust for the Environment's (TVE) Earth Report - Race to Save the Albatross - will be broadcast on BBC World between 11-13 November 2006. Please check schedules for further details
Beached whales die in New Zealand.
Rescuers tried to refloat the stranded whales. About 40 pilot whales have died after becoming stranded on a New Zealand beach, a spokesperson for the conservation department has said. Rescuers and local residents were able to save 40 others and herd them back into the safety of the sea.
New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of whale strandings. According to records, more than 5,000 whales and dolphins have beached themselves on the country's shores in the past 160 years. The plight of the pilot whales prompted a community rescue effort by residents of Ruakaka Beach, about 140km (85 miles) north of Auckland.
"People seemed to come out of the woodwork from everywhere," firefighter Ben Trial was quoted as telling the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Conservation department spokeswoman Sioux Campbell told the Associated Press news agency that by early afternoon the rescued whales were "starting to swim strongly" out to sea. Dozens of whales died on New Zealand's Ruakaka beach.
She said boats were patrolling nearby to encourage them to continue heading out to sea rather than return to the beach. "The real concern is that they might come back and strand. It is really quite common for pods to restrand so we are hoping it won't happen," Ms Campbell said. Ms Campbell said plans were being worked out to bury the dead whales.
Dozens of stranded pilot whales were shot dead in January in New Zealand after it was ruled too difficult to get them back in the sea. The biggest recorded mass stranding on the New Zealand coast involved 1,000 pilot whales on the Chatham Islands in 1918. Experts say they are unable to explain why the mammals swim into the dangerously shallow waters.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Orangutans perish in Borneo fires
By Lucy Williamson - BBC News, Jakarta.
Fires on the island of Borneo may have killed up to 1,000 orangutans, say animal protection workers in Indonesia. The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation says the animals are facing severe problems as their natural habitat is burnt away. Rescue workers have found several dead orangutans in burnt-out areas, but have no way of reaching animals still trapped in the burning forests. The fires have been raging across central Borneo for months.
One of those involved in the rescue effort, Pak Hardy, told the BBC that more than 40 animals had been saved after finding their way to the edges of the fires. Many have severe burns. Others have been killed by local people after eating from the area's profitable oil palm plantations.
One of the problems, says Pak Hardy, is that erosion of the animals' natural habitat means there are few places for them to go to avoid the fires. The teams have put up posters asking local people not to kill orangutans which are fleeing the fires and to contact them instead, but it is not working. Four times in the last 24 hours Pak Hardy's team has been too late. Threats to orangutans' natural habitat are largely responsible for them becoming an endangered species.
Indonesia's annual problem with forest fires is widely blamed on farmers and logging companies clearing land for oil palm plantations. The fires routinely cause a smoky haze to settle over a wide area and have brought criticism from Indonesia's neighbours as well as from environmental groups.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Rescue plan for rare farm animals.
The aim is to protect the genetic diversity of rare breeds. Rare breeds of farm animals in danger of dying out are being targeted by a new rescue plan involving the government and breeders. Some 100 of the UK's 130 native breeds are at risk of disappearing.
It is hoped a combination of sperm and egg banks, along with the protection of existing live animals, will help to safeguard the future of rare breeds. The efforts are an attempt to protect genetic diversity that may prove to have valuable traits in the future. BBC environment correspondent Tom Heap said: "The genetic diversity is what is really valuable. "Too often these unusual varieties are squeezed by commercial pressure or threatened in their enclave by infectious diseases, like foot-and-mouth."
Our correspondent went on: "In the future they may prove to have highly valuable traits or qualities of disease resistance - and if they go, that is lost." He said the plan "urges the government and industry to work harder to ensure the spread and vigour of live herds and investigate improved stores of genetic material".
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Treasure quest endangers Peru's bears
By Hugh O'Shaughnessy
BBC News, Peru
Economic development is putting some of Peru's oldest inhabitants in danger of extinction. Spectacled bears are the only bear species found in South America. I learnt I was in Paddington territory the other day 13,000 feet up in the Peruvian Andes. I was chatting to Captain Sutcliffe of the Peruvian air force whose Russian helicopter had brought me up to an isolated mine site east of the local capital Piura. He and his crew are extremely skilful aviators.
