Tailpiece
Hi again,
Herewith, some snippets from various sources.
I appeal to you to send me items to distribute to our members for the Cleft Stick, the Game Ranger magazine and to be posted on the web site. These are your magazines and website, so ensure it gets the news that you would like to see in it.
Please let me have any changes to your physical address, phone no. or e-mail address to keep the database up to date. Remember this is the address we will send your Game Ranger Magazine to.
Thanks to all of you who have made the effort. Please will any of you who know of members who do not get this “electric” Cleft~Stick, & have access to e-mail, pass their address along to me.
Don Yunnie
7 Chalet Drive, Hilton, 3245, South Africa Local Tel & Fax (033) 343 1534
Int. Tel & Fax (+2733) 343 1534 cell 082 377 7562, E-mail dyunnie@xsinet.co.za
If you do not wish to receive this e-mail newsletter please send a blank e-mail to me at the above address with the word “Unsubscribe” as the message heading.
Please feel free to write to express your views on the content or the subject of any of the articles in this magazine – to the address above.
Africa: Conservationists Agree to Protect African Elephants
James Karuhanga, 1 June 2009
Kigali — Representatives from six African states have agreed to stand firm and speak with one voice to protect one of the largest land mammals on Earth's- African elephants.
This was agreed at a meeting that brought the delegations together in Kigali last week.
According to a Rwanda Development Board (RDB) communiqué, the meeting followed directives by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) towards developing an Action Plan and Fund for elephants.
Established in 1975, CITES is an international convention that prevents international trade from threatening species with extinction.
"The workshop was held to help prepare various member states for an upcoming meeting in Tanzania as well as the CITES Standing Committee 58 meeting to be held in Geneva," reads part of the communiqué.
The six countries represented in the meeting - Rwanda, Mali, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo and Kenya - also form the African Elephant Coalition (AEC) Bureau, created in Mali early last year for the species' protection and especially the regulation of ivory trade.
In the communiqué, Fidele Ruzigandekwe, Director of Conservation at RDB, is quoted saying that the Kigali meeting was successful.
"We had a successful meeting and plan to consult other Coalition members on their input to the African Elephant Action Plan as well as the Fund," Ruzigandekwe is quoted as saying in the statement.
Other AEC members include Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Southern Sudan, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia.
The World Wide Fund for Nature says there will be no elephants left in Central Africa's Congo Basin within the next decade if more is not done to stop poaching.
Conservationists say poaching and deforestation have cut the world's elephant population by half over the last 30 years, with fewer than 140,000 elephants left worldwide.
South Africa's bustards threatened
South Africa's bustards are in trouble, with six of the country's ten species listed in the South African Red Data Book. "They are threatened by a variety of factors", says Mark Anderson, Executive Director of BirdLife South Africa" with some of the most important threats being habitat destruction and power-line mortalities".
BirdLife South Africa is concerned about the precarious conservation status of the country's bustards and korhaans. At a workshop in Johannesburg in May, the status, threats and necessary conservation measures relevant to these birds were discussed by the country's bustard experts.
Populations of Ludwig's Bustard and Denham's Bustard are probably in decline due to a single mortality factor, collisions with the cables of power-lines. "These birds fly in groups during low light conditions and due to their limited manoeuvrability are not able to avoid electricity cables in their flight path", says Jon Smallie, Manager of the Endangered Wildlife Trust's (EWT) Wildlife Energy Interaction Group (WEIG) and the Eskom-EWT Strategic Partnership. Studies by Mark Anderson and the University of Cape Town's Dr Andrew Jenkins, have found that, on average across six patrolled sites, about one Ludwig's Bustard collides per kilometre of power-line per year at these sites. There are approximately 16,000 km of transmission (>132000volts) power-lines criss-crossing the Karoo indicating the potential severity of this problem. The Eskom-EWT Partnership's Central Incident Register documents no less than 265 confirmed Ludwig's Bustard mortalities from power-lines. In response, Eskom is currently funding research into bustard collision rates, movement patterns and visual acuity - all critical aspects if we are to mitigate this threat. According to David Allan, ornithologist at the Durban Natural Science Museum and a world authority on the biology of bustards,
"The global population of Ludwig's Bustard has been estimated to only number between 56,000 and 81,000 individuals. The thought that we could be potentially losing them at a rate of over 10,000 birds killed annually by this factor alone is terrifying".
