GOVERNMENT watchdogs revealed the items were included in a haul exported to the United Kingdom and transported north of the Border by hunters.
A pile of 15 tonnes of elephant ivory seized in Kenya
TUSKS from endangered African elephants were among the big game trophies brought into Scotland last year. Government watchdogs revealed the items were included in a haul exported to the United Kingdom and transported north of the Border by hunters.
The
Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) say an elephant-skin rifle bag
and eight bracelets made from the hair of African elephants were also
flown into the country.
Official figures reveal other animal
trophies included heads, skins and the skulls of endangered big cats and
hippos. One hunter brought back the hide of a grizzly bear.
People
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) UK spokeswoman Elisa Allen
said: “It’s time for the Government to take action and stop the shipment
of dead elephants’ and lions’ parts from entering Scotland.
“Most
Scottish people are appalled by the idea of gunning down sensitive,
intelligent animals – whether they be elephants or foxes – and
understand that this so-called ‘sport’ has no place in the modern
world.” American dentist Dr Walter Palmer sparked an outcry after killing Cecil the lion during a hunting trip in Zimbabwe
Hunting came under added scrutiny after the killing of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe by Walter Palmer. The American dentist
sparked outrage when it emerged he paid around £30,000 to kill the
animal in July, before being pictured on social media posing with its
carcass.
The Sunday Mail revealed earlier this month how Highlands-based Peter Swales organises safaris where millionaire clients can shoot a lion for £60,000. Bringing hunting trophies back to the UK is legal as long as the animal was not killed illegally. BA and Virgin have said they would not carry big-game trophies on flights in the wake of the Palmer story.
All
legal hunters are registered and must apply for an import licence from
the UK Government – as well as having an export licence from the country
where the hunting took place – to transport their trophies home.
A
total of 155 trophy import licences have been granted by the UK agency
over the last five years, including 61 licences in the last 12 months.
In the past year alone, 10 licences were used for African elephant
trophies. The species is in danger of becoming extinct, according to the
World Wildlife Fund, with demand for ivory in Asia leading to a rise in
poaching.
But APHA said: “Properly managed, legal and
sustainable trophy hunting can play a part in species conservation
efforts, including providing funding for some countries.”
Scottish
Green MSP Alison Johnstone said: “These sickening examples of Scots
importing so-called trophies made from elephants are a reminder we need
to support conservation efforts and shame those who take joy from
inflicting cruelty on wild and endangered animals.”
There's a saying
among veterinary professionals that goes something like, "If it roars it
can't purr, and if it purrs it can't roar. That refers to the fact that
the big cats, like lions and tigers, roar but can't purr, and the small
cats such as house cats and mountain lions purr but can't roar. Although cheetahs
purr, and for my money, that's a pretty big honkin' cat. So is the
mountain lion. But I digress. The domestic cat begins purring a few days
after it's born, which many professionals believe is part of the
bonding mechanism between kitten and mom.
Just as barking is to domestic
dogs and wild canids; purring is a uniquely feline trait that lasts a
lifetime. The difference between purring and other vocalizations such as
meowing and hissing is that purring can occur when the cat is either
inhaling or exhaling and whether the mouth is open or shut. The other
sounds can happen only upon exhalation.
It was once believed that purring
occurred as a result of blood flowing through the inferior vena cava,
the blood vessel that carries blood from the lower part of the body into
the right atrium of the heart.
But contemporary thinking holds
that the laryngeal muscles play a key role in purring. From what I've
been able to determine, it seems that the absence of purring in cats
with laryngeal paralysis was a big clue. It all has to do with the
chemistry and mechanics of purring. The chemistry part involves the
brain; the mechanics involve the throat and diaphragm. You're probably
familiar with the "feel good" hormones called endorphins. Well, they're
also "feel-bad" hormones.
Endorphins are released in the
brain as a result of things cats find pleasurable, such as being petted
or groomed, eating, relaxing, etc. But they're also released during
times of stress, such as when in pain or when frightened. That's why
cats often purr when injured.
Once the endorphins have been
released, the brain sends marching orders to the muscles associated with
the larynx, or voice box, and to the diaphragm. The diaphragm forces
air across the vocal cords and the laryngeal muscles vibrate the cords,
producing the low frequency purr.
An interesting side note is that
NASA researchers, investigating bone stress on astronauts in zero
gravity, determined that bones heal optimally at sound frequencies
between 25 and 50 hertz (vibrations per second). That just happens to be
the frequency range of the cat purr.
This has given life to a theory
that the cat's purr is a healing mechanism as well, that can rejuvenate
muscles, ligaments and bones; keeping them in optimal condition for life
as a hard working predator.
Some researchers further believe
that purring can help heal bones following an injury, as well as reduce
swelling and provide some pain relief. There is still debate within
scientific circles about the healing properties attributed to purring,
and the jury is still out. Being one who questions everything, and since
purring is believed to have healing qualities, I can't help but wonder
why other hard working felid predators such as lions and tigers can't
purr. No cats work harder, nor bring down larger prey, such as water
buffalo and stuff. I'll bet they often end of with sore muscles and
joints. Just sayin.'
Bob Bamberg has been selling
products for, and writing about, pets, livestock and wildlife since the
early '90s. He can be reached at petsap@comcast.net.
The
plight of Africa's animals has been the focus of media attention since
Zimbabwe's beloved Cecil the lion was killed last month by an American
hunter. But lions are often killed in Africa, as are many other wild
animals.