They avoided vertical walls of rock and put us down on a spot rather smaller than you would find on a warship at sea, before buzzing off up and down the tropical valley with heavy loads of mining equipment slung underneath their aircraft.
There, beside the Rio Blanco, the border between Peru and Ecuador, a British company, Monterrico Metals, is planning to dig up millions of tonnes a year of valuable copper ore and send it down a massive pipeline to the Pacific Ocean.
"Much wild life about in this altitude?" I asked.
"Well, sometimes we see bears," Sutcliffe replied.
"They're not very big but they can be aggressive. When we see them we run."
Helicopters, however useful to the mining company, must be a not particularly welcome novelty for the bears who have been inhabiting the cloud forest of these latitudes for some two million years past. Paddington Bear's associates could be forced out of "darkest Peru". White marks around the eyes means they are sometimes called "spectacled bears". The males sometimes grow to two metres or more and can weigh 200 kilos. Females are smaller and lighter and look after their young for a year or more after birth.
They live a vegetarian life, eating fruits and seeds the forest provides, in solitude and certainly flee contact with humans. During the day they keep to the platforms they build for themselves in the trees from where they can spy out any intruders. For me, the exchange with Captain Sutcliffe high in the mountains perfectly encapsulated a situation which in one form or another is becoming ever more common in Peru. This country is a genuine treasure trove of mineral riches. It is the world's largest producer of silver and there is lead, copper, zinc, molybdenum - known as "Molly" in the trade - and much more.
As international prices of metals have risen steeply, investors have poured in, seeking their fortunes, much as the Spanish conquistadors did 500 years ago seeking the gold of the Inca empire. Yet this has coincided with the Peruvians taking a hard new look at what the mining - and, indeed, the metal smelting - industries are doing in Peru. They are certainly bringing more money into the country and pushing up output. The business-friendly, pro-US government of President Alan Garcia is naturally very pleased. But the hard new look has only underlined the vast damage that is being done to Peru's rivers, plains and forests and to its flora and fauna.
It has also strengthened some of the worst features of Peruvian society, namely the concentration of wealth in few hands and the criticism is not confined to the "usual suspects", the political left and the green lobby. Yanacocha is Latin America's largest and most profitable gold mine. In a hard-hitting document published last year the World Bank in Washington said, "expectations created by [mining] developments are damaged by the harm done to the environment, on the one hand, and the limits on the use and distribution of mining income, on the other."
While vast new investments have opened vast new mines, there have been a series of popular protests here in northern Peru by those whose immediate interests are harmed by the mining and who see little prospect of their families and their localities getting any benefit from the profits the mine owners expect to reap - and keep - for themselves. One of the most famous and successful new mines is at Yanacocha which is producing fabulous amounts of gold.
Yet the locals have halted the company's efforts to extend the diggings to a nearby mountain, the Cerro Quilish, which is the source of much of the area's drinking water.
And there were confrontations between police and locals when Manhattan, a Canadian company, tried to establish a mine which would have eaten deep into the town of Tambogrande and destroyed orchards which produce fine lemons and avocados. One protester was killed in the confusion. Monterrico itself has been at odds with local people. Two protesters have lost their lives in violence. Protests centre on the possible danger to the waters which flow down from the watershed where the mine is to the Atlantic to the East and to the Pacific Ocean to the West.
The pro- and anti-mining factions seem to be digging in their positions deeper every day. The opponents say that Monterrico lacks the community's permission to be at the mine site at all and their presence is therefore illegal. What would Paddington Bear have thought about the whole affair? The company has until recently been waging a propaganda war against its opponents, calling them terrorists and drug dealers. Like President Garcia - who has just brought in new restrictions on them - it looks askance at non-governmental organisations.
