Shunning the Lab to Save Millions of Trafficked Animals

There are many ways to get the world to start saving the wildlife. For instance, not too long ago an enterprising conservationist chose to do his part by getting himself to be swallowed by a giant snake, an anaconda to be exact. A lady with a Ph. D. who is used to working within the confines of her secluded work has set her sights to join the fight and get her hands dirty. And the best way to do it she decided is to take precious time off her laboratory.

The Booming Illegal Industry

It may have managed to stay under the radar but poachers are raking in big when it comes to the number of animals taken from the wilds of Brazil. Recent estimates pega whopping 38 million animals are caught every year satisfying the global demand illegal it maybe. Most of those taken are birds, poised to be caged for pet lovers all over the world, mostly from Rio de Janeiro or Madrid or Sydney or New York.

Credit it to Brazil’s burgeoning demand for exotic pets, its largely weakened laws on wildlife trade compounded with the light penalties meted against violators that the illegal poaching on its wildlife has grown into a $2 billion industry.

Not if Juliana Machado Fereira can’t help it with the simplest of tools: information.

Enter Juliana

Juliana may just be the right person to get the job done. Armed with the right information she is in a good position to raise the fight for wildlife a notch higher.

Based in São Paulo, the wildlife conservationist affirms that it is customary for Brazil and many other South American nations to keep wild songbirds, parrots and macaws as pets. And that this is deeply ingrained right into their very culture.

"Most people have no idea that buying a parrot can have a devastating impact on nature, and support a whole system of illegal activities," she shares. "That's why educating consumers is crucial. Often, just giving them facts changes minds and behavior."

That is the goal of Freeland Brasil,an advocacy Machado Fereira has founded to fight illegal wildlife trafficking. And though she is constantly working with law enforcement at the forefront of what may become a full-blown war against trafficking, her organization wages a different side of the war – raising awareness of the problem via films and lectures and various educational programs for university students and high scholars alike.

Her group informs the public that more often than not, smuggled birds are prone to be mistreated and injured while in transit, with most of them ending up poorly-treated as caged pets. A lot of times, birds are not getting their needs answered, given the wrong food and placed in too small cages.

Yet, Juliana’s aims go beyond these individual animals. She affirms, "I care about the individual birds I rescue. But my real focus is on survival of whole species.”

"Brazil's wildlife is plundered in such huge numbers every day, severe imbalances are occurring within ecosystems," she expounds. "Extinctions of entire local populations can happen, and that affects many other prey and predator species up and down the food chain."

In the bigger picture, the illegal trade in Brazil has long-term side effects, definitely not beneficial for the human race. Altering local ecosystems result into inbreeding problems, weakening seed dispersal and producing inadequate pollination on many farms.

Taking a Stance with the Police

Yet, to a large extent, Juliana has contributed a lot more than just providing the right information to buyers of illegally-acquired wildlife. A large portion of her work is targeted at developing handy scientific techniques that give law enforcement agencies leverage in battling traffickers.

Armed with a Ph.D. in genetics, she was able to come up with species-specific molecular markers enabling police to identify the exact origins of a seized bird, for instance. Also, this acts like a lie detector separating legally bred species with illegally acquired. Additionally, this molecular tracking makes it a lot easier to return rehabilitated birds to the spot where they should be.

The delicacy of the matter is echoed by Machado Ferreria who stipulates, “"Even within the same species, distinct groups with unique genetic differences can evolve as they adapt to particular environments." Further, she added, “So if a scarlet macaw that was stolen from a forest in the northeast is returned to a forest in the northwest, it could mate and jeopardize the long-term health and viability of that local population."

A Most Versatile Wildlife Activist

Machado Ferreira’s work has seen her forging a decade-long research collaboration with the world-renowned U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services National Forensics Laboratory. Over the years, however, she has learned to spend lots of time outside her lab.