The Blue Korhaan, which mainly inhabits grasslands in the central and eastern regions of South Africa, is severely threatened by afforestation, crop farming, overgrazing, burning, urbanization and mining. Analyses of information from the Coordinated Avifaunal Roadcount Project (CAR) suggest that this korhaan has "declined in both numbers and range during recent years", stated Donella Young, the CAR coordinator at the University of Cape Town's Animal Demography Unit. The Blue Korhaan is only found in South Africa and marginally in western Lesotho, so we have an important obligation to protect this localized species.
The White-bellied Korhaan, another species that is restricted to the grasslands and open thornveld, is listed as *Vulnerable* in the South African red data book. It prefers tall, undisturbed grassland, and is thus threatened by human population pressure and inappropriate farm management. The White-bellied Korhaan is also found in central, west and east Africa, but there is some debate about whether the South African population is a separate species (Barrow's Korhaan). If genetically distinct, there is even more pressure on South African conservationists to attend to the numerous threats which are impacting on this threatened species.
It was decided at the bustard workshop, which was made possible through funding from E. Oppenheimer & Son, that a Bustard Working Group would be formed under the auspices of BirdLife South Africa. The group will have several aims, but will focus, at least initially, on disseminating information about bustards to the relevant authorities and stakeholders, prioritising research needs, and determining urgent conservation interventions.
SEARCH FOR SGH IN AFRICA
We are planning to go up through Africa (Zim, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya - followed separately by Mosambique) in October-ish to catch a group of SGHs and collect blood samples in each country for DNA. The Microsatellite testing is in progress at the moment and will be finished in August at the National Zoo (no word from Paulette), but they will need DNA particularly from Tanzanian birds, as the captive birds with Tanzanian permits may not be from there! What would also be good if anyone finds a SGH feather to keep it for us.
I wonder if you have contacts in any of these countries of people, in high density areas, who might be able to help for a day to find a known group (as we can now catch with call ups it is quite quick and easy...takes about 20 minutes)? What would also be good if anyone finds a SGH feather to keep it for us.
Thanks,
Ann Turner
Co-ordinator, The Mabula Ground Hornbill Research & Conservation Project,
Mabula Game Reserve, Private Bag X1644, Bela-Bela, 0480, South Africa
Fax: +27 (0)14 734 0013, Cell: +27 (0)83 743 4270
Email: ann@ground-hornbill.org.za, Website: www.mabulagroundhornbillconservationproject.org.za
POSITION(s) AVAILABLE THE HERALD 18 May 2009
Harapan Rainforest is seeking an experienced team leader to lead the implementation of an innovative, large-scale rainforest conservation and restoration initiative in south central Sumatra, Indonesia. The position will entail management of a 100,000ha site (two former logging concessions) now held on long licences for “ecosystem restoration” by a consortium of Burung Indonesia, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and BirdLife International. The management of this logged dryland dipterocarp forest site will involve forest protection, significant areas of forest restoration, biodiversity monitoring and research, and community development. The post is based in the Harapan Rainforest base camp, approximately three hours from Jambi city. The head of the management unit will lead a team of currently around 100 staff.
Requirements
Duration of contract:
Initially three years with a possibility of renewal.
To apply, the prospective applicants should submit:
Salary
Negotiable dependent on qualifications and experience.
For a detailed job description, please contact Yayasan KEHI, attention Ms. Claudia Stephani c.stephani@harapanrainforest.org. For further information please contact Yusup Cahyadin (y.cahyadin@harapanrainforest.org) or Ian Rowland (ian.rowland@rspb.org.uk)
Kindly send your application in English and by email to Yayasan KEHI, attention Ms. Claudia Stephani c.stephani@harapanrainforest.org. Deadline for application is 30 June 2009, interviews will be held during the week commencing 13 July 2009.
POSITION(s) WantedWilliam Soko, ZAWA
From a wildlife student-we met some years ago
Dear Richard,
My name is Krisztian Gyongyi, a Hungarian chap of 35. We met at Mweka in the course of your visit to the wildlife college there in November 2003. Right after you had left Tanzania then, we exchanged a couple of emails. In fact, after all these years I now finished my wildlife studies. My last exam here at the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) in the University of Kent (Canterbury) was sat for 2 days ago. This was the moment I have been waiting for, for quite some years now. If you may remember from our conversation, I had had field experience in Zimbabwe (anti-poaching, rhino monitoring); in South Africa (anti-poaching within Protrack close to Hoedspruit); in Uganda (rhino-reintroduction); and then 7 months in Tanzania. Last year I was member of the DICE Amazon Research Expedition in Perú (under the leadership of the well-known rainforest ecologist Dr Rick Bodmer). My field study focused on the behavioral ecology of the Giant River Otter and served as a basis for my dissertation. Sorry for keeping you with all these details. The reason I email you now is to find out if you might know of any position available on the ground of species reintroduction, translocation, anti-poaching, community initiatives or any sort of job pertaining to wildlife conservation in South Africa or close to Kruger where (I suppose) you are still based.
