Iberian lynx cubs born in the wild bring hope for the world's most endangered feline species

Sunday 03 May 2015

Conservation groups have hailed the birth of two Iberian lynx cubs as a breakthrough in a costly project to save a species that many fear could become the first feline mammal to die out for 2,000 years.

The births are believed to be the first in the wild for decades outside Andalusia, where the partly EU-financed project to save the species was launched 12 years ago, after its numbers had fallen to fewer than 100 in the wild.

It is now believed that there are at least 300, a significant improvement on previous estimates, but still so few that the Iberian lynx remains a threatened species. The fact that at least one pair has now bred in the vicinity of Badajoz, in western Spain, suggests that the animal may now be re-establishing itself across a wider area.

Continued ...

Badger cubs to be shot in latest cull plan

Badger cull will be moved to summer when cubs are numerous and easily shot, after autumn culls missed minumum kill targets

Damian Carrington

Wednesday 10 December 2014 13.43 GMT

Badger cubs will be shot under plans to shift the controversial cull to early summer in 2015, the Guardian has learned.

The badger culls, aimed at curbing tuberculosis in cattle, have so far taken place in the autumn and have repeatedly missed their minimum kill targets. Cubs are easier to catch and shoot and are more numerous in early summer, making it more likely an earlier cull will hit its target.

But scientists have warned killing cubs rather than adults has less effect on cutting TB, while animal campaigners condemned the plan as “appallingly crude and desperate”.

The National Farmers Union (NFU), which speaks for the culling companies, said government licences permit culling to begin any time from June. The Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the timing of the culls was a decision for the culling companies. 

Badger cubs are born underground in February and first emerge in April. While the cubs and their parents legally cannot be culled until the start of June, it is legal to shoot them under licence afterwards. The cullers intend to start in June or July 2015, according to Guardian sources.

Continued ...

Fewer polar bear cubs are being born in the Arctic islands, survey finds

Rapid reduction of sea ice level due to climate change hitting population as hunting ground recedes

Damian Carrington in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

theguardian.com, Wednesday 28 May 2014 13.02 BST

The proportion of polar bear females around the Arctic islands of Svalbard who gave birth to cubs crashed to just 10% in 2014, according to a small scientific survey of the animals. It follows a series of warm years and poor sea ice.

The Barents Sea population of a few thousand polar bears is one of the biggest in the world. But global warming is rapidly reducing the extent of sea ice on which the bears hunt seals, their main food.

The annual survey undertaken by Jon Aars and his colleagues at the Norwegian Polar Institute was conducted in April, just after cubs and mothers leave their dens. They discovered that just three of the 29 adult females they tracked and examined had a cub born that year.

"This is a lower number than we would have expected," he told the Guardian. "Typically one third or more of the adult females have cubs from that year." But even this higher level is in long-term decline: annual records dating back two decades show that about half of adult females in Svalbard had cubs in the mid-1990s.

Read on

In Images: Rare Amur Leopard Cubs Spotted on Camera

http://www.livescience.com/41533-images-amur-leopard-cubs-spotted.html

Bear Cubs Play 'Ring Around The Rosie,' And We All Fall Down From Cuteness Overload (PHOTOS)

This family of baby brown bears is making our wildest fairytale dreams come true. Just look. These three siblings -- two little guys and their sister -- were photographed playing a game of "Ring Around The Rosie."

Valtteri Mulkahainen, a 52-year-old PE teacher, spotted the bears while traveling in Finland, according to Solent News. He watched the cubs hold each others' hands and dance around in a circle, while Mama bear chaperoned from just a few feet away.

Read on ...

Sumatran tiger cubs caught on video in Sumatran forest

First footage of Sumatran tigress and her cubs in Sembilang National Park, Indonesia.

November 2012. Two wild tiger cubs have been caught on camera in the Sumatran forest - the first ever footage captured of young tigers in a previously unexplored National Park.

Conservationists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) have spent four years in Berbak National Park, studying tigers using camera traps in known tiger spots. But it isn't until now that they've monitored the neighbourhood region of Sembilang, and discovered evidence of breeding in this protected area.

Just 300 Sumatran tigers left alive in the wild
The footage of these big cats shows the mother casually walking past the camera, closely followed by her youngsters, who are thought to be less than a year old. A rare occurrence considering there are only around 300 of the endangered wild animals left in the world, as they remain under great threat from poaching and human destruction of their habitat.

ZSL's head of regional conservation programmes, Sarah Christie says: "This is the best early Christmas present, and we are absolutely delighted to find the first evidence of breeding in Sembilang. We will continue working with leaders of both national parks as well as the government to ensure the areas are better protected and well patrolled," Sarah added.

Dr. Dolly Priatna, ZSL's Indonesia country manager added: "This is a key area for Sumatran tigers. If they are saved, everything connected to them is also saved, including the Asia's last great forests, whose carbon storage alleviates climate change."

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/sumatra-tiger-video.html

Endangered Tiger Cubs Caught on Camera Near Proposed Dam

Two endangered tiger cubs and their mother have been caught on film in Thailand near the site of a proposed hydroelectric dam.

The black-and-white footage, taken in May, shows a mother tiger investigating a camera trap near the Mae Wong River. After a moment, her two cubs bound through the woods after her.

The tigers are three of the fewer than 300 wild Indochinese tigers left in Thailand, according to the WWF, which released the video of the cubs and mama tiger, along with the Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Story continued and video:   http://www.livescience.com/22775-endangered-tiger-cubs-camera-dam.html

Modern male single parent tiger bringing up cubs

The extraordinarily caring tiger

May 2012. In the sun baked Araveli hills and lakes of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, India, an extraordinary wild drama is being played out.

The well-known and patient tigress, Kachida, had already raised three cubs to full maturity in the park, between 2007 and 2010, putting up with her mature brood well into their adulthood. She was also a favourite to visitors and the park guards, being completely comfortable with humans in her territory.

Balendu Singh, an honorary Wildlife Warden, found Kachida in the small pool behind the Dhakara anicut in late January last year. Soon, two healthy cubs came scampering down to the water's edge calling for their mother. Traces of blood on the mouths and paws confirmed that the cubs had eaten meat from a fresh kill, likely to have been one of their first proper meals, after coming off their mother's milk.

Tragedy
Tragically, only two weeks later, Kachida came within 50 metres of chowki (guard post) and was heard roaring throughout the night, deeply unsettling the forest guards inside. In the cold dawn that morning, the guards found her dead body under a gum tree, after an agonizing death that night from blocked intestines.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/tiger-father.html