A-Zoo News

Penguin Cam

Live Video app for Facebook by Ustream In honor of Discovery Channel and the BBC’s groundbreaking Frozen Planet series, we are proud to bring you Penguin Cam, streaming live from SeaWorld San Diego’s Penguin Encounter. Tune in for periodic penguin feedings throughout the day and you won’t want to miss our live chat Q&A sessions [...]

Worst year in decades for endangered elephants

Associated Press JOHANNESBURG (AP) — It’s been a disastrous year for elephants, perhaps the worst since ivory sales were banned in 1989 to save the world’s largest land animals from extinction, the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC said Thursday. A record number of large seizures of elephant tusks represents at least 2,500 dead animals and [...]

Attenborough defends zoo footage

(UKPA) Sir David Attenborough has defended using footage in his Frozen Planet series of a polar bear tending her newborn cubs that was shot in a zoo. The veteran broadcaster said the decision to film in the zoo was made for “the safety of the animal”. He told ITV1′s This Morning: “If you had tried [...]

NatGeo Wild Big Cat Week – Adorably Dangerous

Check out this video from NatGeo Wild Big Cat Week!

Open Letter to All Zoo Directors

    Over the recent of years a couple of issues have come to light and caused deep concern about the educational value and information being taught in our zoos around the world. I speak mainly of zoo docents and the information I have heard from them in the last few years. In clarification, I [...]

International Conservationists attend courses at the Cheetah Conservation Fund

Otjiwarongo, Namibia – During February, the Cheetah Conservation Fund hosted a two-week international training course on Integrated Livestock, Wildlife, and Predator Management. Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Benin and Namibia were represented by the 23 course participants, all of whom are involved in conservation and working with communities. The course was supported by the Howard G. [...]

25 Things You Might Not Know About IRF

Hello [firstname],

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Conservationists Race Against the Clock to Save Critically Endangered Javan Rhinos

Operation Javan Rhino to help protect species from natural disaster and disease Indonesia – An international partnership is racing against the clock to ensure the survival of the last 48 Javan rhinos on earth by carving out a safe haven in the dense jungles of Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park. The species’ entire viable population, [...]

WWF ramps up rhino safety with anti-poaching campaign

Johannesburg, South Africa: WWF, the global conservation organization, today launched a campaign to raise support and funding for those rangers who put their lives on the line to protect Africa’s rhinos.

Rhino poaching has increased dramatically …

60,000 trees for critical Sumatran tiger’s habitat

Jakarta, Indonesia – A three-month old initiative by WWF in Indonesia and Germany has led to the planting of almost 60,000 new trees as part of efforts to reforest critical tiger habitat on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Known as “Forest Frien…

Russia Tiger habitat gets a boost with protection of key tree species

Moscow, Russia, 29 July 2010, World Tiger Day—the Russian government has introduced measures to protect the Korean Pine, a key species found in Amur Tiger habitat in the Russian Far East.

Rising global demand for Korean Pine has led to a massive increase in logging, much of it carried out illegally, in Russia’s remaining temperate forests.

To help regulate the logging, Russia has listed the Korean Pine in Appendix III of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

The listing means exports of Korean Pine timber from Russia will need CITES permits, which will make it harder for the illegal timber trade to carry on.

“TRAFFIC and WWF Russia warmly welcome the measures to regulate the trade in Korean Pine timber, which is good news for the local people whose livelihoods depend on the trade in Korean Pine nuts and for Amur Tigers which live where these trees grow,” said Alexey Vaisman, Senior Programme Officer with TRAFFIC Europe-Russia.

“The new measures will need to be backed up with appropriate enforcement action,” added Vaisman.

Analysis of export data show the commercial trade in Korean pine timber rising over the last decade, in spite the global economic downturn which has reduced trade in most timber species.

The new measures will benefit the legal pine nut trade in the region which WWF and TRAFFIC have been promoting as a means of providing legal and sustainable income.

“We hope the listing in CITES will finally help break the system of illegal logging of Korean Pines and help the survival of trade in alternative, sustainable forestry products from the region,” said Evgeny Lepeshkin, Forestry Projects Co-ordinator with the Amur branch of WWF Russia.

The recently introduced measures come in the midst of a particularly active year for tiger conservation.

Around 400 Amur Tigers survive in the native Korean Pine forests of the Russian Far East and north-east China, where the pine nuts are an essential food source for Tiger prey species.

“The fate of the Amur Tiger is inextricably linked to the safeguard of the Korean Pine,” said Pauline Verheij, joint TRAFFIC and WWF Tiger Trade Programme Manager.

On 14 July, the 13 countries with surviving Tiger populations drafted an historic Declaration on Tiger Conservation.

The Declaration commits the countries to double the number of remaining wild Tigers, whose population currently stands at 3,200, by 2022.

Russia will host a Heads of Government Tiger Summit later this year where it is anticipated the Declaration will be formally signed.

“Russia is putting in place the kind of measures that will help with the commitment by Tiger range countries to double numbers of wild Tigers by 2020,” said Verheij.