Photo: ©2009 WWF/Klein Hubet
BERN, SWITZERLAND – WWF Switzerland is counting two environmental battles won this week. Its fight to see Valais respect the Bern International Treaty that covers the protection of wolves, an endangered species, resulted in a decision by the Sion district tribunal 13 December to condemn former cantonal councilor Jean-René Fournier to 60 days community service, with the sentence suspended.
Fournier is no longer in the cantonal government but represents Valais in the upper house of the Swiss parliament.
Valais should start adding shepherds, dogs to sheep herds, says WWF
The decision relates to the 2006 death of a wolf that had killed 30 sheep in Valais. Fournier approved the permit to shoot the animal and after its death he stuffed it and had it on display in his office, despite the international ban to which Switzerland is party.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Supermarket chain Migros is doing its bit to make Switzerland more habitable for endangered hares, birds and plants by empowering Facebook users to help support TerraSuisse financially. Migros will supple enough seeds for an IP (integrated production) Suisse farmer working with the TerraSuisse programme to plant one square metre of wildflowers in 2012 for each Facebook user who “likes” the Terrasuisse FB page.
TerraSuisse is Migros’s sustainable development label. Farmers who apply integrated production methods, which are close to organic, make a commitment to provide small habitats, or safe spaces, within larger fields and orchards, for wild flora and fauna.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Gland-based WWF‘s Indonesian arm announced Monday that an “almost extinct species” has been caught on camera. The Javan rhinos “are breeding in Ujung Kulon,” says Eric Dinerstein, chief scientist at WWF in the US.
The video was released 28 February by WWF-Indonesia and Indonesia’s National Park Authority.
The footage was taken by a motion-activated video camera at the Ujung Kulon National Park.
It is “a huge boost to efforts to save this almost extinct species that is threatened by poaching, disease, and the possibility of a tsunami or volcanic eruption,” WWF-Indonesia notes in a written statement.
The Javan rhino may be one of the rarest mammals on the planet according to the WWF, with as few as 40 left. Once numerous throughout Southeast Asia, its population is now likely isolated to Ujung Kulon National Park in Indonesia.
Video of two families of Javan rhinos
To donate to their cause you can visit: www.javanrhinohope.org
Swiss hare in field with bare patch (photo ©2010 Swiss Ornithological Institute / Marcus Jenny)
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Tigers have a hope of surviving, at the end of 2010, but bluefin tuna could well disappear from the face of the Earth and its cousins in the fish world are not in good shape, with one in five species threatened.
These are some of the conclusions of the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature), which runs the Red List of Threatened Species. WWF Switzerland, in a year-end look at IUCN’s winners and losers in the species departments, notes that worldwide, the number threatened with extinction has been rising steadily, from 16,928 in 2008 to 18,351 two years later, some 33 percent of all species.
Bluefin tuna (photo: WWF)
Tigers have a fighting chance, after governments agreed in 2010 to a series of protective measures, according to the IUCN. But governments let down the bluefish tuna, whose stocks are badly overfished, the Gland-based group states.
And then there is the hare-razing tale of one of Switzerland’s disappearing creatures.
The hare and the wolf are two of the losers in Switzerland, with the hare population falling to 2.7 per square metre, in some areas 1.6/m2, with experts saying that 2-6/m2 pushes a population into the critical stages to remain viable. Hare numbers are shrinking rapidly due to urban growth, reduced protected road passages and less ground cover that leaves young hares in above-ground nests where they are easily run over by tractors.
Switzerland has an estimated population of only 15 wolves, but even this small number is threatened by parliamentary approval that would give hunters and farmers the right to shoot. If parliament passes changes to the law, which are under discussion, the country would need to pull out of the Bern Convention, a strict international agreement to save the wolf.
Some members of the great white shark's family are on the Cites list under review for protection
Bern / Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland has agreed to back demands for a ban on bluefin tuna, a favourite of sushi diners, when Geneva-based Cites meets in Doha, Qatar, 13-25 March. Cites is the inter-government Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and 175 governments will be sending representatives to the triennial meeting.
Panay Monitor Lizard (Varanus mabitang) © Tim Laman
Gland, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A major new assessment of the threats to the world’s biodiversity shows that the continuing encroachment on many species’ habitats is increasing their vulnerability. The 2009 edition of world’s most comprehensive list of life under threat of extinction, the Red List of Threatened Species, was published Tuesday 3 November. The Red List is published yearly by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in Gland, near Geneva.
“The scientific evidence of a serious extinction crisis is mounting,” says Jane Smart, Director of IUCN’s Biodiversity Conservation Group.
Undercover officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo discovered a baby gorilla in a suspected trafficker’s bag under a pile of clothes, according to the head of Virunga National Park. The gorilla is said to be in poor health but is responding well to treatment. Gorillas are worth up to $20,000 on the black market, according to the official. CNN
Open every day of the year, the Zoo de la Garenne, in Le Vaud, near Gland, is dedicated to European indigenous species and endangered species. Open to all, the zoo also welcomes students 6 to 18 with their teachers and adult groups to a variety of workshops. Website is in French.