Please see my attached C.V. and providing you think fit, may I ask you please, to forward it to places or individuals who might be interested and be able to further my plan to re-establish myself in African wildlife conservation via assisting me to get a field-oriented job there.
See the two attachments:
- My C.V.
- The photo you sent me (just to remind you) - taken by Teresa (after a turbulent football match), next to the canteen on 7 November 2003
Thank you indeed for your time and possible help; and send my hello to Teresa.
Best regards to You
Krisz
--- Game Capture
Hi
My son, Terence, is studying game ranch management at NMMU Addo campus. He would like to do a Game capture Course during his June/July or September holidays. But cannot find a course. Could you help?
Thank you
Lesley Meise
[mailto:kevley2@xsinet.co.za]
Tailpiece
If you have raised kids (or been one), and gone through the pet syndrome, including toilet flush burials for dead goldfish, the story below will have you laughing out LOUD!
Overview: I had to take my son's lizard to the vet......
Here's what happened:
Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was 'something wrong' with one of the two lizards he holds prisoner in his room.
'He's just lying there looking sick,' he told me. 'I'm serious, Dad. Can you help?'
I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face and followed him into his bedroom... One of the little lizards was indeed lying on his back, looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do... 'Honey,' I called, 'come look at the lizard!'
'Oh, my gosh!' my wife exclaimed. 'She's having babies.'
'What?' my son demanded. 'But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!'
I was equally outraged. 'Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to reproduce,' I said accusingly to my wife.
'Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?' she inquired (I think she actually said this sarcastically!)
'No, but you were supposed to get two boys!' I reminded her, (in my most loving, calm, sweet voice, while gritting my teeth).
'Yeah, Bert and Ernie!' my son agreed.
'Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know,' she informed me (Again with the sarcasm!)
.
By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on. I shrugged, deciding to make the best of it...
'Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience,' I announced. 'We're about to witness the miracle of birth...'
'Oh, gross!' they shrieked!
'Well, isn't THAT just great? What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard babies?' my wife wanted to know.
We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later.
'We don't appear to be making much progress,' I noted....
'It's breech,' my wife whispered, horrified.
'Do something, Dad !' my son urged.
'Okay, okay.' Squeamishly, I reached in and grabbed the foot when it next appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared and I tried several more times with the same results.
'Should I call 911?' my eldest daughter wanted to know. 'Maybe they could talk us through the trauma.' (You see a pattern here with the females in my house?)
'Let's get Ernie to the vet,' I said grimly. We drove to the vet with my son holding the cage in his lap.
'Breathe, Ernie, breathe,' he urged.
'I don't think lizards do Lamaze,' his mother noted to him. (Women can be so cruel to their own young. I mean what she does to me is one thing, but this boy is of her womb, for goodness sake.).
The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the little animal through a magnifying glass.
'What do you think, Doc, a C-section?' I suggested Scientifically...
'Oh, very interesting,' he murmured. 'Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, may I speak to you privately for a moment?'
I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside.
'Is Ernie going to be okay?' my wife asked.
'Oh, perfectly,' the vet assured us. 'This lizard is not in labor. In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen........
Ernie is a boy you see, Ernie is actually a young male and occasionally, as they come into maturity, like most male species, they um . . um . . . masturbate. Just the way he did, lying on his back.' He blushed, glancing at my wife.
We were silent, absorbing this.
'So, Ernie's just . just . . . excited,' my wife offered..
'Exactly,' the vet replied , relieved that we understood.
More silence.
Then my vicious, cruel wife started to giggle. And giggle. And then even laugh loudly...
'What's so funny?' I demanded, knowing, but not believing that the woman I married would commit the upcoming affront to my flawless manliness.
Tears were now running down her face. 'It's just .that .....I'm picturing you pulling on its . . .. its. . . teeny little . . ' She gasped for more air to bellow in laughter once more.
'That's enough,' I warned. We thanked the vet and hurriedly bundled the lizard and our son back into the car.
He was glad everything was going to be okay.
'I know Ernie's really thankful for what you did, Dad ,' he told me.
'Oh, you have NO idea,' my wife agreed, collapsing with laughter.
Two lizards: $140.
One cage: $50.
Trip to the vet: $30.
Memory of your husband pulling on a lizard's winkie:
Priceless!
Moral of the story:
Pay attention in biology class.
Lizards lay eggs!