A conservation fund has been set up in memory of Harambe, the majestic young male Western lowland gorilla who tragically lost his life on May 28, 2016. While the unfortunate set of circumstances surrounding his passing cannot be reversed, his story has brought the desperate plight of his wild counterparts and their habitat in the African north-western Congo Basin into the public eye.
In Kenya, the word “harambee” is “a rallying cry.” In Swahili, “harambee” means “pull together.”
In order to best remember Harambe’s iconic presence, it seems fitting that the rallying cry be sounded on behalf of wild Western lowland gorillas.
A lot of people feel helpless after the Cincinnati tragedy. The best thing we can do right now is support their conservation – anything donated to this fund goes directly to Mbeli Bai Study, which is the largest extant western lowland gorilla research project.
“Mbeli Bai is a 13 ha large swampy (natural) forest clearing in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park with minimum levels of disturbance. Since 1995, researchers of the Wildlife Conservation Society have been continuously monitoring the wildlife visiting Mbeli Bai from an observation platform overlooking the clearing with the goal to ensure the long-term protection of gorillas and other forest mammals via several research and conservation based objectives.
In particular the Mbeli Bai Study (MBS) aims to enhance our knowledge of western gorillas (and other elusive large mammals) and improve their conservation status in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, the Sangha Tri-National and elsewhere through applied research, capacity building of nationals, local community outreach programs, support of ecotourism activities and international awareness raising. The MBS aims to inform conservation strategies by increasing our understanding of and highlighting the importance of forest clearings (bais) and determining the ecological factors influencing large mammal density around Mbeli Bai.”
Migratory birds are always on the move and, as a result, rely on
habitat protection — of breeding grounds, nonbreeding grounds and
stopover areas.
“I realized that in large conservation initiatives, we’re just not
seeing that happen,” said Claire Runge, lead author of a recent study published in the journal Science.
Migratory birds have faced significant declines over the past three
decades and Runge, a researcher at the National Center for Ecological
Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California-Santa Barbara,
and colleagues wanted to determine the extent to which migratory bird
habitat is protected across the globe…
Hey, we have til January 15 to make public comments on setting aside a pretty significant amount of public land for sage grouse habitat, closing it off to new mining interests. Habitat loss and fragmentation is the number one cause of species endangerment and extinction, and it could be a great opportunity to help the sage grouse recover! More details at the link above, to include the email address for public commentary.
Wanna save the sage grouse? This gorgeous critter here?
Then head to the link above and tell the BLM to suspend mining in critical sage grouse territory! Why do we want to save the sage grouse? Because just look how FABULOUS this guy is!
And he’s a got a pretty cute girlfriend, too!
And they need a place to not only mate but safely lay their eggs, like these:
So they can hatch into adorable lil’ babies like this one:
Some of whom may get to grow up and participate in Sage Grouse Olympics:
But in order for that to happen, we have to keep their habitat safe. Their numbers have dropped sharply in the last century. See this landscape here?
That may look like a lot of sage grouse, but historically that entire field would have been filled with them, way back across those rolling hills. Soon there may only be a few left.
So please–take a moment, and make a public comment in favor of suspending new mining activity in order to protect the sage grouse.
The public comment period closes Jan. 15. A map of the areas considered for withdrawal is available athttp://arcg.is/1RFF8cW.
Send written comments to BLM Director, 1849 C Street NW., (WO-200), Washington, DC, 20240. Electronic comments can be emailed to sagebrush_withdrawals@blm.gov.
HIGH IN THE VINE-ENTANGLED HILLS of western Puerto Rico’s Rio Abajo State Forest, Ricardo Valentin
sits amid the parrot cages of José L. Vivaldi Memorial Aviary and
complains of an “egg tsunami.” The aviary faces “an unexpected problem,”
he says with mock despair. “We have been too successful at breeding
them. We are bursting at the seams with birds.”
It’s an odd complaint about one of the world’s 10 most rare and critically endangered birds.
But after decades in which the Puerto Rican parrot hovered at
disastrously low numbers, conservation measures suddenly have succeeded
beyond anyone’s wildest hopes: Two captive populations now number more
than 200 birds each. Increasing annually, the number of wild birds—only a
dozen a few years ago—has climbed to perhaps more than 100. And for the
first time in decades, wild pairs are nesting without the aid of nest
boxes. On a recent visit to the field, “I took a photograph of 48
parrots,” says Valentin, an aviculturist with the Puerto Rico Department
of Natural and Environmental Resources. “That is the largest group of
Puerto Rican parrots ever photographed.”
Zoos arent just about the research. We also are here to educate the ignorant. To bring awareness to the problems of conservation.
And how would you propose we educate people? flyers on car windows? Lectures on college campuses? How many people you think will be intrigued by that? Its been proven that people learn more and want to keep learning when they are enjoying what they are learning. Education through Entertainment
Oh and what about the animals that need help but no one cares about?all the small racer snakes, dart frogs or even the bali mynah? You think you could get enough people to care enough for just them alone? A zoos collection is diverse to encourage people to come out. People might come to see one animal and end up learning about 20 more the had no idea existed
And you’ve obviously never worked for a research unit otherwise you’d know how hard it is to get funding just to see how to handle the problem. Let alone fund a 10+year venture to fix the problem? But maybe if we can entertain while we educate people would be willing to donate to help us educate others. Thus funding our research in the process.