The week after Cecil was lured out of Hwange National
Park in Zimbabwe and shot, five elephants were gunned down in Tsavo West
National Park in Kenya and their faces cut off for the tusks. They
didn't make headlines, maybe because they didn't have human names.
Lions,
elephants and rhinos are severely threatened by poaching, local
conflict and foreign trophy hunters. This means that three of the "Big
Five" animals most tourists want to see in Africa are now on the road to
extinction.
The
illegal wildlife trade (live animals, skins and parts) is, according to
Public Radio International, a $20-billion annual industry. Is this a
reason to get to Africa quickly? Sadly, yes. It's also a reason to make
sure your tourism dollars support deserving causes if you do.
I
felt a sense of urgency, so I looked for a safari company that had
contacts with East African camps involved in conservation. I booked
through Delaware-based Kensington Tours, a bespoke company that listened
to my requests and delivered what I requested: safari lodges that were
involved with animal conservation and locations where I didn't have to
sit all day in a Jeep.
Ol Donyo Lodge, a high-end safari camp at
the base of the Chyulu Hills in southeastern Kenya, was founded by
Richard Bonham and is now part-owned by Great Plains, an organization
that uses tourism to sustain wildlife programs.
Ol Donyo is luxurious, ecologically friendly and has some of the most knowledgeable Maasai guides I have encountered.
Most
important, some of my safari dollars went to protecting the animals I'd
come to see, and once there, I had an opportunity to donate to specific
programs. I chose to pay school fees ($400) for a high-achieving Maasai
child to become a "Wildlife Scholar," meaning he or she would become an
anti-poaching community activist.
My room had its own plunge
pool, an open-air living area with slipcovered sofas, and a rooftop bed
ideal for stargazing. Below my hilltop room was a watering hole, filled
with water recycled from camp use, which attracted elephants and other
species up close.
Guests do not have to dine communally, as in
many safari camps, and because it's on Maasai-owned land rather than in a
national park, Ol Donyo offers horseback and walking safaris as well as
mountain biking, making it a more active destination than your average
safari location.
One
of the guides told me that the place itself has strong energy, and I
believe it. That, combined with excellent food and service, exhilarating
adventures and the privacy of the lodge, made it one of the best stays
I've had in many trips to Africa.
Kensington had arranged for a
car and driver to take me across the border into Tanzania, a country
that has lost more than 60% of its elephants to poaching.
At
family-oriented Oliver's Camp in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania,
the focus is not on direct elephant conservation, but on providing the
locals with education and alternative sources of income. All of its
guide staff were local Tanzanians, as were the camp employees. It also
trains young people to enter the tourism industry.
The camp was
simpler than Ol Donyo and can accommodate as many as 24 guests in
spacious tents with attached bathrooms. Dining was communal.
Tarangire has plentiful populations of elephant,
wildebeest, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest, oryx,
eland and the strange, long-necked gerenuk. One of my favorite sights
was a nocturnal porcupine caught in daylight, bustling noisily along a
dirt road like a character from "The Wind in the Willows."
It was
heartening to see elephants thriving in Tarangire, but I did notice one
thing: They had smaller tusks than those I saw in Kenya. Perhaps this is
a Darwinian response to the human massacre?
What can travelers do?
First
and foremost, going to Africa to support tourism is a good start. Stay
at camps actively involved in conservation. Never buy anything that
looks like ivory even if the seller tells you it's old. And if you are a
hunter, perhaps look deep inside your soul.
Brookfield Zoo in Illinois has announced the birth of two snow leopard cubs.
The
cubs, which are currently off exhibit bonding with their 4-year-old
mother Sarani, are scheduled to make their public debut in mid-October.
The two females, which each weigh about 10 pounds, were born on June 16, zoo officials said.
Sarani
and her 5-year-old mate, Sabu, arrived at the zoo in October 2011 from
Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls and Cape May County Park & Zoo in
Cape May Court House, New Jersey.
Snow leopards are listed as an endangered species by the International
Union for Conservation of Nature and experts say their numbers are
declining. The Snow Leopard Trust estimates population numbers of the
elusive cat are between 4,000 and 6,500 remaining in the wild.
Aug 27, 2015 — Of
all the places a cat can hang out, why do do many of them want to hang
out in boxes? According to researchers, cats that spend time in close
confines are measurably less stressed than those remaining in the open.
As Curt Stager tells Martha Foley, it's not just house cats who feel
this way.
Martha Foley: Here's a question. This is great,
because great minds are running in parallel tracks here. I have a cat
who gets up on the table, right? I've never had a cat I couldn't keep
off the table. This cat is incorrigible, but if I put a box on the table
he'll get in the box instead of lying on the table. This is when we're
out of the house, the sun is shining, there's the tabletop—he'll get in
the box rather than mess up the papers or whatever is on the table. I've
never had a cat that was so attached to boxes before. Curt Stager: I think it is something a cat owner
would know and my wife Carrie has had cats for a long time and she asked
that—"Why is this so?"—and I hadn't realized it but you start asking
around and by gosh it's pretty common. So there is actually an animal
behaviorist in the Netherlands who is writing about this and talking
about it, speculating about why this might be.
MF: It's that common. I know cats go into paper bags
and so on and so forth, but I never realized it was a behavior that
they exhibit. CS: Well now that you mention the paper bag, I do
remember a pet cat that was doing that, too. So there are some ideas
about it. It's possible that they feel safer in there. You know their
ancestors, these subtropical desert-type cats, would mainly be out
hunting at night, so maybe they just feel safer if it's hard to be seen.
