A newly released study from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) offers hope of conservation to the world’s low-profile and more unloved members of the animal kingdom. The study, which appears in the international conservation journal, Oryx, demonstrates that a “Wisdom of Crowds” method can successfully be used to determine the conservation status of species when more expensive standard field methods are not feasible.
The United Nations General Assembly today passed a sweeping resolution that targets the global problem of wildlife trafficking, calling on all 193 UN member states (governments of the world) to take on a series of actions to “prevent, combat, and eradicate the illegal trade in wildlife.”
Polda Bengkulu (Bengkulu Police) supported by Polres Kaur (District Police), the Government of Indonesia, WCS’s Wildlife Crimes Unit (WCU), TRAFFIC, and the Rhino Protection Unit (RPU) announced today the arrest of an Asian elephant ivory trader.
A logging company, working with local authorities and WCS, has agreed to begin dismantling abandoned logging roads currently being used by poachers to access prime Amur (Siberian) tiger habitat in the Russian Far East.
New research by Australian scientists and WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) published today in Nature warns governments against using biodiversity offsetting to meet existing conservation commitments.
The Larantuka District Police, the Government of Indonesia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)’s Wildlife Crimes Unit (WCU) announced today the arrest of a trader of sharks and rays in Indonesia, home to the largest shark fisheries on earth.
The Vote Bison Coalition applauded the introduction of legislation, H.R. 2908, in the U.S. House of Representatives to officially recognize bison as the National Mammal of the United States.
Forest rangers from the Gunung Leuser National Park (GLNP), the Government of Indonesia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wildlife Crimes Unit (WCU) announced today the arrest of two suspects engaged in the illegal trade of helmeted hornbill beaks. The suspects’ operation involved 30 hunters who poached the birds inside Indonesia’s Leuser landscape—a continuous forest covering more than 25,000 square kilometers, most of which lies in the province of Aceh, including Gunung Leuser National Park.
Scientists studying blue whales in the waters of Chile through DNA profiling and photo-identification may have solved the mystery of where these huge animals go to breed, as revealed by a single female blue whale named “Isabela,” according to a recent study by the Chile’s Blue Whale Center/Universidad Austral de Chile, NOAA and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
One day before China crushed 660 kg of ivory and indicated it would move to stop the processing and domestic sale of ivory, Beijing Customs launched a campaign called “Customs Actions to Protect Endangered Species – Bring No Ivory Home”
If you happen to be at one of several popular national parks in the next ten days, you may see a small delegation of Mongolian officials taking in the grandeur alongside you. As part of a trans-national sharing of expertise on park management issues, (WCS) Wildlife Conservation Society is hosting six key members of the Mongolian government for a protected area study tour.
The Government of Bolivia, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and a number of Bolivian research and conservation organizations announced today (the International Day for Biological Diversity) the launching of a new scientific expedition, Identidad Madidi, into the heart of Madidi National Park—the most biodiverse protected area in the world—in an effort to describe still unknown species and to showcase the wonders of Bolivia’s extraordinary natural heritage at home and abroad.
Lafaza and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today announced the launch of a new partnership to work with communities to expand environmentally sustainable vanilla and clove production around the Makira Natural Park in Madagascar’s northeast. The partnership will support more than 1,900 households to produce high-quality vanilla and cloves that will be destined for international buyers in the United States and abroad.
A team of researchers from the University of California, Davis, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and other groups has focused its attention on fishery improvement projects (FIPs), which are designed to bring seafood from wild fisheries to the certified market, with only a promise of sustainability in the future. They conclude that FIPs need to be fine-tuned to ensure that fisheries are delivering on their promises.
The Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Division (BARESKRIM MABES POLRI), the Government of Indonesia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wildlife Crimes Unit (WCU) today announced the seizure of a shipment of pangolins headed to China and valued at approximately 1.8 million US dollars (USD). The pangolin smuggler involved in the case has been arrested.
The Government of Madagascar commemorates Earth Day with the formal creation of three community-led marine protected areas that will double the surface of the country’s marine protected area network, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society).
The 45th annual Earth Day arrives on April 22nd, and with it, the usual calls to do more for the planet like recycling, using less energy, and buying organic. But what about actions you can do that directly save wildlife?
Riders ready? Cycle Adirondacks – an event to benefit both wildlife and local communities – is fast approaching. Hosted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in partnership with I Love NY, the event has riders all over the nation gearing up for one of three tour options taking place during one amazing week, August 23-29. Event organizers this week announced three-day and four-day tour alternatives in addition to the existing week-long option.
The State Prosecutor of North Sumatra and WCS’s Wildlife Crimes Unit announced the arrest of a suspect for trafficking a living orangutan in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. The trafficker allegedly sold wildlife through Facebook and by BlackBerry Messenger. The arrest was made on April 13, 2015.
Two primatologists working in the forests of the Republic of Congo have returned from the field with a noteworthy prize: the first-ever photograph of the Bouvier’s red colobus monkey, a rare primate not seen for more than half a century and suspected to be extinct by some, according to WCS (the Wildlife Conservation Society).
WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) announced today that 60 captive-raised Myanmar roofed turtles—a species once thought extinct—have been released into their native habitat in Myanmar.
