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Finding Homes For Rhinos | Earth Wise

October 6, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Northern White Rhinos are virtually extinct; only two female individuals survive in Kenya. Southern White Rhinos also nearly vanished early in the 20th century, mostly because of excessive hunting. A surviving group of fewer than 100 animals was identified in South Africa, and ongoing conservation efforts led to the existing population of southern white rhinos, which now numbers more than 16,000.

Among the most successful conservation efforts took place at a 30-square-mile farm, Platinum Rhino, that was set up in 2009 about 100 miles southwest of Johannesburg. The owner of the farm did a great job of maintaining genetic diversity of the herd and protecting it from poachers. Eventually, it was costing $175,000 a month just for security against illegal hunters seeking rhino horns.

Faced with unsustainable expenses, the farm put the herd of 2,000 rhinos up for auction in April with a starting price of $10 million. No bidders came forward.

Fortunately, in September, the conservation group African Parks announced that it had reached a deal to take over the herd. African Parks partners with 12 countries in Africa to manage 77,000 square miles of protected areas.

The plan is to start moving the rhinos into a series of new sites in the wild starting next year. Moving the 5,000-pound animals to new locations will be complicated and expensive, costing anywhere from $1,500 to move a single rhino by land within South Africa to $50,000 for far afield air transport. African Parks is now raising funds to relocate the animals.

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Now Available: 2,000 Rhinos, Free to Good Homes With Plenty of Space

Photo, posted September 4, 2023, courtesy of Eric Huybrechts via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Too Many Bison | Earth Wise

September 21, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In the northern part of Yellowstone National Park, an historically large bison herd is hampering the comeback of quaking aspen trees, whose numbers were greatly diminished by decades of over-browsing by elk. Restoring the balance of ecosystems at Yellowstone is proving to be a complicated matter.

Long ago, the bison population in the Great Plains was as much as 30 million. The population sharply decreased in the 1800s. By the 1830s, there were no bison east of the Mississippi River. Fifty years later, the Plains bison was nearly extinct. Several small herds lived near Yellowstone Park when it was established in 1872, but poachers killed off nearly of them by the turn of the century. Protective measures were taken and by 1925, Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley herd had grown to more than 750. After that, occasional culling took place for over 40 years.

When gray wolves and cougars were removed from the park, elk populations boomed, and the elk gradually decimated the growth of quaking aspen, cottonwood, willow, and berry-producing shrubs. Both elk and bison were regularly culled until 1968 when public and congressional outcry intervened.

The return of wolves and cougars to the park made some progress in restoring ecosystem balance, particularly with respect to the elk population which has dropped from 20,000 to 5,000. But bison numbers have grown to over 4,000 over past 20 years and the damage once caused by elk is now continuing from bison.

Park administrators are faced with complex management decisions about how to best preserve the ecosystems at Yellowstone National Park.

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Bison in northern Yellowstone proving to be too much of a good thing

Photo, posted October 6, 2016, courtesy of Christian Collins via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Snakes Near A Plane | Earth Wise

September 15, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

San Francisco International Airport is the seventh-busiest airport in the United States. In a typical year, approximately 55 million people pass through SFO on their way to destinations throughout North America and beyond.

At some point during their journey to or from the terminals at SFO, each one of those people will pass by a seemingly unremarkable 180-acre parcel of land. Surrounded by highways and train tracks, the soggy and overgrown vacant lot isn’t just home to rows of power lines. It’s also home to the world’s largest population of the beautiful and highly endangered San Francisco garter snake.

According to a recent study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, there are approximately 1,300 San Francisco garter snakes at SFO’s West of Bayshore property – the greatest concentration of these snakes ever recorded.

Conservationists have long known that the San Francisco garter snake was in trouble. In fact, it landed on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s very first endangered species list, which was published in 1967. Over the years, agricultural, commercial, and urban development have destroyed much of its wetland habitat, as well as much of its primary food source, the California red-legged frog. The snakes have also been a popular target for poachers and collectors.

Since 2008, SFO has been working with the USFWS on a recovery strategy for the species. Together, they’ve made enhancements to the West of Bayshore habitat, including building rainfed ponds and deepening existing wetlands. They have also added fences to protect habitat and prevent illegal collection.

But low population counts at other locations means the recovery for the San Francisco garter snake is far from over.

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Combining genetic and demographic monitoring better informs conservation of an endangered urban snake

A San Francisco Airport Site Is Crawling With Snakes—And That’s a Good Thing

Photo, posted April 16, 2011, courtesy of Brian Gratwicke via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

An Environmental Victory In Cameroon | Earth Wise

September 23, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Ebo Forest in Cameroon is one of the last intact forests in central Africa and is a biodiversity hotspot, home to hundreds of rare plants and animal species, including tool-using Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees, western gorillas, forest elephants, red colobus monkeys, and giant goliath frogs. The 600 square miles of mountain slopes and river valleys are covered by thick tree canopies that shelter a fascinating array of species.

This past July, Cameroon Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute signed a decree that turned half of the Ebo Forest into a so-called forest management unit, meaning that the government could begin to sell logging concessions.

However, on August 11, Ngute, at the direction of President Paul Biya, withdrew the decree, suspending any logging plans. President Biya also ordered a delay to reclassify an additional 160,000 acres of the Ebo, which might have opened up even more forest for logging.

Apart from its rich biodiversity, the Ebo Forest is culturally and societally important for the Banen Indigenous people, who consider it to be their sacred ancestral home. The Banen were ousted from the forest in the 1960s but took up settlements just a few miles from its borders. They still rely on the forest for food and medicines. Meanwhile, the proximity of the forest to big cities makes it an easy target for bushmeat poachers.

Both conservation groups and indigenous leaders welcomed the withdrawal of the decree but remain concerned about the future of the Ebo Forest. Conservation groups hope that the international community will seize the opportunity to work with the government of Cameroon to make the Ebo Forest a permanent showcase for long-term conservation in harmony with very challenged communities.

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