Now I have said countless times i dont disagree with the anticap movement. Because i feel we are all trying to do whats best for the animals. BUT You all dont seem to understand, or want to understand how the world works. You say things like “Why dont we just let them go and leave them alone.” I wish we could just let them go and thats that. But Its not the zoo people who are killing endangered animals, destroying habitats. We arent the ones you should be fighting.
Again. If you can give me a better FEASIBLE plan to fund a conservation program with no true end date. By all means let me know and i’ll quit and come work for you. But until then I’ve got animals to love and care for
Hey hey yo gotta add my 2 cents here and I have had a rough week so buckle up.
“If zoos were just about conservation why have it like a theme park? why not just have a research facility?”
One word: MONEY.
eruditionanimaladoration said this already, but allow me to add a few cars to his train of thought.
Dear Anon, who may I ask is funding these magical ~*research facilities*~ you want so badly? Do you realize how expensive it is to simply house animals, let alone try to breed them, let ALONE conduct long-term research? ESPECIALLY exotics and rare species, who need such highly specialized care in everything from their food to their housing to their veterinary care? That shit costs money.
And guess what zoos are? They’re businesses. Businesses that make money.
People coming to the zoo to look at the animals = people paying money that can be used for conservation and research. And it IS used for those things, so unless you’ve studied the budget reports of every AZA facility and can prove me wrong, don’t get in my face with the “but it doesn’t ALL go to conservation” whining. Obviously it doesn’t all go to conservation. It also goes towards feeding the animals, and buying their enrichment and medication, and keeping the lights on and the water running, and maintaining the facility, and oh, I don’t know, paying the staff who take care of the animals 24/7/365. All of these are important things, yeah?
Read up on C2S2 (Conservation Centers for Species Survival) and then tell me there are no zoos devoted to research. Some of them are closed to the public, like SCBI, but guess what SCBI is affiliated with? Smithsonian’s National Zoo. The money has to come from somewhere. It’s not going to fall from the sky, it’s not going to grow on beanstalks. When people come to my zoo and complain that an exhibit is too small, or that we don’t fund a particular conservation project, you know what my response is? “Yes, I agree that it could be better. Do you have a million dollars you’d like to contribute to the cause?” That shuts people up real fast because somehow no one ever considers that keepers want the best for our animals, too. We want the best for them more than you do, even. We’ve dedicated our careers and a significant portion of our personal lives to making sure that our animals are well cared for – how could it NOT occur to you that if we could do better for them, we would?
So excuse my language but do not FUCKING tell me that “zoos don’t really care.” Bull SHIT. I work at a zoo, and I care so fucking much I can’t even put it into words. To you we may be “cogs in the machine” who are doing the “bare minimum,” but with all due respect, what the fuck are you doing? You’re making accusations from behind an Anonymous ask. Come to work with me, or with eruditionanimaladoration, or with any keeper, and watch what we do all day. See for yourself how deeply we care about these animals, how deeply we care about conservation, and how passionate we are about what we do. THEN you talk to me.
Of course zoos aren’t perfect. I never said they were. eruditionanimaladoration never said they were. Go ahead and read Zoo Story by Thomas French and educate yourself a little more about zoo ethics before you go running your mouth about “if zoos really cared about conservation they would just be research facilities.”
Bottom line: zoos are one means to a single end that we all agree is important: conservation. If you have a better idea, go ahead and share it; we’re all ears. Until then, either help or shut up.
The really strange thing about this movie is that despite its strongly overt themes of anti-captivity, it triggered a huge boom in sales of clownfish. A vast number of people seriously watched this movie and decided that they would go out and buy tropical fish.
About half of the tropical fish in pet stores are wild-caught. In the five years following the movie’s release, the clownfish population on some reefs fell by 75%. The increased level of sedatives used to knock out wild fish caused lasting damage to tropical ecosystems.
Because many people did no research on how to care for tropical fish, many clownfish died as a result of inadequate living conditions.
When people got bored of caring for their fish, many of them were released into oceans where they were not native. Feral clownfish (among other popular aquarium fish) are even now harming the ecology in American oceans. (link)
So many people’s reaction to seeing a cute animal is “I want one!” This stems from the belief that animals are objects to be owned, not complex individuals with desires, needs, and lives of their own. “I want one!” demonstrates a complete disregard of animal’s rights to live autonomously, and places the focus squarely on human desires.
Animal lives have higher standing than human whims. Animals do not belong to us. Fish aren’t meant to be in a box.
After the whole “Cecil the lion” thing hit the press, there was a big
response. Most of it was a really stupid sort of faux moral outrage
with lots of crying and not a lot of actual useful stuff. So, to try to
counteract that, I tried my best at making some useful stuff. Most of my
readership is Americans, and while we don’t have much of a say in how
things are handled in Zimbabwe, we do have our own mountain lions, and
deer, and wolves, and moose and other creatures that are imperiled by
poaching and those are something we do have the power to help.
Thousands
of animals die illegally every single day, and none of them get the
attention that “Cecil” got for being illegally baited and shot, though
their plight may be as pitiable. So what do you do when you do actually
find evidence of such a heinous crime in your own locale?
Well,
hopefully this chart helps. Most of these tips are taken directly from
the DNR websites of various states that neighbor me, but I think they
are broad enough to apply to most of the USA.
It isn’t a very
pretty graphic, but you’re more than welcome to use it, share it and
disseminate it as you see fit. The more people know about it, the
better!
EDIT: Ok, so tumblr won’t let me just change the Goddamn image and save the post as an edit for some reason, so I’m reposting it with corrected spelling errors. Apologies to those who already reblogged the one with my shitty proof-reading.
PiraticOctopus 