The Hainan gibbon was once teetering and tottering at the precipice of extinction. In the 1950s, there were about 2,000 individuals living in Hainan, a tropical island at the southernmost tip of China, but 20 years later, poaching and habitat destruction nearly wiped the species out, leaving only seven to nine individuals. With conservation efforts, […]
Category: News
New Zealand’s new plan to save our seabirds is strong on rhetoric but light on action
From our hotly contested Bird of the Year competition, to the constant updates from backyard bird watchers during lockdown, it’s safe to say New Zealand is a nation of avian obsessives. It’s hardly surprising given our history. This small island nation has been shaped by bird life like no other, with endemic species part of […]
Marijuana cultivation whittling away Madagascar’s largest connected forest
Between the cacao fields of northwest Madagascar and the vanilla of the northeast, a chain of rainforests bob along the highland interior. Tsaratanana Reserve, home to the country’s highest peak, has long been a key link in the chain, with abundant primary forest mostly undisturbed by human activity. Yet the reserve now faces threats on […]
‘Don’t let your cat outside’: Q&A with author Peter Christie
The statistics capturing the effects that pets have on wildlife are mind-boggling. Cats in the United States alone kill at least 1.3 billion birds and up to 22.3 billion small mammals a year, according to a 2013 study in the journal Nature Communications. Cats and dogs “are now the most abundant carnivores on the planet,” […]
Irish man faces US charges on trafficking rhino horns
A 30-year-old Limerick man has been extradited to the United States to face allegations of trafficking endangered rhino horns. John Slattery, of Old Barrack View, Fairhill, Rathkeale, Co Limerick,was arrested this morning and surrendered to the US Marshall Service at Dublin Airport. The US authorities sought his extradition to face charges of illegal wildlife trafficking […]
Court Strikes Down Trump Administration’s Sage-grouse Directive, Canceling Hundreds of Oil and Gas Leases
GREAT FALLS, Mont. – On Friday, the U.S. District Court in Montana struck down the basis for the Trump administration’s massive oil and gas leasing plans on more than a million acres of public lands in key habitat for sage-grouse, an iconic bird species of the Western United States. The Trump administration attempted to gut […]
Hunters kill migrating birds on their 10,000km journey to Australia
IT IS LOW TIDE at the end of the wet season in Broome, Western Australia. Shorebirds feeding voraciously on worms and clams suddenly get restless. Chattering loudly they take flight, circling up over Roebuck Bay then heading off for their northern breeding grounds more than 10,000 km away. I marvel at the epic journey ahead, […]
Vietnam wildlife trade ban appears to flounder amid coronavirus success
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – Conservation organizations in Vietnam sent a letter to the Prime Minister last week asking for an update on planned measures to curtail the trade and consumption of wildlife. In March, responding to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development […]