It also is wary about the Catholic Church which it regards as all to partial to the local peasantry.This whole development is casting a shadow over the life of the dogged Bishop of Chulucanas. Daniel Turley, born in Chicago, 63 years ago and in poor health, is critical of attitudes on both sides. He is still committed to finding a compromise which would allow the mine to go ahead while the interests of the locals are preserved. But as I talked to him in a hospital in the city of Piura he said that reconciliation was becoming an ever more difficult task.
What would Paddington Bear have thought about the whole affair?
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 4 November, 2006 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Action urged to save Balkan lynx.
A number of lynx species are endangered. Urgent efforts are needed to save the Balkan lynx, the largest of Europe's wild cats, from extinction, conservationists say. Only around 100 of the big cats are thought to remain in existence. The largest numbers are found in the remote hills of western FYR Macedonia, where they are considered a national symbol and appear on a coin. Several European groups are working together to try to gather more information on the reclusive animal.
Balkan lynx, a distinct subspecies, are also found in parts of Albania, Serbia and Greece. They are generally reddish brown or light grey and can grow as long as 1.3m (4ft), weighing up to 35kg (77lb). They are described as solitary creatures which roam large areas. "It's a very rare and sensitive animal, like a shadow moving in the trees," said Zdravko Moteski, a hunter in the village of Lesnica in western Macedonia, who is helping experts to collect information. "I never had a chance to see a lynx. I've only traced its footprints during the winter," he said.
German group Euronatur said an area should be set up in the Macedonian-Albanian border area to protect the animal's habitat. Part of the problem, it said, was that swathes of Albania's formerly dense forests, the lynx's preferred habitat, had been cut down for firewood and were now used for grazing. Dime Melovski, a Macedonian biologist, said the initial plan was to gather information and use photosensors to photograph one of the animals. "Then we hope to eventually capture one for DNA analysis and to reintroduce the Balkan lynx with breeding in captivity," he said.
There are several different lynx species in Europe, a number of which are endangered.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Otter 'escorts' mate to hospital.
The two otters approach the door of the hospital. Hospital staff were amazed to see an otter appear to escort its injured mate to the front door of their building. The animals paused at the door and one appeared to look up at an intercom, according to staff at Broadford Hospital on the Isle of Skye.
The otters eventually ran away, leaving bloody footprints where they had been. Charge nurse Chrisann O'Halloran said the night shift could not believe what they were seeing on the hospital's CCTV cameras on Thursday morning. She said: "We have got CCTV inside the hospital and at the front door. "Night staff continually monitor it and were looking at it when they saw two otters running up to the door. "By the time the staff got to the door they had gone, but there were little bloody footprints where they had been."
The charge nurse added: "It's really funny to watch because one looks up at the door and then turns to the other as if talking to it. "I thought the animals are very, very shy, but they crossed a big open tarmac with staff cars parked in it to get to the front door."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Poachers target rare Nepal rhino.
Surendra Phuyal - BBC News, Kathmandu.
The Asiatic rhino's horn is reputed to have aphrodisiac qualities. Conservation officials in Nepal have vowed to step up anti-poaching measures after a spate of killings this week of an endangered rhinoceros species. By Wednesday, poachers had killed four single-horned Asiatic rhinos in and around Chitwan National Park. Many more have been killed this year.
The horn of the animal is sought after for its alleged aphrodisiac qualities. Chitwan now has fewer than 400 rhinos, besides other endangered wildlife species like the Royal Bengal tiger. Park officials and the local community have become increasingly worried with each fresh rhino killing this week.
Anil Manandher, from the international conservation group WWF, said a team had been sent to the Chitwan area to find ways to curb the epidemic of poaching. "After our officials in the field report back," he told the BBC, "we will actively pursue some anti-poaching measures based on a recent multi-stakeholder declaration."
In recent years, villagers living in and around the 1,000-sq km park have teamed up with the authorities to try to conserve the endangered wildlife in Chitwan. Gopal Upadhyay, the park's warden, told the BBC that since January 2005, a total of 35 rhinos have been found dead in and around the park. Only ten have died from natural causes.
