Ranching firm threatens Chaco forest and tribes

Revealed: secret agenda of ranchers to steal uncontacted tribe's land
August 2012. The secret agenda of a huge ranching firm in Paraguay has been exposed by satellite photos showing a newly-constructed reservoir. The reservoir reveals the firm's intention to clear nearby forest belonging to an uncontacted tribe.

Ayoreo tribe
In a pattern characteristic of the Chaco region, landowners first build large water containers before clearing tracts of forest for livestock. Carlos Casado SA's construction of the reservoir puts neighbouring Indians, especially uncontacted Ayoreo, in immediate danger. The hunter-gatherer tribe relies on the forest for its survival.

Ayoreo organization OPIT has called on Paraguay's Ministry of Environment to step in and prevent such illegal deforestation. It has asked the government to ‘help us manage our forests which we have been trying to protect and recover title to since 1993.'

This is one of several controversies to hit this area of the Chaco in recent months. In June, Survival International exposed an elaborate ploy by ranchers to cheat the Ayoreo out of their land by building a road through the middle of it. The proposed road would have passed close to Carlos Casado's land, enabling the company to introduce thousands of cattle to the area.

The company had been reportedly negotiating the sale of this land to Paraguay's Department for Indian Affairs (INDI), with the idea of returning it to the Ayoreo, but political instability and President Lugo's recent impeachment, has put the Ayoreo's land rights back in the balance.

Survival International's Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Water reservoirs in the Chaco signal one thing - the arrival of the bulldozers. There is no question that as cattle farms expand and forests are destroyed, uncontacted Ayoreo will disappear. This pattern has to stop.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/chaco-ranching.html

Mother Nature may have spared Beaver Run gator

By R. A. Monti, VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH

The Beaver Run Alligator might still be alive.

Experts expected that the alligator, which workers at Beaver Run Reservoir spotted in the fall, wouldn't survive the usually harsh temperatures of a Western Pennsylvania winter.

But Mother Nature might have given it a break.

"This is the mildest winter I can remember," said Henry Kacprzyk, curator of reptiles at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. "In order for it to die, you would have to have some sustained cold weather.

"I would say there's a possibility it survived."

According to the National Weather Service, the average temperature this winter was 34.6 degrees — about 4.2 degrees higher than normal.

Zoo officials believe the alligator was dropped off at the reservoir by someone who had kept it as a pet and couldn't take care of it anymore.

The fate of the "Beaver Run Gator" caused a stir last fall when officials at the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County said they would let it die during the winter.

After public outcry and a Facebook page supporting the alligator, municipal officials allowed Pittsburgh zoo workers onto reservoir property in hopes of capturing the alligator and sending it to a sanctuary in Florida. The reservoir usually is closed to the public.

Multiple attempts to capture the gator were unsuccessful. Some observers said the animal was 5 feet long, but zoo officials said people tend to overestimate size.

Kacprzyk said the only way to know if the alligator made it through the winter is if someone spots it. That hasn't happened yet, said Gina Cerilli, spokeswoman for the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County.

"We always have security looking over our property," she said. "None of our employees have seen the alligator."

Judy Lindberg, a retired Penn State New Kensington professor who lives less than four miles from the reservoir, in Washington Township, said the alligator has become the subject of local lore.

"People call it the Loch Ness Monster," she said. "Most people around here think it was cruel to just let it die during the winter, so we hope it survived."

Could the alligator still be lurking in the 25-mile-long reservoir?

"Until someone sees it, we don't really know," Kacprzyk said.

Read more: Mother Nature may have spared Beaver Run gator - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_788373.html#ixzz1qDUMvXfj