It actually does make them safer if they can't be seen out in the wild,
but then they can also watch what's going on in their little hideout,
and then they can rush out and grab something if they want, and bring it
right back into the safe space. It's like maybe a "comfort zone" kind
of thing.
MF: You say there's a scientist that's looking into
this and trying to explain why this would be. It's one of those observed
phenomena, right? CS: Yes, it's Claudia Vinke from the Netherlands,
and she actually did a few experiments. She would take domestic cats
from an animal shelter and give some a box in their cage and some not a
box, and according to her data the ones that had the boxes showed lower
levels of stress hormones and they adjusted better to the people and
things like that.
MF: Kind of like swaddling a baby. It's like a
confined space; they feel good. Honestly, my cat will try to get into a
box that's way too small for him and he'll have a leg sticking out or
his tail will be hanging out—his head will be hanging over the edge of
the box. You can't think that's comfortable, but he loves it. CS: Now that I'm remembering my own cat experiences,
it wasn't just go in there and curl up and hide. Some will do that or
fall asleep, but this cat was making noise and playing in there. So
there's some attraction.
It turns out it's not just domestic cats. You can look on the web for videos of the big cats doing it.
MF: You mean like lions? CS: Yeah, I made a list of the ones I was able to
find on the web. There were lions and tigers and ocelots and pumas and
jaguars and leopards. You put a cardboard box in the cage with them and
they turn into little kittens, playing in there, and they want to sit in
it.
MF: Sweet! So if you're out in the Serengeti
somewhere where there are lion, just keep a big box with you. Put it
down and the lion will get in there. CS: And you're safe. So you think, the lion, it must
be like their den, but then you think—the lion's den—do they really
have dens? You know those African lions, they're usually out in the
open—the lion's den thing would be like from the biblical stories, where
maybe the king had a pen, let's say the lion's pen, where they would
keep them for whatever reason.
MF: That was more for Daniel than for the lion, I think. CS: It's anybody's guess and there are certainly a lot of people guessing why this is such a widespread thing among cats.
Yolanda
Morris, from Washington state, was part of a rally that expanded
hunting foes held before the State Game Commission met on Thursday at
Santa Fe Community College. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)
By Deborah Baker / Journal Staff Writer
UPDATED: Thursday, August 27, 2015
SANTA FE — The state Game Commission on Thursday unanimously approved
expanded hunting of bears and cougars — including cougar trapping on 9
million acres of state lands – over the fierce objections of critics who
said the decision was rooted in politics, not science.
The vote was followed by an outburst from some opponents in the
packed meeting room, with cries of “Shame on you” and “You’re a
disgrace” directed at commission members.
The new rules, effective in the license year beginning in April 2016,
allow a 26 percent increase in the number of bears that can be killed
statewide each year by hunters, from 640 to 804. The per-hunter limit for shooting cougars in most areas of the state
will double from two to four, although the statewide limit of about 750
will remain.
The requirement to obtain permits to trap cougars on private land
will be lifted. And for the first time – at the request of Land
Commissioner Aubrey Dunn – cougar leg-hold trapping and snaring will be
allowed on the trust lands that are managed by the State Land Office. The trapping will be allowed annually from November through March.
The Game and Fish Commission today approved expanding cougar and bear hunting in New Mexico.
The Game Commission said in a statement after the voice vote that the
changes are “based on sound science and research,” relying on current
estimates of population densities, how much habitat is available, and
other research data. “The only thing we can truly rely on is the scientific data,” Commissioner Elizabeth Ryan said at the meeting.
Ranching, farming and livestock groups endorsed the expanded hunting
as a means of predator control, and hunting guides and outfitters backed
the new rules as well. “The lion and bear populations, at least in my part of the state, are
on the increase,” Ty Bays, a third-generation rancher from Silver City,
told the commission.
But critics of the new rules – most of the roughly 250 people at the
meeting – questioned the validity of the research data the Game
Commission relied on.
And they said that even if the populations are up – for which they
said there is no supportive data in the case of cougars – commissioners
hadn’t provided any economic or ecological reasons to justify expanded
hunting. “We don’t know how you get from ‘We have more’ … to ‘We need to kill
more,’ ” said Kevin Bixby of the Southwest Environmental Center.
Opponents said trapping is cruel and indiscriminate, with the
potential of snagging unintended wildlife – including cougar kittens and
nursing mothers – as well as humans and their dogs.
And they said that although the new bear research data collected by
the commission indicate there are more bears than previously thought,
there was a 28 percent drop in the number of bears killed by hunters
last year, with no accompanying decline in licenses.
Members of the commission, who were appointed by Gov. Susana
Martinez, said they were inundated with thousands of emails from
supporters and opponents of the rules change. Commissioner Bill Montoya said some critics apparently believe the
Game Commission and the Department of Game and Fish want to destroy
species. “Our intent is not to eliminate any species. … Our intent is to
manage, correctly manage, with all the biological information we can put
together,” Montoya said.
Opponents of the new rules who rallied before the meeting, however,
said the Martinez administration is anti-predator and is catering to the
livestock industry while ignoring the wishes of most New Mexicans. The commission “has chosen to blow off the conservation community,”
said Dave Parsons, who coordinated the federal Mexican wolf recovery
program for nine years. “The New Mexico Game Commission is pathetically political,” Parsons added.
