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.
Diary: Protecting mountain gorillas !
In July 2007, armed men entered the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park and killed five critically endangered mountain gorillas at point-blank range, leaving the bodies where they fell.
Since September 2007, rebel forces have controlled the area, threatening to kill any conservationists or gorilla rangers who attempted to enter the area.
Diddy and Innocent are long-serving rangers who have spent their working lives protecting the remaining gorillas in the war-torn region.
In this weekly diary, they describe life on conservation's frontline and the frustration of how recent events are hampering their efforts.
FRIDAY 3 OCTOBER - ANOTHER ELEPHANT KILLED
On Monday we got a phone call from the rangers at our patrol post in Vitshumbi (on the southern shores of Lake Edward) informing us that an elephant had been killed nearby. The next day we drove from our headquarters in Rumangabo to the patrol post to take a look. It appeared that the elephant had been killed by the FDLR rebels that roam this area of the park.
We found the carcass about 6km (four miles) east of Vitshumbi. The tusks had been taken and animal scavengers had eaten most of the meat already. The elephant was quite young, only about eight years old, so the tusks would not have weighed more than 2-3kg. There were three bullet holes in its skull.
This latest incident has taken the number of elephants killed in the park since March to at least 25. As long as there is demand for ivory in countries like China, the elephants of Virunga will continue to suffer. We will of course continue to do our best to stop the massacre.
On a brighter note, we were very excited this week by launch of the official website for Virunga National Park. It is part of a new initiative to generate support for the park and the rangers who risk their lives every day to protect its wildlife.
The website is designed to be interactive with social networking, so we hope that people across the world will join up and mobilize to help us save the mountain gorillas of Congo.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Goat 'condoms' save Kenyan herds !
By Ruth Nesoba - BBC News, Nairobi.
Maasai herdsmen in Kenya have turned to an age-old contraceptive device, the "olor", to protect their precious goat herds from an ongoing drought. The olor is made from cowhide or a square piece of plastic, and is tied around the belly of the male goat. It prevents the bucks from mating with the female goats.
The herdsmen are using the device to limit the goat population and ensure there are not too many animals grazing on sparse vegetation. "We don't want them to breed in this drought," says Mr Ole Ngoshoi Kipameto, a goat owner in Kajiado district.
The area, which is 80km (50 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, has received insufficient rainfall, making the landscape barren and forcing residents to move from place to place in search of pasture and water.
In the Maasai community, livestock are often people's only assets and sole means of survival. "We tie this hide under the belly of the buck for three months. After that we remove it and then they can breed by November when the short rains come," Mr Kipameto says.
The rectangular piece of cowhide is passed over the buck's head and front legs and secured under the belly in front of the hind legs with a rope or elastic strap. "It looks like an apron," Mr Kipameto says.
Peter Ndirangu, the area livestock officer, says the olor is very effective. "In the modern method, we advocate keeping the bucks separate from the breeding goats. But that is an added cost as you require two herdsmen - one for the bucks and one for the goats," he says. "This [device] will play the part of a herdsman." He says the device is very useful in keeping the herd numbers down and controlling when the goats give birth. "If they give birth during harsh conditions like now, the mothers - the does - are going to be very weak, they're not going to feed their young ones properly," he says.
The device helps the herdsmen to restrict kidding to the period during and after the rains. If the rains fall in October and November, the dry landscape will turn green again and the herdsmen will be able to settle with their livestock. Until then, the herdsmen will have to employ the olor to protect their livestock and livelihood safe. Those who do not use it could face a hefty fine if their bucks are found guilty of impregnating another herder's doe.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Lost penguins get Brazil air lift !
By Gary Duffy - BBC News, Sao Paulo.
Hundreds of penguins have been returned to their native territory in the south Atlantic ocean by an air force plane after being found along Brazil's coast. Every year penguins make their way north from the colder waters near to Patagonia in search of food. But the numbers and distances the penguins have travelled this year have amazed the authorities.
At least 1,000 birds are now said to have washed up on the coast of Brazil, some of which have died along the way.
