Latest news with #endangered
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Health
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Kazakhstan to Allow Hunting Once Endangered Antelopes
Kazakhstan said Wednesday it will authorize the hunting of saiga antelopes, once an endangered species that the government says is now threatening farming in the vast Central Asian country. The country previously backtracked on lifting a hunting ban on the species, recognizable by their long, trunk-like rounded snout. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev had called the antelopes "sacred animals for the Kazakh people". The saiga was massively poached in the 1990s. State media cited Kazakhstan's deputy minister of ecology as saying the decision to hunt them was "necessary due to the rapid growth of their population" and "complaints from farmers". A spokeswoman for Kazakhstan's ecology ministry told AFP Wednesday that "according to scientific research, it is possible to eliminate up to 20 percent of the total population without harming the species". The exact number of animals allowed to be culled and the start date of the hunt are yet to be determined, she added. Farmers complain that saigas have stomped thousands of square kilometers of farms, where crops are also threatened by climate change. According to the latest estimates, there are 4.1 million saigas in the former Soviet republic, representing almost the entire global population, a number that could rise to five million by the end of the year. An attempt to lift the ban was met with opposition in 2023, a rare occurrence in Kazakhstan, where freedom of expression is limited. The authorities reversed the decision a few months later. Poaching of the antelopes exploded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, particularly as their horns are used in traditional medicine. Water shortages and disease had also endangered the species before the Kazakh authorities introduced a policy to protect them.
The Independent
2 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Watch: Rare snow leopard cub born in Kent following groundbreaking ultrasound
A rare snow leopard cub has been born at The Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, marking what conservationists are calling an 'amazing achievement' in the effort to save this endangered species. The female cub, affectionately nicknamed 'Little Lady,' was born on May 10, following a groundbreaking ultrasound in April that confirmed mother Laila's pregnancy. Trainer Simon Jackaman, who spent months preparing Laila, said her calm and composed response defied expectations for such a famously shy species. 'Laila has had a special place in my heart for many years and to see her become a mum for the fourth time is truly heartwarming,' said Jackaman. Little Lady is the newest addition to Laila's growing family and the younger sister to three previous cubs.
Free Malaysia Today
2 days ago
- General
- Free Malaysia Today
Rare wild cattle herded in Cambodia by helicopter
Banteng are a type of wild cattle native to Southeast Asia. (EPA Images pic) PHNOM PENH : A helicopter successfully herded 16 critically endangered banteng onto a truck in Cambodia for the first time, conservationists said, marking a 'significant achievement' in a country with high rates of deforestation. Banteng are a type of wild cattle native to Southeast Asia and listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species. Their natural habitat is forests and grasslands, but only a few thousand remain in the wild and they are mostly threatened by hunting, logging and industry. Cambodia has lost around 33% of its tree cover since 2000, according to Global Forest Watch, as the government allows firms to clear vast tracts of land – including in protected zones. Conservation groups Rising Phoenix and Siem Pang said that 16 banteng found in the wild were herded over three days last week through a 'mass-capture funnel trap' onto a truck before being relocated to a wildlife sanctuary. For the first time, a helicopter was used to guide them through the funnel. The operation took place in Siem Pang in northeastern Cambodia. The conservation groups said that the method 'opens the way for further such operations to relocate Banteng trapped in isolated forest patches elsewhere in the country'. They added that the banteng will be monitored and protected at the Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
What a lovely Little Lady! Kent animal sanctuary announces birth of sweet snow leopard cub
An endangered snow leopard cub has been welcomed to the world in an animal sanctuary in Kent. Little Lady was born at The Big Cat Sanctuary to mum Laila on May 10 weighing just 630g (1lb 6oz) at her first health check when she was five days old. Her successful birth follows months of work by primary trainer Simon Jackaman, who built the trust necessary for Laila to voluntarily participate in ultrasound sessions conducted by the sanctuary's veterinarian, Valerie Freeman. Snow leopards are naturally shy and elusive, so Leila amazed the sanctuary staff with her 'calm nature' during the process, Mr Jackaman explained. Ambassador for The Big Cat Sanctuary celebrity chef Paul Hollywood has said he 'cannot wait' to meet the new cub. He said: 'Laila has had a special place in my heart for many years and to see her become a mum for the fourth time is truly heartwarming. 'This is an amazing achievement for the sanctuary to be contributing to the captive breeding programme for this endangered species. I cannot wait to meet her.' Little Lady is reportedly thriving under the care of Laila and the Big Cat Sanctuary team. Snow leopards are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list, with an estimated 2,700 to 3,300 mature adults remaining in the wild. They are predicted to lose 30 per cent of their habitat because of climate change in the next 50 to 100 years and they also face threats from poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. Laila has had three previous litters with breeding partner Yarko as part of the sanctuary's breeding programme. The first litter in 2019 was of two males, Koshi and Khumbu, with another male cub, Shen, arriving in 2021 before she had twins in 2023 - Attan, a male, and Zaya, which was the first female snow leopard born at the centre. 'This birth is a testament to our commitment to the participation in the endangered species breeding programme and the conservation of this vulnerable species,' said Cam Whitnall, managing director of The Big Cat Sanctuary.