A 2005 census counted 372 rhinos in Chitwan, down from 544 in 2000. "We can't do anything alone," Mr Upadhyay said. "We need support from everybody to protect these animals." Krishna Bhurtel, the chairman of a local village committee, blames the authorities. "Past governments have released the jailed poachers," he told the BBC. "That's why poachers are on the prowl and killing wildlife fearlessly. All the political parties need to be more active, too."
Alarmed by the rise in rhino poaching, local stakeholders, international conservation groups and the park authorities met in August. They said they would work together to improve anti-poaching operations. After Chitwan National Park was created in 1976, the rhino population began to increase from fewer than 100.
The park was listed as a World Heritage site by the United Nations in 1984. The rise in rhino numbers prompted conservationists to move some of the animals to two other parks in western Nepal. But in recent years, officials say, the Maoist insurgency has taken its toll in Bardia and Shukla Phanta nature preserves in western Nepal, affecting the rhino populations there as well.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Dingo has 'vital ecosystem role'
By Paul Rincon - Science reporter, BBC News.
The dingo is regarded as Australia's last "top predator" .Relaxing controls on dingo numbers in some parts of Australia could help arrest the decline of native marsupial mammals, a study says. In the last 150 years, marsupial populations have collapsed and many species have disappeared. Most of this has been blamed on the introduction from Europe of foxes and cats, which prey on native animals.
The dingo - a wild dog - keeps fox and feral cat numbers in check, say researchers. But sheep and cattle farmers have traditionally been hostile to the dogs, because they also prey on livestock. Poison is the most common method of controlling dingo populations. "For much of south-east and south-west Australia - where there are sheep - farmers attempt to completely eliminate them," Professor Chris Johnson of James Cook University in Queensland told BBC News. "The experience is that you really can't succeed as a sheep farmer if there are dingoes around."
Attitudes towards the dog have also been influenced by occasional attacks on people. Since Europeans began settling in Australia en masse in the 19th Century, 18 species of marsupial have become extinct. This represents half of all mammal extinctions worldwide in the last 200 years. Many more native mammals have severely declined in number. The Europeans brought with them foxes and cats, which began to prey on ground-dwelling marsupials such as wallabies, causing populations to dive.
The Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) was brought to Australia 3,500-4,000 years ago by seafarers from South-East Asia. It is regarded as an intermediate stage between wolves and domestic dogs. They are considered to be Australia's last "top predator", taking up a place in the food web that was once filled by the extinct thylacine and marsupial lion.
DINGO WILD DOG
Descended from a domestic dog brought in from Indonesia
The social dingo is a pack hunter but will also scavenge
Females only breed once a year, having four or five pups
The analysis carried out by Professor Johnson and colleagues shows that Australia's last native "top predators" perform an essential role in maintaining biodiversity.
It found that marsupial populations have a much better chance in areas that also have stable populations of dingoes. The dingoes are thought to kill off foxes and feral cats, preventing overkill of the marsupials. "The scientific community wants a big experiment," said Chris Johnson, "In places where dingoes are currently controlled, if we relaxed that control, we'd see dingoes increase. Would we then see foxes decline as a direct consequence? "That's been done in a few places, and if you put them together they paint a fairly consistent picture."
Professor Johnson said he would also like to see large areas of Australia designated as "wild country", where dingoes were accepted as a natural part of the ecosystem. This, he said, would require "some acceptance and tolerance of other land users, especially cattle producers and sheep producers". He added: "It probably won't happen across sheep land, but it can happen with cattle. "In cattle country, by and large, dingoes will hunt kangaroos or rabbits. If there's an alternative prey available, they'll leave the cattle alone. Sheep are so easy to kill; they will be the preferred prey," he said. "Possibly, we'd need to rethink the reasons for controlling dingoes in cattle country. The reason it is done is because dingoes do sometimes kill calves. But we really have to trade off all the costs and all the benefits of having a predator."
Dingoes control populations of animals that compete for pasture with cattle such as kangaroos - and possibly feral goats and feral pigs. A spokesman for the Australian National Farmers' Federation declined to comment on the report for the time being. It is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
Template by motime.com | header image credit: Markus Gann © www.begann.de