Fish are the key ingredients in a new recipe to diagnose and restore degraded coral reef ecosystems, according to scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science, WCS, James Cook University, and other organizations in a new study in the journal Nature.
The number of gorillas and chimpanzees in Central Africa continues to decline due to hunting, habitat loss, and disease, combined with a widespread lack of law enforcement and corruption in the judicial process, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF, and partners in a new conservation plan.
A new paper from Colorado State University, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and others shows that residential development research is lacking when it comes to achieving key sustainability objectives because in most cases it is limited by a single discipline perspective.
The following statement was given today by John Robinson, WCS Executive Vice President for Conservation and Science at the 2015 ECOSOC Integration Segment held by the Permanent Missions of Germany and Gabon:
A team of investors, development organizations, conservationists, economists, and ecologists have published in the journal Science six natural science principles to ensure success of Payments for Ecosystem Services, mechanisms that have helped preserve carbon stocks stored in Madagascar’s rainforests, maintain wildlife populations important for tourism in Tanzania, and protect watersheds in France by working with local farmers.
The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Russia Program, in partnership with the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve and Udegeiskaya Legenda National Park, released a camera trap slideshow of a family of Amur tigers in the wild showing an adult male with family. Shown following the “tiger dad” along the Russian forest is an adult female and three cubs. Scientists note this is a first in terms of photographing this behavior, as adult male tigers are usually solitary. Also included was a photo composite of a series of images showing the entire family as they walked past the a camera trap over a period of two minutes.
A scientific team from WCS, Myanmar’s Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division – MOECAF, and National University of Singapore (NUS) has rediscovered a bird previously thought to be extinct.
A new study led by WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), University of Montana, Qinghai Forestry Bureau, Keke Xili National Nature Reserve, and other groups finds that climate change and past hunting in the remote Tibetan Plateau is forcing female wild yaks onto steeper and steeper terrain.
The following statement is from Cristián Samper, WCS President and CEO: “As nations and global citizens celebrate the second World Wildlife Day on Tuesday, March 3rd, the United Nations has announced that organized crime threatening wildlife species is on the rise.
This week, Congo's Ministry of Forestry Economy and Sustainable Development (MEFDD) carried out a complete inventory of the ivory held at its main stockpile in Brazzaville and started a detailed review of ivory management across the country.
A team of scientists exposes inherent shortcomings in a technique to count tigers. Among recent studies thought to be based on this method is India’s national tiger survey (January 2015) which claimed a surprising but welcome 30 percent rise in tiger numbers in just four years.
Carbon credits from WCS’s Makira Natural Park Project in Madagascar are now available through the Stand for Trees campaign, an online carbon sales platform recently launched by USAID and Code REDD.
Conservationists in Guatemala and around the world celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, a successful safe haven for jaguars, peccaries, macaws and other species that have disappeared from much of Mesoamerica, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine and its Feline Health Center, and the University of Glasgow's Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine have just co-convened the first "Vaccines for Conservation" international meeting at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo in New York City. Experts from around the world focused on the threat that canine distemper virus poses to the conservation of increasingly fragmented populations of threatened carnivores. While canine distemper has been known for many years as a problem affecting domestic dogs, the virus has been appearing in new areas and causing disease and mortality in a wide range of wildlife species, including tigers and lions. In fact, many experts agree that the virus should not be called “canine distemper” virus at all, given the diversity of species it infects.
The South Sumatra Military Police, South Sumatra Provincial Natural Resource Conservation Office (BKSDA), and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wildlife Crimes Unit (WCU) announced today the recent arrest of a major wildlife trafficker illegally trading in tiger parts and other protected wildlife in Indonesia. The suspect has allegedly sold more than 100 stuffed tigers over a ten-year period.
WCS submitted testimony to the Hawaii House Committee on Water and Land in support of HB 837, which would help shut down the illegal trade in ivory currently decimating elephants across Africa.
The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) today announced the completion of a four-year collaborative study in Idaho’s Island Park area that will better inform decision-making with regard to wildlife-related hazards and improved safety on U.S. Highway 20 and Idaho Highway 87.
The Government of Madagascar has created the country’s first marine sanctuary for sharks as part of a new law to safeguard the country’s marine resources and the communities that rely on them, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Researchers from Africa, North America and Europe have published a road map on how future evolutionary research and education efforts in Central African forests can guide conservation strategies and actions.
Human beings are not the only great ape species likely to be severely impacted by climate change in the future. According to a new study by the Drexel University, Wildlife Conservation Society, and other groups, the Nigerian-Cameroon chimpanzee—the most endangered of all chimpanzee subspecies—may lose much of its habitat within the next five years and fully half of it in the next century.
The Russian Far East is the setting for a Cinderella story. In this case, Cinderella is a tiger. An orphaned, starved, frost-bitten cub was rescued in the winter of 2012, rehabilitated, released, and now is possibly mating and re-colonizing former tiger territory, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
WCS and partners in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru have published four significant contributions towards the conservation of the real Paddington Bear – the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus).
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Governments of Tanzania and the United States, including USAID, announced the launch of a new joint program to save East Africa’s largest elephant population in the Ruaha-Katavi Landscape.
Guanacos are back – and getting into trouble – says a team of scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) tracking these iconic hoofed mammals across a variety of landscapes on the Chilean side of the island of Tierra del Fuego.