Some are thought to have made a journey of more than 3,000km (1,860 miles) from the cold waters of Patagonia on the southern tip of South America. Earlier this year the first reports of large numbers of penguins being found came in from southern Brazilian states such as Rio de Janeiro.
Now they are even being discovered in the far north of the country. Some experts have said that penguin migration is closely linked to their need for food, and that the unusual journey the penguins are making suggests something has gone wrong with their normal fish supply.
Experts say it is not clear whether this is due to changes in water temperatures and ocean currents or man-made pollution. Some of the birds were found covered in oil, while there has also been evidence that others were eating fish that are not part of their usual diet.
It is an annual task for the Brazilian air force to help return penguins to their native territory but it seems this year they are coping with higher numbers of their unusual passengers. Hundreds of penguins were flown this week in a Hercules plane down to the southern tip of Brazil, where they are being released into the ocean - while some are to return on a navy vessel.
Other birds that were exhausted by their long journey are for the time being staying behind to enjoy the hospitable climate of Bahia - a Brazilian state known for its beautiful beaches and sunny weather.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Help red squirrels, public urged !
Red squirrels can be killed by a virus passed on by their grey cousins. The public are being urged to track the UK's red squirrel population to help protect it from a deadly virus.
The Wildlife Trusts charity wants to guard against the threat posed to the UK's estimated 160,000 red squirrels by squirrel pox, carried by greys. By people reporting sightings of reds during Squirrel Week, which starts later, it hopes to identify areas where protective measures may be required.
These could include culling of grey squirrels, which are more common. Conservationists say culling is a necessary evil to help preserve red squirrels for the future. The native red squirrel has been given the highest level of protection under UK law through the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Its numbers have been declining steadily since the introduction of its bigger and bolder cousin, the North American grey, in the 19th Century.
There are believed to be just 25,000 reds left in England, concentrated in a few pockets including the Isle of Wight, Poole Harbour, in Dorset, and Northumberland and Cumbria. A number of organisations across the UK will co-ordinate the week-long squirrel-tracking project, including Save our Squirrels in Northumberland.
Philippa Mitchell from the organisation said the red species could die out in just 10 years unless action was taken. Conservationists are hoping to develop a vaccine against squirrel pox within that time period. Ms Mitchell said more cases of the disease, which does not affect grey squirrels, were spotted every month and the problem was most acute in the autumn. She said: "The young are moving into new areas at this time of year, so young greys could be moving into areas where they weren't before, and could be taking squirrel pox with them."
The public is also asked to report sightings of grey squirrels so that conservationists can find out if they have invaded areas where red squirrels live.
Ms Mitchell said the only way to deal with the aggressive grey population was to cull them. She said: "It comes down to which is the native species - the one that belongs here - and which is the alien invader. "The red is a protected species."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Big cat kill caught on BBC webcam - By Hugh Wilson !
The BBC's Natural History Unit cameras are in Kenya's Masai Mara Reserve for a week of live programmes - and already they have seen some astonishing sights. On Friday, one of the cameras set up to stream live pictures to the expedition's website 24 hours a day captured the moment a lion took down its prey. It was a remarkable sequence, and quite possibly the first time such an event had been seen on a live webcam.
It augurs well for the Big Cat Live series which returns to UK TV screens on Sunday. No that there haven't been some predictable technical hiccups in getting the camera network up and running.
A generator that has spent six weeks on the high seas is still on the high seas, at least as far as anyone knows. But four live video streams are now online, along with a split-screen view. You can catch all the action - which has so far included lions stalking zebra, playful hyena young, a sleeping hippo and even a bat-eared fox - by going to the Big Cat Live website. It is all, in part, thanks to some pretty ingenious technical innovation.
Wonderful footage of a hyena den, for example, is coming from autonomous Land Rover camera units - assembled on site - which are driven into prime positions and, to avoid disturbing the animals, pretty much abandoned to the dust, heat and rain of the Mara.