Commissioners on Thursday also heard an appeal by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service of the commission’s earlier denial of permits for the
federal agency to release more Mexican wolves this year as part of the
ongoing recovery program. The commission could vote on the appeal next
month.
The department said it rejected the permit requests because the federal agency’s 1982 wolf recovery plan has not been updated.
But Joy Nicholopoulos told the commission that a revised recovery
plan “is not required to continue Mexican wolf recovery efforts in any
state, including New Mexico.”
The federal agency will have a new recovery plan by the end of 2017,
she said. In the meantime, it’s critical for the health of the wolf
population – now at least 110 in Arizona and New Mexico – that genetic
diversity be increased by releasing additional wolves from the captive
population, she said.
That includes a plan for “cross-fostering,” in which wolf pups less
than two weeks old are taken from their captive, biological parents and
placed in dens of wild wolves to be raised by wild parents.
Nicholopoulos also said that if releases are curtailed, the federal
Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility – where the wolves are being held –
won’t have the pen space to take in problem wolves that have to be
removed from the wild.
The adorable scenes were played out at Langedrag Nature Park
Kitten shows no fear as it takes a nap in a precarious position on a branch
Photographer Cecilie Sonsteby says she was amazed it didn't fall off
By
Kate Pickles For Mailonline
Published: 27 August 2015
We all like to turn to a brother or sister for a bit of sibling advice sometimes and it seems lynx kittens are no different.
The
adorable snap looks like the youngsters are re-enacting a memorable
scene in the Lion King where Mufasa shows Simba the Pride Lands he will
one day inherit.
But this was not snapped in the east African lands of Tanzania - rather it was captured at Langedrag Nature Park in Norway.
Scroll down for video
Paws for thought: One lynx cub appears to put a wise hand on the shoulder of its sibling
Cat nap: This nine-week old lynx kitten is so worn out it decides to take a nap in the most unlikely position up a tree
Photographer
Cecilie Sonsteby 46, spotted the cute cat as it clung on during its cat
nap, doing its best not to drop off a branch.
It was taken shortly after one of the cute animals went for 40 winks - up a tree.
Her pictures show the youngster, thought to be a nine-week-old female, exploring the park from the best vantage point.
'The cub in the tree was the most adventurous of the siblings and she was up there for much more than an hour,' she said.
'It
seemed very relaxed and comfortable and having a great overview. I did
not see it myself, but it climbed down safely on its own.
'The mother was quite relaxed about it the whole time it was there.
'It is so impressive that she managed to sleep like that. She was pretty high up in the tree too.'
Play time: It's claws out as the young lynx kittens learn how to fight with one another
Peek-a-boo: One of the kittens peers out from behind some colourful grasses at Langedrag Nature Park in Norway
Mother's protection: One kitten peers out from behind a rock in the safety of its mother's company
Good balance: This lynx kitten showed what a doddle it is to climb trees and take a nap
Holding on: The lynx kitten awakes to find itself up a tree and holding on at the Langedrag Nature Park in Norway
Turkish city can’t quit delighting in felines; ‘like being a cow in India’
Istanbul's thousands of street
cats are fed, sheltered and cooed at by an adoring public. Now the
felines are becoming an Internet phenomenon. Photo: Monique Jaques for
The Wall Street Journal
By Joe Parkinson
ISTANBUL—In this ancient city once ruled by sultans and emperors, the real king is the humble alley cat.
In
historic neighborhoods along Istanbul’s Bosporus and Golden Horn
waterways, an army of furry-tailed street cats are fed, sheltered and
cooed at by an adoring public. Hundreds of fleece-lined houses have been
erected at street corners by cat-mad residents. Most are flanked by
makeshift feeding stations fashioned from yogurt pots or plastic bottles
and overflowing with tasty scraps.
In some districts,
ground-floor windowsills are lined with pillows and blankets, offering a
cozy place for the discerning kitty to recline. In restaurants and
cafes, cats are often part of the furniture, curling up next to dining
tables or patiently waiting for leftovers from patrons.
Visitors
to the city can dine at one of several cat-theme cafes or stay a night
at the Stray Cat Hostel. During a 2009 visit here, President Barack
Obama paused to pet Gli, one of dozens of cats living in Hagia Sophia,
Istanbul’s most famous mosque.
Istanbul cat at rest
“Being a cat in Istanbul is like being a cow in India,” said Sibel
Resimci, a musician and confessed cat junkie who says her husband often
walks nearly 2 miles to work rather than disturb street cats sleeping on
his moped. “For generations, they’ve had a special place in the city’s
soul.”
Now, Istanbul’s feline fetish is adapting to the digital age.
Social
media sites offering daily pictures of the city’s cutest street cats
boast tens of thousands of followers. Web developers have created apps
to help adopt and locate users’ favorite kitties. Local filmmakers have
released a trailer for their coming feature film “Nine Lives” on video
sharing platform Vimeo. Wildly popular YouTube tutorials show Istanbul
residents how to build shelters and feeding stations so cats can nap and
nibble in maximum comfort. The #catsofistanbul hashtag on photo-sharing
website Instagram has more than 50,000 posts of cats nonchalantly—and
almost always adorably—doing their thing.
“It started with some photos of cats on my daily commute and very
quickly the page just exploded,” says Rana Babac, a 30-year-old who
works for the World Wildlife Fund. She founded the Cats of Istanbul
Facebook page, website and Instagram accounts that
together boast about 50,000 members.