Her Freeland Brazil, a global partner of Thailand's Freeland Foundation– another group at the forefront of putting wildlife trafficking and human slavery to an end –gives police needed training to lower the escalating death rate of seized animals.
To date, she’s putting key knowledge into a guidebook to help law enforcement agencies in the fight against illegal trafficking.

It’s no wonder Machado Ferreira’s name has become synonymous with wildlife conservation efforts catapulting her to the national scene. And she’s upping the ante. Helped by SOS Fauna,an animal welfare group, she goes with law enforcement in the field, even joining key police raids helping identify and count animals in the process. This work is fraught with danger as it revolves around danger-prone street markets.

"Traffickers don't want to risk bringing all their merchandise to a fair, so police intelligence information [has] also led us to homes near the markets where illegal cargo was held," she explains. "We would stake out surveillance in front of those houses and then join the raid to seize the animals."

She is bringing the fight even to the political arena, lobbying for stronger anti-trafficking laws to Brazilian legislators. However, she knows that the road to redemption is still a long way to go saying: "The lobby which supports the wild pet trade is very strong, powerful, and well-financed."

She envisions a cross-border network much like the more successful ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network and acknowledges a great need to be bold now saying, "We need to act now—or we'll have nothing left to protect."

read more "Shunning the Lab to Save Millions of Trafficked Animals"

Bill Peterson Comes on Board as New Manager of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

Bill Peterson is the new manager of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. It's not been even a month since he has come on board for the post that was vacant for over a year.

Peterson has lately moved to Massachusetts from Memphis, Tenn. There, he was manager of Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas. Currently, Peterson and his wife, Stacy, are living on rent in York, Maine.

He has good amount of experience and is planning to utilize the same in the Refuge, which was established in 1941 with an aim to provide feeding, resting and nesting habitats for migratory birds. The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge is associated with Plum Island.

The Refuge comprises of over 4,700 acres of diverse habitats, including sandy beach, dune, cranberry bog, maritime forests, freshwater marsh and shrub land. Peterson affirmed, "Our primary focus is on the wildlife. Our top priority is the endangered species and the larger numbers of migratory birds. Conservation comes before public use, but we try to balance that".

He wants to encourage people to step out and recreate in the Refuge and learn about nature. Every year, between 250,000 and 300,000 people visit the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. He wants every person visiting the place should be able to see the beach and the marsh and explore the area.

Along with this, they have also to make sure that the marsh continues to be there for the next generations. Parker River is the perfect coastal habitat for over 300 species of resident and migratory birds and a number of mammals, insects, fish, reptiles and amphibians.

One of the first things in the to-do list of Peterson is to ensure that the staff, volunteers and visitors have safe and positive experiences in the refuge. As the Refuge manager, Peterson wants to complete the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge comprehensive conservation plan (CCP), which the Refuge's management plant for the next 15 years.

Source: Here

read more "Bill Peterson Comes on Board as New Manager of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge"

Saturated South Florida brings wildlife concerns

MIAMI (AP) - The heavy rains that saturated South Florida have some conservationists concerned with the wildlife in the Everglades.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commissioner Ron Bergeron is keeping a close eye as the water rises around tree islands and levees, forcing wildlife such as deer and panthers to cluster together on high ground.

Source: Here

read more "Saturated South Florida brings wildlife concerns"

Koala Bears

Koala bears, as a species, have long been identified as cute cuddly creatures, with countless plushie variations of their likeness found in countless toy stores and fair grounds.

The 2006 CGI-animated Disney movie The Wild, featured a koala as one of its main characters, one whose presence in the movie can be easily understood given how popular koala bears are.

Given their cuteness, questions related to the actual ownership of koala bears as pets have been asked by millions of children more than once. Much to their disappointment, however, the actual feasibility of owning a koala bear as a pet is not realistic for private home owners, but possible for research personnel and animal reservation sites.

Native to Australia, koala bears are creatures which cannot be owned as pets legally. Special permits which require certain prerequisites are required from wildlife centers and researchers, who can’t even indefinitely keep koalas with them throughout their respective life spans.

