The critically endangered mountain gorilla’s current status is to be revealed through a new census.

The critically endangered mountain gorilla’s current status is to be revealed through a new census to determine its population size in the Virunga Volcanoes, the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) announced yesterday.

The Virunga Volcanoes, an area that straddles the borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda in Eastern and Central Africa, is one of only two locations where mountain gorillas live. It is home to an estimated population of 680 gorillas. Though the area is now relatively calm, recent conflict has left the gorillas there vulnerable.

The RSPB has called for a new EU pesticide directive to be used to protect farmland wildlife in the UK.

Today (Feb 9) sees the start of a public consultation on pesticide use following the European Sustainable Use Directive which was signed off in Brussels last year.

Agricultural and conservation groups are being asked how the UK should implement the directive. The RSPB is pushing for the new rules to benefit birds like corn buntings, grey partridges and yellowhammers which have suffered from the use of pesticides in our countryside.

 

One of the Suffolk's most threatened mammals, the otter, has suffered a setback as it slowly re-colonises the county, with the discovery of two dead otters in Snape since September.

Both otters were found dead close to Snape Bridge after being struck by cars whilst crossing the busy B1069. Matt Williams, RSPB Assistant Warden at Snape, found the otters, which were collected for post-mortem analysis by the Environment Agency.

The first was confirmed as a sub-adult female, while results are still awaited on the second victim, found on 15 January.

Wildlife Minister Huw Irranca Davies has today accepted a petition signed by more than 200,000 people demanding an end to the killing of birds of prey.

The petition is the largest we have ever collected.

Dr Mark Avery, our Director of Conservation, handed the petition to the Minister in front of a giant mosaic of a peregrine, held aloft by supporters of the campaign.

Salvador, Brazil – Brazil’s Abrolhos National Marine Park, home to one of the largest and richest coral reef systems in the Atlantic Ocean,  has received global recognition of its importance as a wetlands site, Conservation International, Brazil’s Environment Ministry, and Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation announced today.

As part of the celebration of World Wetlands Day today, the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental body working for the conservation of wetlands and their resources, included Abrolhos National Marine Park in its List of Wetlands of International Importance.

This month, FFI is focusing on the Sumatran tiger as part the International Year of Biodiversity. And what better way to start than with news from the field?

In November, FFI teams arrested two men - one a known tiger dealer, the second a professional poacher who also traded tigers - after a lengthy and dangerous undercover investigation by our tiger programme rangers.

The men had major links to the national and international wildlife trade. We know from past experience that arrests of this nature have a very significant deterrent effect on wildlife crime locally and in surrounding areas.

ua Hin, Thailand, 29 January 2009—Governments from across Asia sent a powerful message that renewed efforts to save wild Tigers from extinction would begin immediately and called for total protection of critical Tiger habitats as the 1st Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded today at the resort of Hua Hin, Thailand.

Ministers and senior delegations from 13 Tiger range States—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Viet Nam—committed to implementing measures to double the number of wild Tigers by 2022.

The post-conference declaration includes pledges to protect wild Tigers and their prey from poaching through regular patrolling of Tiger habitats and elimination of national and cross-border trade in Tiger and Tiger parts as well as a commitment to support communities living in and around Tiger landscapes and minimize human-Tiger conflicts.

Australia, 29 January 2010—Australian Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has decided to change the law so Australia can avoid its international obligations and allow threatened sharks to be caught in Australian waters, WWF-Australia and TRAFFIC warned today.

Minister Garrett has decided not to list the Porbeagle, Longfin Mako and Shortfin Mako sharks under Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC), despite current legislation requiring this when a species is listed under the Convention for Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS).

Visitors to the Top Lodge centre in Fineshade Woods have been horrified to learn that one of the star attractions, a red kite nicknamed Special K, was recently killed.

The bird had been the most frequently seen red kite at the woods, which were the centre for the successful reintroduction of the species in the mid 90’s.

Identified by its wing tags, the bird earned its nickname of Special K by being a ‘cereal’ visitor.

However, between Christmas and New Year the body of the bird was found on nearby farmland and handed into the centre.

The Faroe Island Statistical office has published the official numbers for the 2009 drive hunt.  The statistics show that a total of 310 pilot whales, 174 whitebeaked dolphins, 2 bottlenose whales and 1 bottlenose dolphin were killed in three separate grinds, or drive hunts. 2008 had been the first year in decades (centuries?) without a pilot whale hunt, and WDCS laments the fact that the hunt for pilot whales resumed in 2009.