Creating the Land Rover cam was one of many challenges facing the Big Cat team on the ground, but for producer Colin Jackson, it's a worthwhile investment of time and technology.
"That's one of the most exciting things this year: the idea that viewers in the UK will be able to watch live film of the animals night and day," he says. "That will be a unique experience." Big Cat Live promises quite a few of those.
The kit needed to follow the lives of Africa's big cats, 24 hours a day.Jackson says the footage brought in by camera teams is "already far exceeding expectations". Thermal cameras bring a new view to night-time activity The film of night-time activity, in particular, is a revelation. "It's all there," he says. "Life and death, lion hunts, unique behaviour only seen at night. "We're using a thermal camera that can see even further than infra-red. We're seeing the invisible."
The cameras have already picked out the usual cast of Big Cat characters The Marsh lions are in rude good health, led by two males in their prime..
Bella the leopard, meanwhile, will be familiar to fans of previous Big Cat Diaries. The pride's territory is also the fragile home to a female cheetah (nicknamed Shakira) and her five cubs, and presenter Jonathan Scott thinks their struggle to survive may grip viewers most of all.
"That story is going to give viewers the most incredible sense of the Mara - and why we love to be here," he says.
Big Cat Live on BBC One will be broadcast every evening for the next week, starting on Sunday at 1810 BST; but the webcams operate all day and all night, and the Big Cat team is sending text message updates to the website throughout the day.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Black rhinos released into wild !
For the first time in more than 25 years, captive-bred black rhinos have been released back into the wild.
Experts have hailed it as a landmark step for African wildlife conservation. Black rhinoceroses were once widespread in Africa, but in recent years these huge horned creatures have suffered dramatic declines, thanks to poaching and habitat loss.
In particular, Kenya has suffered huge losses, with numbers plummeting from an estimated 20,000 in the 1970s to some 500 today. Those that remained were confined to sanctuaries.
The Kenya Wildlife Service has been working with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to revive rhino numbers. And now they are confident enough to begin releasing these animals back into the wild.
The BBC's Karen Allen was there to watch the first batch being returned to their natural habitat - and met some of the people who have made it all happen.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Rare white lion cubs born !
Three rare white lion cubs have been born near South Africa's Kruger National park. The number of white lions being born in the wild has dwindled over the last 16 years leading to fears they may become extinct.
News of the latest births will be announced by the Global White Lion Protection Trust at an event in London on Friday.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Fox bite pair given rabies jabs !
Two people have been given injections to safeguard against rabies after being bitten by a fox in Argyll. It is understood the animal attacked the pair while they were feeding it at Achachoish, near Lochgilphead. They were taken to Mid Argyll Hospital before being transferred to Glasgow for precautionary medical treatment.
The Scottish SPCA said it had never heard of a fox biting two people. It advised the public never to try and feed a wild animal. The association's chief superintendent, Mike Flynn, said: "In this instance it may be fair to assume this fox has been hand-reared by someone and has no fear of people.
"The public should never try to tame a wild animal and hand-rearing should only be undertaken by specialist wildlife rehabilitators. "Overall, the best advice is to not feed foxes as they will find their own food."
Rabies is a viral disease which affects the central nervous system. Once symptoms appear it is almost always fatal, but patients can be treated with antibodies and a vaccination to fight the virus after being bitten.
A licensed bat handler died in Scotland from a rare form of rabies caught from a bat in 2002. This was the first case of rabies in Scotland in more than 100 years.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Boy fed zoo reptiles to crocodile !
A seven-year-old boy has been filmed going on the rampage at a popular zoo in Australia, killing rare reptiles and feeding live ones to a crocodile.
Footage from the security cameras at Alice Springs Reptile Centre caught the child smiling as he killed a total of 13 animals.
During his 30-minute spree, he was seen hurling the animals over the security fence into the crocodile enclosure. Zoo officials described the boy's actions as "unbelievable". They are considering suing the parents as the boy is too young to be prosecuted.