As animals, koalas are not like cats or dogs, in the sense that they can be readily domesticated. Being nocturnal, they’re not really as much fun as one would presume them to be, with koalas actually being notorious for being grouchy at certain occasions.

That plus their steady diet of eucalyptus leaves makes them quite troublesome to keep as pets for private homeowners, who need to keep a steady supply for koalas to consume. Dedicated wildlife centers have no qualms satisfying a koala bear’s particular needs and requirements in this sense though, which is a different story altogether.

read more "Koala Bears"

Badgers

Badgers, as members of the animal kingdom, are not as popular as Wolverines are, though the two are often linked as distant cousins, given their similarities and tenacities.

Once Upon a Forest, the 1992 animated feature produced by Hanna-Barbera and released by 20th Century Fox, featured a badger character as one of the main protagonists in the film, along with other woodland creatures such as woodmice, hedgehogs and moles.

With questions often raised about how good an idea keeping a pet badger is, a number of exotic pet owners suggest that keeping one can be quite troublesome, with the badger’s particular characteristics and traits.

The “Hassle” in keeping Badgers

In their natural habitats, badgers are known to “wait for food to show up”, which could generally include the consumption of dead meat whenever it is around. Though they are known to occasionally “hunt” for smaller rodents when they encounter them, the “dead meat” aspect to a badger’s diet may not be so easy for pet owners to fulfill.

Also, badgers are known to be unpredictable, and when matched with the fact that they do have long sharp nails, the possibility of being badly scratched is one which pet experts also often raised. Though badgers are generally okay with other domestic pets, instances of a house cat or dog being injured by one are known to prevail, a condition which comes from the unpredictable status of badgers.

More importantly, there are different rules and regulations related to the keeping of badgers as pets, and these rules differ from one state to another.

Those who do manage to secure the proper permits required to keep badgers have to generally pass certification standards which are related to their care and upkeep. From the size and secure state of enclosures, to the ideal habitat where a badger can be itself, factors related to ensuing their security from escaping and proper care and maintenance are regularly checked by authorized agencies.

Though it is not impossible to own a pet badger, their upkeep has led many to rethink their choice in keeping such an exotic wild animal as a pet, something which requires a lot of evaluation in the part of those who have plans of keeping one.

read more "Badgers"

Elephants and Tusks

Elephants, apart from their massive sizes, are also known for their tusks, considered to be an essential elephant feature that everyone knows about, regardless if a person in question has actually ever seen an elephant or not.

Though tusks have become readily identifiable elephant attributes, not everyone is aware of the 1980 movie entitled Tusk, telling the tale of a young girl and an elephant who happened to be born on the same day.

Based on the novel written by Reginald Campbell, the French language movie has been considered by many as a waste of time, but as it is based on the realities of the threats elephants are faced with in poaching, the movie’s message is far from being that of trivial.

As a part of the elephant’s physiology, tusks are actually the “teeth” of an elephant, defined as their second upper incisors. Unlike how humans and other mammals use their teeth, an elephant uses its tusks for digging, pushing, and other tasks that their trunks can not effectively do.

Thinking of them as “arms” is also apt, since elephants are known to have certain inclinations with which tusk they are more prone to use, with “left-tusked” and “right-tusked” elephants being around. Also, unlike human teeth, the tusks of an elephant is known to grow like how fingernails would grow.

The tusks of elephants are often valued for their ascribed exotic value, with many finding the ownership of real elephant tusk items as a symbol of wealth. Utilized in the making of jewelry items, souvenirs, accessories and other items, elephant populations are threatened by illegal poaching activities, primarily targeting the tusks of elephants as the “score”.

Though elephants are large, their size makes them big targets, which doesn’t really do anything in protecting them from being taken down. Their tusks, an important part that elephants need to have to survive, continue to be hunted by poachers, and as the movie Tusk shares, encouraging the demand for elephant tusks stands to be the best move in protecting them as a species.

read more "Elephants and Tusks"