Ms. Babac, who currently doesn’t
have a cat because of “constant travel commitments,” says her sites have
morphed from a picture-sharing feed into a news portal and information
exchange for cat junkies. The site also helps members coordinate with
charities to improve cats’ welfare: In June members of the group joined
forces with local architects to repair dilapidated cat shelters.
“Cats have always been famous in Istanbul, but social media is making them famous around the world,” Ms. Babac said.
Historians
here say the social media explosion is simply the latest incarnation of
a centuries-old cat craze: stemming from a combination of religion,
tradition and practicality.
Cats have a special place in Islam: Muslim lore tells of a cat
thwarting a poisonous snake that had approached the Prophet Muhammad.
One teaching tells that he found a cat sleeping on his shawl and opted
to cut the fabric rather than disturb the animal. A popular saying goes:
“If you’ve killed a cat, you need to build a mosque to be forgiven by
God.”
The feline fetish is also functional: In the 19th century,
cats were bred in large numbers for pest control to kill a rat
population thriving in the city’s expanding sewage system. Before that,
they helped Istanbul avoid the worst of a bubonic plague epidemic spread
by rats.
Cats are even hard-wired into the city’s iconography and political culture.
In
the bowels of Istanbul metro stations, pictures of waterside cityscapes
feature cats posing alongside fisherman, in some cases munching the
daily catch. Cat cartoons are used to satirize politicians: a digitized
picture of a mustachioed sour puss named Recep Tayyip Erdocat was shared
thousands of times last year, in a not-too subtle effort to lampoon
Turkey’s pugilistic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Cats are central to the culture of old Istanbul,” said Nur Bulca, a
45-year-old designer who welcomes groups of cats into her workshop each
day. “We grow up with cats in the house and on the street. We share the
city with them.”
In 2012, Mr. Erdogan’s ruling Justice and
Development Party tried to pass legislation it said would improve
sterilization and clear the streets of stray animals, but the plan was
shelved after 30,000 people took to Istanbul’s streets in protest.
Now,
local authorities say the number of street cats in the city center is
growing again thanks partly to online campaigns that are helping to
improve care and prevent disease.
Ground zero for the city’s cat
obsession is the district of Cihangir, a liberal neighborhood where
gangs of multicolored cats can be seen roaming at intersections,
lounging in cafes or sunning themselves on the hoods of cars. Local
restaurants and butchers work with animal shelters to make sure leftover
scraps are given to strays. On one road, an abandoned blue BMW has for
years been used to help local alley cats: functioning as a food store in
the summer and a shelter in winter.
Veterinarians in the neighborhood say Istanbul residents bring cats
from across the city to the Cihangir district of Istanbul for treatment,
or in some cases abandon unwanted pets in the district, as they know
they will be cared for.
“A lot of our work is with strays because
there are so many in Cihangir,” said Ozge Sahin, a vet at Anipoli
clinic, which recently constructed a “stray hostel” where sick and
injured animals can recuperate in comfort. “This area is special for
animals,” she said.
Even some of the foreigners who have moved to Cihangir have adopted its cat-friendly culture.
U.K.-born
resident Hilary Sable—a teacher who has five cats and feeds dozens more
every day—formed the Cool for Cats association in 2011 to help care for
street cats in the area.
Cats are adored in
Istanbul, these days especially on social media. Above, a man on
Istiklal street, the city’s main shopping avenue.
Photo:
Murad Sezer/Reuters
“We share information that helps owners find lost cats and helps
street cats find new homes,” said Ms. Sable, who toured Cihangir
recently wearing a cat-theme handbag and a T-shirt emblazoned: ‘Meow
we’re talking.’
“This online buzz is helping us to grow our network and bringing cat lovers together,” she said.
Some
local businesses say they feel a responsibility to help preserve the
city’s feline affinity. Pizza Factory, a trendy new food place,
proclaims an “open-door policy” for street animals and sifts through
leftovers to pick out waste that could upset a cat’s stomach.
“Istanbul
is a heaven for cats, and we want it to stay that way,” said owner Nial
Yigittas. “We recently adopted a stray and named him Azman—it means
Monster.”
At almost three months old, the Northern Lynx triplets, at RZSS Highland Wildlife Park
in Scotland, spent their first few weeks huddled together in the warmth
of various dens with their mother, but they are now bravely venturing
out to explore their whole enclosure.
Photo Credits: Alex Riddell/RZSS
Born to mum, Dimma, and dad, Switch, on May 25, this is the fourth
consecutive year the couple have had cubs. Una Richardson, Head Keeper
for Carnivores at RZSS Highland Wildlife Park, commented, “This is the
fourth year in a row they have produced cubs - a real testament to the
quality of the animal husbandry and the enclosure here. Dimma gave birth
to her previous litters in the bushes at the front of the enclosure,
which required us to rope-off the adjacent visitor path, but this year
she has opted for the privacy and security of the nest boxes provided in
the lynx house.”
Dimma, which means 'fog' in Swedish, was born on the 24 May 2010, at
Boras Wild Animal Park, in Sweden, and she arrived at Highland Wildlife
Park in February 2012. Switch was born May 2010, in Latvia, and came to
the Park one month after Dimma
The cubs’ antics are generating quite a stir with keepers and
visitors to the Park. Richardson remarked, “Watching the cubs play
fighting with each other, running and tumbling about the enclosure, it’s
easy to see why they are quickly becoming favorites with both staff and
visitors, over the past few weeks. They have been putting on quite a
show, especially at feeding time when they routinely play stalk and
pounce on sections of meat as big as themselves.”
