UK ‘is failing to protect wildlife habitats’, new EU report shows

The Observer

Endangered habitats

Government has pledged to improve environment record, but European report shows no progress defending designated habitats

Toby Helm political editor

Sun 25 Aug 2019 08.00 BSTLast modified on Sun 25 Aug 2019 08.02 BST

The UK is failing to meet its international obligations to protect its most important wildlife sites and vulnerable species, and now lags behind most other EU countries on key criteria, according to figures posted online by the European Environment Agency.

With the environment high on the agenda at the G7 summit in Biarritz this weekend, the data will be an embarrassment to ministers who have repeatedly pledged to protect the environment – despite imposing savage cuts on England’s statutory nature conservation agency, Natural England.

Under the EU’s habitats and birds directive, member states commit to improve the physical protection of individual specimens and the conservation of core breeding and resting sites for rare and threatened species. The EU also sets rules regarding animal welfare and works with the international community to fight illegal wildlife trade.

Member states have to report every six years on progress. But the draft figures for the UK for 2013-2018 show it faring worse than many other member states and making no progress on key measures.

During the period, the draft data show 82% of the UK’s designated habitats to be in “bad” or “poor” condition, unchanged from the last reporting period of 2007-12. The percentage in a “bad” state was 71%, compared with 36% in Germany and 32% in France.

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Predator exposure can help vulnerable species survive in the wild

MAY 15, 2019

by Isabelle Dubach, University of New South Wales

Bilbies vs. feral cats—a Hunger Games-style experiment conducted in a South Australian desert has produced fascinating results with important implications for the conservation of our endangered species.

Exposing vulnerable species like the bilby to an environment with predators before releasing them into the wild could help improve the species' ultimate survival, new research by UNSW ecologists has shown.

In their study—published today in the Journal of Applied Ecology—the ecologists compared the behaviour and subsequent survival of two groups of bilbies from different scenarios: a group that had been deliberately exposed to feral cats, and a group that had not come into contact with predators before.

The study is the first experimental test of predator exposure that shows how the fate of animals that are introduced into a predator‐rich environment could be improved by prior experience living with predators.

"Deliberately exposing threatened species to feral cats in a wild setting is risky but our research suggests that it leads to a significant improvement in anti-predator behaviour and survival," says Dr. Katherine Moseby, who initiated the project.

The team—from UNSW, Arid Recovery and UCLA—conducted the experiment in the Arid Recovery Reserve—a 123 km2network of fenced exclosures in arid South Australia. Several locally extinct species have recently been re‐introduced into the Reserve, including the vulnerable greater bilby. In 2016, the Reserve had a population of about 500 bilbies.

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Rare black bear seen in no-go zone between North and South Korea

Find shows ecological value of demilitarised zone after decades cut off from humans

Daniel Hurst in Tokyo

Fri 10 May 2019 14.27 BSTLast modified on Fri 10 May 2019 18.20 BST

When an unmanned camera captured movement inside the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea, it wasn’t a sign of troops on the march. Instead, photographs released this week show a rare black bear clambering on rocks next to a peaceful stream.

The animal has been identified as an Asiatic black bear, a species that is native to parts of Asia including the Korean peninsula and is classified as “vulnerable” on the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Experts say the discovery underlines the ecological importance of a region that is largely cut off from human observation because of landmines and long-running tensions between the two Koreas.

In South Korea, the Asiatic black bear was nearly eradicated before the government launched a recovery programme 15 years ago. The number of these bears in South Korea has increased from five in 2001 to 61 now, according to figures cited by the Yonhap news agency.

Information about the status of threatened species within the DMZ, however, is harder to collect.

“The ecological value of the Korean DMZ has been documented for several decades as many scientists in Korea and from around the world have researched the region,” explains Seung-ho Lee, the president of the DMZ Forum, a group that campaigns to protect the area’s ecosystem.

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Research suggests low density of snow leopards in Nepal`s Conservation Area

Date:  March 22, 2018

Source:  INASP

The snow leopard is a mammal species of the cat family found at high altitudes in Nepal and other countries around the Himalayan range. However, it has been included in the vulnerable category of IUCN Red list of threatened species in recent years for various reasons.

A recent research article published in the journal Banko Janakari suggests that the snow leopard density in the Manaslu region of the country is low despite abundant prey density and cooperation from humans in its conservation.

"We conducted the research in the Manaslu conservation areas because there had been limited studies in this region in the past," says Bishnu Devkota, lead author of the article. "Our research re-established the generally accepted and proven fact that the snow leopard population is dwindling in protected and unprotected regions of Nepal."

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Rare flying foxes shot in 'horrific' Australia attack

November 14, 2017

Dozens of rare grey-headed flying foxes have been shot in remote bushland near Australia's eastern coast, authorities said Tuesday as locals told of a "horrific scene" when the carcasses were discovered.

