Zoos ask travelers to photograph wildlife trafficking

Zoos ask travelers to photograph wildlife trafficking

San Diego Zoo Global has joined with zoos around the world in support of an international campaign to stop the massive and cruel illegal trade in wildlife—the fourth largest illegal trade in the world, after drugs, weapons and human trafficking. The global “Lend Your Eyes to the Wild” campaign encourages individuals to be the eyes and ears in the fight against wildlife trafficking.

In the past decade, wildlife trafficking has escalated into an international crisis, and it has become a multibillion-dollar-per-year global criminal activity. Wildlife trafficking includes the illegal activities of obtaining and selling live animals and plants, or parts of animals and plants, such as meat, ivory, horns, bones, teeth, fur, skin, wood, leaves, feathers and shells. Illegal wildlife and related products are sold to people as exotic pets; exotic food; items for adornment and display; items to show off wealth or status; or as remedies for ailments that have no proven effectiveness.

“San Diego Zoo Global is in the business of ending extinction; combating illegal wildlife trafficking is an important part of meeting that goal,” stated Randy Rieches, curator of mammals, San Diego Zoo Safari Park. “Tragically, animals and plant species are being killed or taken from the wild in epic proportions, decimating their populations and affecting ecosystems.”

The “Lend Your Eyes to the Wild” campaign encourages travelers to Southeast Asia to report illegal wildlife trade activities they may observe in markets, in shops or at airports, through the use of Wildlife Witness, a free app that can be downloaded on iPhones and Android devices. The app—developed by Taronga Zoo in Australia in conjunction with TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network—allows individuals to take a photo, “pin” the exact location of an incident and send these important details to TRAFFIC. The information received is then routed to the proper legal authorities capable of arresting and prosecuting those engaged in the trade. The app user who identifies the illegal wildlife trafficking situation remains anonymous throughout the process.

“Our partnership with TRAFFIC and the Taronga Zoo in supporting this mobile app is another way to raise awareness for the plight of endangered wildlife,” said Rieches. “We can’t do this alone; we need everyone’s help.”

The demand for illegal wildlife products is prevalent in several countries. While China and Vietnam are two of the primary destinations for most trafficked goods, the U.S. is the second leading recipient of illegal ivory, with California and New York key wildlife trafficking ports of entry and consumer markets.

At the state level, San Diego Zoo Global supported California becoming the third U.S. state to ban the sale of ivory with the passage of Assembly Bill 96, which was broadened to outlaw the sale of rhino horn, as well. Nationally, San Diego Zoo Global has formed a Wildlife Trafficking Task Force (WTTF), in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other law enforcement agencies and conservation organizations to help stop wildlife trafficking. San Diego Zoo Global is also called upon to take care of plants and animals that are confiscated at ports of entry like the U.S.-Mexico border and Los Angeles International Airport.

Worldwide, San Diego Zoo Global is leading and inspiring wildlife protection, working on more than 140 projects in nearly 80 countries.

At the current rate of poaching, animals including elephants, rhinos, tigers, pangolins and some species of turtles are expected to disappear from the wild within 10 to 30 years. Tens of thousands of elephants have been slaughtered for their ivory tusks in the past five years by poachers in Africa—including 85,000 just in Tanzania. In 2015, more than 1,200 rhinos were killed for their horns in South Africa alone; the majority of those were white rhinos.

Since the Wildlife Witness app launched in May, incidents referred to law enforcement agencies have resulted in more than 1,200 important pieces of intelligence and helped authorities take action against more than 500 people involved in global wildlife trade. For more information, and to download the Wildlife Witness app, visit wildlifewitness.net.

Bringing species back from the brink of extinction is the goal of San Diego Zoo Global. As a leader in conservation, the work of San Diego Zoo Global includes on-site wildlife conservation efforts (representing both plants and animals) at the San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research, as well as international field programs on six continents. The work of these entities is inspiring children through the San Diego Zoo Kids network, reaching out through the internet and in children’s hospitals nationwide. The work of San Diego Zoo Global is made possible by the San Diego Zoo Global Wildlife Conservancy and is supported in part by the Foundation of San Diego Zoo Global.

(From Press Release)

Peter Dickinson Independent International Zoo Consultant +971 50 4787 122 | elvinhow@gmail.com | Skype: peter.dickinson48

The Sacking of Frank Buck

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robphoto/2845179838/

Zoo director hired, then things got wild


By Richard Crawford

Frank H. Buck, one of the foremost zoological collectors of the United States, arrived yesterday from San Francisco and at once assumed the duties of his position as director of the San Diego Zoo. Under his direction, the splendid zoo here is expected to increase rapidly in size and reputation.