RZSS Highland Wildlife Park's Lynx are part of the European Zoo
Association's coordinated breeding programme and, although the species
is not endangered, it has become locally extinct in many areas across
Europe, resulting in some sub-populations being considered “endangered”
or even “critically endangered”. The Lynx occurred in the UK until
possibly as late as the Middle Ages. Loss of habitat, reduced prey
availability and illegal hunting are the biggest threats to
wild Lynx populations. There have been a number of
successful Lynx reintroduction projects within Europe, including in
Switzerland and France.
Northern Lynx have a short, thick tail with a blunt black tip. They
have distinctive dark tufts on their ears, which are thought to act a
bit like antennae in helping to locate prey using their excellent
hearing. The Lynx also has exceptional leaping ability, as it is an
ambush predator
They also have a pale sandy-grey to rusty-red colored coat, with
indistinct spots. In winter, the coat becomes much denser and the large,
rounded feet help them travel over deep snow.
Northern lynx mate in late February to early March. They usually have
2 or 3 kittens, which stay with their mother until next breeding
season.
Mexican environmental authorities loaded eight lions, two lynxes, a puma
and a coyote aboard two military planes for a trip to a Colorado wildlife sanctuary on Wednesday, after the animals were found mistreated or abandoned.
The flight aboard two Mexican Navy transport aircraft was the second
instalment in an airlift that will eventually take about two dozen
animals to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado.
Biologist Ignacio Millan said it was the first time Mexico's Navy had participated in the animal relocation effort.
Millan said the lions, lynxes and puma had been taken from private homes, zoos or circuses where they were often mistreated.
The coyote had been used in witchcraft ceremonies.
Millan said that nine tigers still remain to be transferred to the 720-acre (291-hectare) sanctuary, where animals can roam.
Mexico's recently enacted ban on exotic animal performances in circuses
is expected to increase the number of animals that are either abandoned
or left in bad conditions, because many circus owners say they can't
afford to maintain non-performing animals.
After
coming across an abandoned kitten in a field, Andreas and Filiz decided
to bring it home in the hopes that their cat would accept their new
roommate. Surely they didn't expect THIS to happen!
Posted by Adam Cruise of Conservation Action Trust in Cat Watch on August 24, 2015
Frontal
portrait of a scarred male lion (Panthera leo). at Londolozi, a
private game park in South Africa. Photograph by Chris Johns/National
Geographic Creative.
Given that in Africa wild lions are in catastrophic decline–the latest
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) figures
suggest that fewer than 20,000 remain–it may come as a shock to discover
that as many as 10,000 of the continent’s iconic big cats were legally
hunted and exported as trophies in the ten years ending in 2013.
The vast majority of these lions were bred in captivity for the
purpose of hunting. The mostly American and European sports hunters took
the lions to their home countries as trophies–mounted heads or skins
for their collections.
The tally for hunted lions is likely even higher than 10,000, says
Dereck Joubert, wildlife filmmaker and National Geographic
explorer-in-residence, because not all hunters take trophies. Some hunt
just for the sport.
Six African countries where lions still range freely–South Africa,
Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania–were analysed using
the official CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species) trade database, which lists animal and plant products exported and imported internationally.
Kenya and Botswana are two lion-range countries notably omitted from
this list. Both countries have outlawed trophy hunting in an effort to
boost lion populations, although Botswana only recently adopted this
measure.
Even though the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species lists lions as Vulnerable (facing a high risk of
extinction in the wild), African range lions in all six countries are
listed by CITES under Appendix II, which means lion products may be
exported under a permit system. Permits are granted “if the relevant
authorities are satisfied that certain conditions are met, above all
that trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species in the
wild.”
South Africa Tops List
Of the six nations, South Africa ranks highest in terms of most
trophies exported. The country has registered a staggering average of
748 lion trophies exported per year.
Tanzania is next with an annual average of almost 150 lion trophies,
followed by Zimbabwe and Zambia (each between 60-70 a year), Mozambique
(22) and Namibia less than 20 a year). Botswana, before banning trophy
hunting in January 2014, tabled an average of 10 trophies each year.
The figures are not 100 percent accurate as there are a number of
discrepancies that creep into the database, such as countries reporting
the number of permits issued but not the actual permits used. However,
the figures give a general idea of just how impactful trophy hunting is
on lions.
South Africa tops the list but most of the lions hunted for trophies
(two thirds of the country’s total lion population) are what the
government terms “captive bred” or “ranch” lions. According to a
spokesperson for the South African Department of Environment, less than
10 wild lions are hunted in South Africa a year.
Currently in South Africa there are almost 200 breeding facilities
where lions are raised exclusively for trophy hunting. The big cats are
kept in small enclosures and are habituated to humans, making them easy
targets for hunters. The practice has come under fire recently with the
release of the film Blood Lions.
As Ian Michler, the documentary’s main narrator, says “it’s about
breeding wildlife as intensively as they can, as quickly as they can, to
make as much money as they can.”
Zimbabwe’s Lions Gone in a Decade
Zimbabwe’s situation is worse because trophy hunting involves vulnerable wild lion populations. Researchers,
co-ordinated by a team at Duke Universty’s Nicholas School of the
Environment and partially funded by National Geographic’s Big Cats
Initiative (BCI), revealed in 2012 that wild lion populations in that country “are in trouble”.