The alleged killings followed a spate of animal mutilations in Victoria state involving native species including the kangaroo, wallaby and koala.

The flying fox, Australia's largest bat, is listed as a "vulnerable" species nationally with its survival ranked as a "critical priority" under local laws.

Rescuer Sammy Ringer said she was alerted to the deaths last week when a local resident in Conondale, a small town in the south of Queensland state, heard some shots being fired.

"As we got further into the colony, there was a pretty horrendous smell of bats that had been shot previously," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Tuesday.

"They had been lying on the ground for maybe a week or two."

Ringer, leading a small group of people into the bush, said it was a "horrific scene" and "we kept coming across more dead bats".

The rescuers tried to help baby bats whose mothers had been killed but only two were able to be saved, she added.

The state's environment and heritage protection department said it was investigating the incident, adding that it was illegal to kill flying foxes in Queensland without a licence.

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Trees planted at Thurgoona with the aim of boosting habitat for vulnerable Sloane’s froglet – via Herp Digest

The Border Mail, by Anthony Bunn, July 30, 2017, Albury, Australia, 

Sloane’s Froglet

SOME thumbnail-size frogs are tipped to benefit from hundreds of trees planted at a Thurgoona estate on Sunday.

Volunteers put in the natives along Litchfield Drive at the Beaumont Park Estate as part of National Tree Day.

Albury Council vegetation management officer Jan Mitchell said the area was chosen because it offered habitat for the vulnerable Sloane’s froglet.

The creatures enjoy shallow water so it is hoped they will be attracted by the environs created with the 450 trees planted at Thurgoona.

Among those helping were siblings Paige, Nathaniel and Tilly Walters-Robson who live at the estate.

“It was a good experience,” mum Julie Walters said.

“My oldest daughter Paige really enjoyed it, helping out.”

Paige was still wearing a superhero costume she had been playing in when she came across to plant.

The council also provided 450 trees for planting along Splitters Creek Road, west of Albury, yesterday.

Separate Landcare groups assisted with the installation of the trees at Splitters Creek and Thurgoona.

National Tree Day began in 1996.

How cheetahs stay fit and healthy

Date: March 23, 2017

Source: Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

Cheetahs are categorized as vulnerable species, partly because they have been considered to be prone to diseases due to their supposed weak immune system. However, they are hardly ever sick in the wild. A research team from the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) recently discovered that cheetahs have developed a very efficient innate "first line of defense" immunity to compensate potential deficiencies in other components of their immune system. The scientists have published their results in the open access journal Scientific Reports of the Nature Publishing Group.

Cheetahs have a relatively low genetic variability which means that, within a population, the individuals have a similar genetic makeup. This is also true for the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a genome region that regulates the so-called "adaptive" immune system and is typically highly variable in animal species. The adaptive immune system provides a rapid and specific defense against pathogens, if they have been encountered previously. A low MHC variability should therefore result in a weak adaptive immune system and thus a high vulnerability to diseases. This is often the case in species with low MHC variability, but there are some exceptions, the cheetah indeed being one of them. "During our long-term study that begun in 2002, we investigated more than 300 free-ranging cheetahs that live on farmland in Namibia. We did not encounter any cheetah with symptoms of acute infections, nor did we detect lesions in the examined dead animals," explains Bettina Wachter, head of the cheetah research project.

How can cheetahs cope so well with pathogens despite their supposedly weak adaptive immunity? The immune system is divided into three components:(1) the constitutive innate immune system, which provides a rapid first line of defense against intruders, (2) the induced innate immune system such as the local and systemic inflammatory response, which enhances recovery and decreases pathogen growth, and (3) the adaptive immune system.

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Giant pandas rebound off endangered list

4 September 2016

 

The giant panda is no longer an endangered species, following decades of work by conservationists to save it.

The official status of the much-loved animal has been changed from "endangered" to "vulnerable" because of a population rebound in China.

The change was announced as part of an update to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

But the update also brought bad news. The eastern gorilla, the world's largest primate, is now endangered.

Efforts by China, which claims the giant panda as its national animal, have brought its numbers back from the brink. The latest estimates show a population of 1,864 adults.

There are no exact figures for the numbers of cubs, but estimates bring the total number of giant pandas to 2,060.

"Evidence from a series of range-wide national surveys indicate that the previous population decline has been arrested, and the population has started to increase," said the IUCN's updated report.

"The improved status confirms that the Chinese government's efforts to conserve this species are effective," it added.

But the rebound could be short-lived, the IUCN warned. Climate change is predicted to wipe out more than one-third of the panda's bamboo habitat in the next 80 years.

"And thus panda population is projected to decline, reversing the gains made during the last two decades," the report said.

It added: "To protect this iconic species, it is critical that the effective forest protection measures are continued and that emerging threats are addressed."

John Robinson, a primatologist and chief conservation officer at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told the AFP news agency: "When push comes to shove, the Chinese have done a really good job with pandas.

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