— San Diego Union, June 14, 1923



The adventures of Frank ‘Bring ’Em Back Alive’ Buck captivated millions of people throughout the world in the 1930s and ’40s. Celebrated to this day for his exploits as a wild-animal hunter and trader, Buck is less well known for his brief, tumultuous tenure as the first full-time, salaried director of the San Diego Zoo.



Signed by the Zoological Society to a three-year contract that paid $4,000 annually, Buck, 41, came to San Diego on the strong recommendation of Dr. William T. Hornaday, director of the famed Bronx Zoo.



He started working in San Diego in June 1923, voicing excitement for his new job to reporters. “We have the best zoo west of Chicago,” Buck boasted, “and we are going to make it even bigger and better.”

He began with an ambitious building program, constructing new exhibit cages for birds and monkeys and acquiring new animals for the growing collection.



But his efforts were not appreciated by the board of the Zoological Society, and particularly its president and founder of the zoo, Dr. Harry M. Wegeforth. A strong-willed, hands-on president, Wegeforth walked the zoo grounds daily and immediately clashed with the independent-minded Buck.



After only three months, the zoo’s board fired Buck, charging that the man “could not be trusted.”



Buck sued the Zoological Society and Wegeforth for breach of contract. Claiming that he had given up his lucrative animal-collecting business to work in San Diego and suffered injury to his reputation, Buck sought damages of $22,500.



In his court deposition, Buck cited a litany of grievances, most of them focused upon the actions of Wegeforth. Buck claimed the zoo president had interfered with “practically everything” and had conspired with the board to “belittle and disparage” his efforts as director. He had been fired, Buck believed, after he built a bird enclosure without personal authorization from Wegeforth.



He also made surprising allegations about Wegeforth. A physician, Wegeforth took a strong interest in veterinary medicine and personally monitored the health of the animals. But Buck charged that the doctor had killed a sick tiger by dosing the animal with calomel, and had been responsible for the deaths of 150 snakes that had been force-fed with a sausage stuffer.



A different story emerged in court from the testimony of board member Thomas N. Faulconer and several others. All witnesses flatly denied Buck’s charge that snakes had been killed by force-feeding, and they suggested the sick tiger had died after a suspicious blow to the head.



According to these witnesses, Buck’s problems

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Important Non Invasive Research in Zoos

Mix and match


THE scientific value of zoos is sometimes called into question, but Mark Schrenzel and Bruce Rideout, two experts on wildlife diseases who work at San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research, have just shown the value of having a wide range of animals to hand for study. They have been looking at which species might act as reservoirs for influenza viruses and—worse, from the human point of view—which might act as “mixing vessels” in which new strains of virus are generated.

Their work revolved around an analysis of complex carbohydrates found on the surface membranes of cells. These molecules can act as “receptors” for influenza viruses, permitting them to lock onto a cell’s surface and thus infect it.

The two researchers knew from previous reports that H5N1, the avian strain of influenza, makes use of receptors containing an alpha 2,3 sialic-acid linkage, whereas H1N1 strains, such as the swine flu that has spread around the world over the past year, employ the alpha 2,6 sialic-acid bond. They also knew that any species (domesticated swine being one) which carries receptors of both types could act as a mixing vessel. So they set out to find which animals have what. They focused on species likely to encounter waterfowl such as geese and ducks, which are known to be particularly vulnerable to H5N1.

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mape_s/333863334/

Altogether, Dr Schrenzel and Dr Rideout analysed the receptors of 60 species, ranging from bears and lions to skunks and marsupials. They found that some which were once of considerable concern because they are often around water birds—the European otter, the polar bear, the raccoon and the bald eagle—are unlikely to be infected because they do not carry the necessary receptors. However, several species of small carnivore, such as the arctic fox, the Chinese wolf and the corsac fox, along with the opossum (pictured above), do have the receptor that H5N1 uses, making these animals potential targets for the virus. Most worryingly, the researchers also found several animals, including the Persian leopard, the North American striped skunk and a handful of other small carnivores, that carry both receptors and are thus likely to be dangerous when it comes to viral mixing.

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/publicdomainphotos/3124458662/

Stopping such mixing in wild animals is well nigh impossible, of course, but the work Dr Schrenzel and Dr Rideout are doing means those charged with watching for new outbreaks of influenza will have a better idea of where to look. Keeping an eye on wildlife in this way is seen by many epidemiologists as an important new part of the armoury. A nice twist, then, that it is helped by a type of scientific institution that some thought obsolete.

http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15211393&fsrc=rss

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