CTV News
5 days ago
- Science
- CTV News
Lesser flamingos lose one of their only four African breeding sites to sewage
Lesser flamingos play at the Le Cornelle Animal Park, in Valbrembo, near Milan, Italy, Thursday, June 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno) KIMBERLEY, South Africa — Until the last half-decade, the majestic lesser flamingo had four African breeding sites: two salt pans in Botswana and Namibia, a soda lake in Tanzania, and an artificial dam outside South Africa's historic diamond-mining town of Kimberley. Now it only has three. Years of raw sewage spilling into Kamfers Dam, the only South African water body where lesser flamingos congregated in large enough numbers to breed, have rendered the water so toxic that the distinctive pink birds have abandoned it, according to conservationists and a court judgment against the local council seen by Reuters. Lesser flamingos are currently considered near-threatened, rather than endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature: there are 2-3 million left, four-fifths of them spread across Africa, the rest in a smaller area of South Asia. But they are in steep decline, and the poisoning of one of their last few breeding sites has worsened their plight dramatically. Tania Anderson, a conservation biologist specializing in flamingos, told Reuters the IUCN was about to increase its threat-level to 'vulnerable,' meaning 'at high risk of extinction in the wild,' owing largely to their shrinking habitats of salty estuaries or soda lakes shallow enough for them to wade through. 'It's really very upsetting,' Anderson said of the sewage spills in Kamfers Dam. 'Flamingos play a pivotal role in maintaining the water ecosystems of our wetlands.' A 2021 study in Biological Conservation found sewage threatens aquatic ecosystems across a vast area of the planet. Although 200 nations came together at the UN COP16 biodiversity summit in Colombia last year to tackle threats to wildlife, no agreement was reached. 'They just disappeared' Footage taken by the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa in May 2020 shows Kamfers Dam turned flamboyant pink with flamingos. When Reuters visited this month, there were none. A closer look at the water revealed a green sludge that bubbled and stank of human waste. 'It was a sea of pink,' Brenda Booth recalled, as she gazed over the bird-free lake located on the farm she owns, dotted with acacia trees and antelope. 'They all just disappeared,' said Booth, who last month secured the court order compelling the African National Congress-run municipality in charge of Kimberley, a city of 300,000, to fix the problem. Over the years, the treatment plant 'became progressively dysfunctional to the point where ... approximately 36 megalitres a day of untreated sewage was being discharged into the dam,' said Adrian Horwitz, the lawyer bringing the case in the High Court of South Africa, Northern Cape division. Municipality manager Thapelo Matlala told Reuters thieves had vandalized the plant and stolen equipment, grinding it to a halt. 'We are working on a new strategy for ... repairing the damage,' he said outside his office, adding that this needed 106 million rand (US$5.92 million), money the council didn't have. Failure to deliver services was one of the main reasons the ANC lost its 30-year-strong majority in last year's elections. Lesser flamingos mostly eat spirulina, a blue-green algae - filtering it through their beaks. This limits them to alkaline water bodies, largely in East Africa's Rift Valley. They're fussy about where they breed, with just three sites in India alongside the remaining three in Africa. Flamingos began breeding at Kamfers Dam in 2006, said Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer, wetlands specialist for local diamond miner Ekapa Group, as she waded through grassland at the edge of another lake where she had spotted a flock. In 2020, there were 71,000 on the dam, with up to 5,000 new chicks each season. 'They've missed three or four breeding seasons,' she said, and many also died of botulism, a disease that flourishes in waste. Sewage has become a problem across South Africa, where few treatment plants are in working order, and if nothing is done, 'the whole system will degrade and blow up,' she said. 'That will have a huge impact, and not only on flamingos.' (Reporting by Tim Cocks, Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