Almost 700 lion trophies were legally exported during the decade
under review, but the current population, according to the 2012 survey,
stood at only 850. This suggests that, at the current rate and if lion
numbers don’t increase, which is unlikely, in another decade trophy
hunters alone will have wiped out nearly all remaining lions in
Zimbabwe.
In Zambia an average of 65 trophies are exported each year. According to another 2012 research paper,
most parks are registering free-falling numbers of lions. A park like
the 1,500-square-mile (3,866-square-kilometer) Liuwa Plains National
Park has just 3 individuals.
The collapse of their lion population prompted Zambian authorities to
ban trophy hunting of big cats in 2013. Zambian Tourism and Arts
Minister, Jean Kapata, cited
big cat numbers “too low to have a sustainable hunting industry.”
However, the country lifted the ban earlier this year. According to a
recent CNN report, it was “because the government needed the money to fund conservation.”
Things look only marginally better in Mozambique and Namibia. Nambia
exports less than 20 lion trophies per year. But that country’s lion
population is considerably smaller at just 600 individuals. It indicates
hunting still has a detrimental impact on the population as a third of
the current total number during the decade was exported as trophies.
In Mozambique, lion numbers in the Niassa Reserve, the country’s largest game park, may be increasing. This is according
to Colleen Begg of the Niassa Carnivore Project, an NGO working to
conserve large carnivore populations there. She said in an email to the
Associated Press in July that it was because of the heavy poaching
of elephants, which has provided “the carnivores with a bounty of
carcasses to eat as well as vulnerable elephant calves to hunt.”
Rapid Decline
However, farther south lions are disappearing rapidly. A study of lions
in the northwest Tete Province of Mozambique in 2013 suggests 185 lions
in the region, down from the 2009 survey of 295 lions. The Gorongosa
National Park that once had over 200 lions now has less than 30
indivudals. In recognition of the country’s fast declining numbers due
to trophy hunting, CITES has enforced an export quota on lions since
2012.
Tanzania has the largest wild lion population of all African nations.
Still, almost 1,500 lion trophies have been exported in the decade
following 2003 with overall numbers declining alarmingly. In the Katavi
National Park, for example, 1,118 of the big cats were counted in 1993.
By 2014 there was not a single lion remaining.
Lion expert, Professor Craig Packer of the University of Minnesota, found the results
of their research in 2009 that the trophy hunting rate of big cats
throughout Tanzania “had consistently been too high.” Packer predicted
that the future population of lions in Tanzania would be seriously
decimated unless fewer big cats were killed by trophy hunters each year.
Another problem with trophy hunting, as Jeffrey Flocken, North
America Regional Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW),
says, is that “hunters are not like natural predators. They target the
largest specimens, with the biggest tusks, manes, antlers, or horns.”
According to Andrew Loveridge of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCru) at Oxford University, a scientific group specializing in wild carnivores, sport hunters go almost exclusively for adult lion males. This has
caused a decline in numbers of adult males in the total lion population.
Loveridge says that “hunting predators on the boundaries of national
parks causes significant disturbance and knock-on effects” such as
infanticide when new males entered the prides.
According to the 2015 IUCN
Red List analysis on lions, which Packer co-authored, there is concern
that current management regimes in terms of trophy hunting have
contributed to an astonishing decline of 42 percent of the continent’s
total population.
The CITES listing of lion is currently undergoing a Periodic Review.
The IUCN survey for 2015 has recommended a change in categorization for
African lions from Vulnerable to Endangered. If that happens CITES may
be prompted to list lions under Appendix I but as is the case with the
other species on the same listing, it does not guarantee the days of
hunting lions for trophies will soon be over.
Share your support of big cats by donating $5 and uploading a photo
of yourself giving a virtual high five to any social media platform,
with the hashtag #5forBigCats. Learn more.
IFAW-run wildlife rehab center in India develops a kindly curriculum to get orphaned big cats back into the wild.
By Vicki Croke
The latest clouded leopard orphan is a
male who arrived just 11 days ago. He’s in the right hands—staff members
here have saved several other clouded leopard orphans and returned them
to the wild. Photo: Bhaskar Choudhury/IFAW-WTI.
Scared, sick, and tiny, the orphaned clouded leopard cub has made it to safety.
So far, experts don’t know how he was separated from his mother or
who took him from the forest. But they do have the experience and
resources to give this little 5-pound cub not only a chance at life, but
also, eventually, a shot at freedom back in the wild.
Things looked grim on August 13, when the baby, who is estimated to
be only a few months old, arrived at the rehabilitation center in Assam,
India—which is run by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Wildlife Trust of India. He had already been with other people for at least 10 days before that.
The cub gets a check up at the Transit Home. Blood tests show he’s anemic. Photo: Sanatan Deka/IFAW-WTI.
“The animal was very weak, anemic and pot-bellied at the time of
admission,” said Dr. Bhaskar Choudhury, head veterinarian at the
Wildlife Transit Home. But the cat, with the species’ trademark
cloud-shaped black/brown spots on a cream-colored coat, immediately
began receiving medical care and proper food. Dr. Choudhury said, “A
suitable diet chart has been framed for its health improvement.”
With good care and luck, hopefully his health will continue to improve.
Clouded leopards are extremely mysterious and elusive, but seven of
them, including the most recent admission, have landed at The Centre for
Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) Transit Home in recent
years, most from in or around Manas National Park. From these orphans, a
successful protocol, which can take about a year, has been established.