The attack happened on Wednesday morning after the boy entered the zoo by jumping over the security fence and evading sensor alarms. Over the next half hour, he bludgeoned some of the animals to death with stones and hurled others over the two fences surrounding the crocodile enclosure. At one point, he tried scaling the outer enclosure himself to get to "Terry", the 11ft (3.3m) saltwater crocodile.
A turtle, four Western blue-tongued lizards, two bearded dragons, two thorny devil lizards and the zoo's 20-year-old goanna were among those killed. Zoo director Rex Neindorf said many of the animals were rare or mature and would be difficult to replace. "The fact a seven-year-old can wreak so much havoc in such a short time, it's unbelievable," he told Reuters news agency. Mr Neindorf said the boy had "clammed up" when questioned by police.
As children under the age of 10 cannot be held accountable for their actions in the Northern Territory, the zoo would be seeking to take action against the parents. "We'll be looking at suing the parents, who were supposedly in control of him at the time," he said.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS
Malta 'bird slaughter' condemned !
By Mark Kinver - Science and environment reporter, BBC News
Conservation groups have criticised Malta for failing to stop "rogue" hunters killing protected bird species. During a two-week monitoring programme, BirdLife Malta said it treated 17 birds of prey suffering from gunshot wounds. Large numbers of birds pass over the Mediterranean island, which lies along a major migratory route between Europe and Africa.
Malta's hunting group said that it would take action against anyone found to be killing protected species.
"On good days for migration, when several hundred birds of prey pass through, the hunters are stirred into frenzy - desperate to shoot as many as possible, even within protected areas," said Grahame Madge, from the UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). "To anyone who has not seen it for themselves, the scale of the slaughter beggars belief."
Mr Madge added that he believed that a "rogue element" of the island's hunters would "blast at anything that flies".
The two-week "raptor camp", organised by BirdLife Malta, invited birdwatchers from across Europe to monitor the autumn bird hunt on the island.
"Many observers have commented this is the worst season in recent years," said Andre Raine, BirdLife Malta's conservation manager. "If BirdLife Malta can receive 17 birds of prey with confirmed gunshot injuries in eight days, then the actual number of protected birds that are being shot throughout the country must be very high."
Traditionally, the Maltese government has allowed hunters to shoot migratory quails and turtle doves for limited periods during the spring and autumn.
Under the EU Birds Directive, member states are obliged to protect wild birds, and their eggs, nests and habitat. Although the directive allows limited hunting of certain species, such as quails and turtle doves, during the autumn migration, spring shoots are outlawed. Only a relatively small number of birds survive the overwinter period and complete the migration from Africa to breeding sites in Europe, which is why the directive has banned spring hunts.
In 2006, the European Commission began infringement proceedings against Malta for breaching the EU Birds Directive by allowing hunters to shoot migrating birds during the prohibited period. However, the Maltese did not permit any shooting during this year's early season, angering some hunters.
Conservationists believe that some hunters could be using the autumn hunt season to vent their frustration and seek revenge.
The Federation for Hunting and Conservation on Malta, also known as FKNK, said it condemned the illegal killing of birds. In a statement responding to calls from a German campaign group for the hunting season to be closed early, secretary Lino Farrugia said: "FKNK repeats that it will disqualify any member who is convicted of any serious crime." But he added that "collective punishment" was not the answer.
"On 10 May 2007, the Malta government imposed such a collective punishment by abruptly and unjustly closing the hunting season because it alleged that a 'massacre' of birds of prey by hunters took place the day before," Mr Farrugia wrote. "To date, 500 days later, not a single shred of evidence has been brought to light, nor has a single person been [prosecuted] in court."
He went on to say that the FKNK was planning to take legal action against two of the group's activists for trespassing on private land. BirdLife Malta called on the Maltese government to give the island's police force more resources to tackle the problem of illegal hunts.
"If our government does not stop seeing the hunting issue as an argument between two sides, the slaughter will continue," said the group's campaign co-ordinator Geoffrey Saliba. "Illegal hunting across Malta is a national and international problem and a criminal act that... must be stopped now."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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