In 2009, a set of two male cubs, Runa and Kata, were hand-raised
here, and in May of 2010, they became the first rehabbed clouded
leopards in India to be radio-collared and released.
This video tells the story of Runa and Kata—radio-collared orphans who made history. Courtesy: Wildlife Trust of India.
In 2010, another pair of cubs came under the center’s care, but the team managed to reunite them with the mother.
Two other cubs—a male and a female— were less than a month old when
they were carried off by a man illegally cutting trees in the Manas
National Park, and brought to the center in May 2011. They were released a year later.
What may seem odd at first, but actually makes perfect sense, is that
the first step in rehabilitation is to try NOT to rehabilitate. The
best parent for clouded leopard cubs is a clouded leopard. And in the
case of the cubs in 2011, IFAW/WTI staff returned the babies to the area
where they were found, hoping to reunite them with their mother. Over a
three-day period, the cubs were bottle-fed by day and left alone,
monitored by camera traps, at night. The mother never came, and for the
health and safety of the babies, they were returned to the Transit Home.
The handsome spotted cat has dark stripes at the corners of his eyes and along his cheeks. Photo: Sanatan Deka/IFAW-WTI.
There, they were hand-raised and fed well.
That’s part of the plan for the 5-pound cub, rescued this month, who has some catching up to do. Previous rescues weighed almost 8 pounds each by 4 months and were, by that age, off milk and eating a half a pound of meat a day.
The cubs who come into the center are protected, but the aim is to make them the wild animals they were meant to be.
According to an IFAW blog about clouded leopard rehabilitation, the
young cats are “encouraged to test and learn the climbing skills and
play-fight for hours on end, excellent habits that will prove vital for
their survival in the wild.”
When they’re ready, (in the case of Runa and Kata, this was after six
months in the center), clouded leopard rescues can be moved to a
transition site in the forest where they are “taught to be wild.” This
may require something like eight months (in the wild they might be with
their mothers for about 10 months).
The underside of the baby’s paws: right
now even the pink pads look brand new. But they’ll be changing fast.
Clouded leopards are master climbers in part because of their broad paws
and sharp claws. Photo: Sanatan Deka/IFAW-WTI.
During the acclimatization phase
of rehabilitation, typically the cubs are taken for walks by their
caretakers during the day, and then, at night, for safety, are kept in a
big enclosure. Next, they are given freedom even after dark and perhaps
moved to a more isolated area of the forest. Keepers spend less time
with the maturing and increasingly confident animals. The cats by then
easily climb trees and begin to hunt prey.
In the past, hair in their
feces has indicated to handlers that, on their own, the cats are
catching and eating barking deer and jungle fowl, among other animals.
At that point, the clouded leopards are set free. Radio-collars that
are expandable may be used to monitor the animals after their release.
There may only be about 10,000 clouded leopards in the wild today and
they are considered “vulnerable” in the IUCN Red List of threatened
species.
Habitat loss is the biggest threat to these animals who don’t adjust as well as common leopards to life close to humans.
Clouded leopards are fascinating cats. They are the smallest of the
big cats, with males weighing in at only about 50 pounds. Compare that
with the largest big cat—the tiger— who might be 700 pounds.
Even in the babies you can see that the
clouded leopard’s canines are impressive. In fact, they have the
largest canine teeth (in proportion to body size) of any modern
cat. Photo: Sanatan Deka/IFAW-WTI.
But what clouded leopards lack in size they more than make up for in
athleticism and weaponry. They are big-headed, with powerful jaws, and
“dagger-like” canine teeth that make them look like “scaled-down” saber
tooth cats, according to Fiona and Mel Sunquist in “The Wild Cat Book.”
In fact, “for its size, this cat has the longest canine teeth of any
living felid.”
And with a low center of gravity, long tails for ballast, broad,
sharp-clawed paws, and flexible, rotating rear ankles, they can rip up
and down trees with speed and agility, and even hang upside down from
branches. They are master jungle climbers who are believed, though, to
do most of their hunting on the ground.
The cats live from the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal and India
through the rainforests of Southeast Asia. Scientists now recognize two
separate species—the clouded leopard, Neofelis nebulosa, (the orphaned
cub found in Assam is one of these) and the Sunda clouded leopard,
Neofelis diardi, found on Sumatra and Borneo.
Scientists determined fairly recently
that there are two different clouded leopard species. This video from
the World Wildlife Fund Australia shows the darker Sunda clouded
leopard. Courtesy: World Wildlife Fund Australia.
Clouded leopards are losing habitat to human encroachment and
deforestation. They are hunted for their coats, bones, and teeth. And
they are killed in retaliation for livestock deaths. Though there isn’t a
clear figure for their population, we do know that numbers are going
down.
So, at the wildlife Transit Home in Assam, one, as yet unnamed,
orphaned clouded leopard counts. And vets and staffers hope he follows
in the footprints of the other orphans who have lived with them for only
a short while before being returned to a life in the wild.
Aug 27, 2015 — Of
all the places a cat can hang out, why do do many of them want to hang
out in boxes? According to researchers, cats that spend time in close
confines are measurably less stressed than those remaining in the open.
As Curt Stager tells Martha Foley, it's not just house cats who feel
this way.
Cats are adored in
Istanbul, these days especially on social media. Above, a man on
Istiklal street, the city’s main shopping avenue.
Photo:
Murad Sezer/Reuters 
Photo Credits: Alex Riddell/RZSS
