Zoos and Aquariums Mobilize to Help End Extinction

AZA-accredited Zoos and Aquariums Mobilize to Help End Extinction

of the World’s Most Vulnerable Species

The accredited zoos and aquariums in your community are bringing the risk of wildlife extinction to the forefront on May 15, Endangered Species Day.

(Silver Spring, MD – May 15, 2015) The 229 zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) announced today a bold new effort focused on saving species from extinction and restoring them to healthy sized populations in the wild. SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction will deepen the already substantial science and conservation work on endangered species occurring at AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums by engaging the 180 million annual aquarium and zoo visitors and partners across the world to protect habitat, decrease threats, and restore populations to sustainable levels. 

To mark the launch of SAFE and to begin engaging the public in this important work, today, May 15, the tenth anniversary of Endangered Species Day, endangered animals at many AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums across the country will “vanish” – their exhibits closed or curtained off or otherwise marked to illustrate what is at stake if no action is taken. At each exhibit where the endangered species have “vanished,” visitors will receive information about how they can take steps to support conservation and ensure that these important species are protected for generations to come.  

“At its core, SAFE represents a new and unique opportunity to combat the extinction crisis and save vital species,” said Jim Maddy, President and CEO of AZA. “With thousands of scientists and conservationists--more than any other single conservation organization--750,000 animals in their care, and more access to the public to the tune of 180 million visitors annually, AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums are poised to make a tremendous difference.”

The leadership of the AZA-accredited zoo and aquarium community has worked intensively over the past two years, reviewing the science to identify more than 100 species that are facing serious threats. These species are critical to maintaining overall ecosystems, and zoos and aquariums have unique scientific expertise and resources to improve their conservation status. In 2015, SAFE will focus on 10 key species from that list:

·         African Penguin;

·         Asian Elephants;

·         Black rhinoceros;

·         Cheetah;

·         Gorillas;

·         Sea Turtles;

·         Vaquita;

·         Sharks and rays;

·         Western pond turtle; and

·         Whooping Crane

Every year for at least the next decade, 10 or more species will be added to SAFE based on the most current science and the availability of resources. 

For more than 100 years, AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums have been leaders in species survival and are already working to restore more than 30 species to healthy wild populations, including the American bison, the California condor, the black footed ferret and a number of aquatic species. AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums collaboratively manage more than 450 Species Survival Plan® programs, as well as are investing more than $160 million each year in field conservation work in more than 100 countries across the globe. The worsening and accelerating extinction crisis, which many scientists refer to as the “Sixth Extinction,” challenged AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums to significantly increase their efforts.

“In many cases, the science and conservation community knows what must be done to save these species and many independently managed efforts have been initiated to tackle one or more areas of focus at a time,” said Dennis Pate, AZA Board Chair and Executive Director and CEO of Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium.  “We will convene all partners working on saving the AZA SAFE species, who will collaboratively identify and prioritize the essential conservation actions needed. We will then provide the resources and mobilize our 180 million visitors to help save these species and restore them to sustainable populations in the wild.”

“For years, we have worked closely with AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums, but SAFE is really a game changer for us,” said Dr. Stephen van der Spuy, Executive Director at SANCCOB, the South African non-profit that is leading the effort to protect African penguins and other sea birds in South Africa. “By strategically focusing the work of AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums, by bringing new resources, and by engaging the millions of zoo and aquarium visitors in saving African penguins, we’re confident that SAFE can help make a real impact at saving these birds from extinction.” 

This bold, comprehensive approach is already attracting significant support. Initially, SAFE launched with a $1 million challenge grant from noted conservationists Mark and Kim Walter. Since then, the challenge has been successfully matched and their gift has continued to generate additional philanthropic interest and investment in this critical initiative.

SAFE has also drawn significant corporate support from ALEX AND ANI, FishFlops® and Frito-Lay North America. ALEX AND ANI, the Rhode Island based eco-conscious lifestyle brand, created a penguin charm as part of their award-winning CHARITY BY DESIGN® program, and it has already become a top seller, generating funds that support conservation work at AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums. In the same spirit of giving back, 17-year-old entrepreneur Madison Nicole Robinson, creator of the popular children’s line of shoes FishFlops®, is creating a special line of flip flops and slippers to benefit SAFE, with a portion of her sales going directly to SAFE conservation projects. As an AZA partner, Frito-Lay North America is rallying families’ support for SAFE with a commitment to match every dollar donated to the cause through www.FritoLayZooFun.com, up to a maximum of $100,000, through June 15, 2015. In addition to matching donations made through the site, Frito-Lay will donate $1 for each social share, per person, per day, of an endangered animal fact made through the site in an effort to encourage families to spread awareness about the important cause. Donations for social shares will also count towards Frito-Lay’s maximum $100,000 donation.

"Fun is at the heart of everything we do and it’s what we hope to inspire with our variety packs of snacks,” said Ryan Matiyow, senior director of marketing, Frito-Lay. “Through our partnership with AZA, we’re able to bring families around their shared passion for animals and to support a cause that will help ensure families can experience the wonder of wildlife for generations to come.”

About AZA

Founded in 1924, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and aquariums in the areas of conservation, animal welfare, education, science, and recreation. AZA is the accrediting body for the top zoos and aquariums in the United States and seven other countries. Look for the AZA accreditation logo whenever you visit a zoo or aquarium as your assurance that you are supporting a facility dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you, and a better future for all living things. The AZA is a leader in saving species and your link to helping animals all over the world. To learn more, visit aza.org.

About SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction

SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction combines the power of zoo and aquarium visitors with the resources and collective expertise of AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums and partners to save animals from extinction. Together we are working on saving the most vulnerable wildlife species from extinction and protecting them for future generations. To learn more, visit AZAsavingspecies.org.

‘Extinct’ bird hatches at Bristol Zoo Gardens

‘Extinct’ bird hatches at Bristol Zoo Gardens

One of the rarest birds in the world has been bred by keepers at Bristol Zoo Gardens.

A Socorro dove chick has hatched and is thriving in the zoo, marking a major success for the species which is extinct in the wild. It is the first time Socorro doves have successfully bred at Bristol Zoo in five years. The chick was one of two that hatched but sadly one of them died at a young age.

The last recorded sighting of a Socorro dove in the wild was in 1972. Now there are around just 100 held in captivity in zoos around the world – including 25 birds in six UK zoos. Coordinated conservation breeding of the birds by organisations such as Bristol Zoo has prevented the total extinction of the species.

Bristol Zoo’s Curator of birds, Nigel Simpson, said: “Sadly these birds now only exist in captivity, so to have this chick hatch and survive 40 years after they were last seen in the wild is a great achievement.”

The chick at Bristol Zoo has been raised by foster birds - a pair of European turtle doves - which have a strong track record of raising healthy chicks. The precious Socorro dove egg was placed in the turtle doves’ nest as the adult Socorro doves have a poor history of incubating eggs.

Keepers monitored the chick via a hidden camera to follow its progress, capturing rare footage of these extremely endangered birds. To see a short clip of the two chicks (one of which unfortunately later died), click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sytyTj99onI&feature=youtu.be

Nigel added: “The foster birds have done a fantastic job of raising this very important chick and we are thrilled to say that another pair of foster birds is now incubating another Socorro dove egg which we hope will hatch soon.”

The chick is now fully fledged and can be seen in one of the aviaries near the zoo’s education centre. Bristol Zoo hopes the young bird, and any future chicks, will eventually be paired with Socorro doves from other UK zoos to continue the vital captive breeding programme for the species.

Socorro doves were native to the island of Socorro, 600 miles off the western coast of Mexico. They died out after falling prey to a rising number of feral cats in the area. Overgrazing sheep also destroyed much of their forest floor habitat and the birds were also hunted by humans for food.

Bristol Zoo Gardens is a conservation and education charity and relies on the generous support of the public not only to fund its important work in the zoo, but also its vital conservation and research projects spanning five continents.

For more information about visiting Bristol Zoo Gardens, visit the website at www.bristolzoo.org.uk or phone 0117 974 7300.

We May Lose Our Gorillas

We May Lose Our Gorillas

Back in 2008 conservationists were delighted when it was announced that a new population of Gorillas had been discovered which meant that estimates to numbers in the wild were doubled. That was just two years ago folks. Two years!

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcticpuppy/3059127796/

Today we have been informed the Gorillas will now extinct over most of their range in just fifteen years time. Fifteen years!!!!! What a sad and bleak thought.

Read On

Future for Gorillas in Africa getting bleaker

Accelerating Impacts from Poaching to Illegal Timber Trade Hitting Great Ape Populations and Habitats Faster Than Previously Supposed



UNEP and INTERPOL Call for More Support for Border and Customs Controls



Doha, 24 March 2010 - Gorillas may have largely disappeared from large parts of the Greater Congo Basin by the mid 2020s unless urgent action is taken to safeguard habitats and counter poaching, says the United Nations and INTERPOL - the world's largest international police organization.



Previous projections by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), made in 2002, suggested that only 10 per cent of the original ranges would remain by 2030.



These estimates now appear too optimistic given the intensification of pressures including illegal logging, mining, charcoal production and increased demand for bushmeat, of which an increasing proportion is ape meat.



Outbreaks of Ebola hemorrhagic fever virus are adding to concerns. These have killed thousands of great apes including gorillas and by some estimates up to 90 per cent of animals infected will die.



The new report, launched at a meeting of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) taking place in Qatar, says the situation is especially critical in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where a great deal of the escalating damage is linked with militias operating in the region.



The Rapid Response Assessment report, entitled The Last Stand of the Gorilla - Environmental Crime and Conflict in the Congo Basin, says militias in the eastern part of the DRC are behind much of the illegal trade which may be worth several hundred million dollars a year.



It says that smuggled or illegally-harvested minerals such as diamonds, gold and coltan along with timber ends up crossing borders, passing through middle men and companies before being shipped onto countries in Asia, the European Union and the Gulf.


The export of timber and minerals is estimated to be two to ten times the officially recorded level, and is claimed to be handled by front companies in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.


Militias - A Key Link



The illegal trade is in part due to the militias being in control of border crossings which, along with demanding road tax payments, may be generating between $14 million and $50 million annually, which in turn helps fund their activities.



Meanwhile, the insecurity in the region has driven hundreds of thousands of people into refugee camps. Logging and mining camps, perhaps with links to militias, are hiring poachers to supply refugees and markets in towns across the region with bushmeat.



Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said: "This is a tragedy for the great apes and one also for countless other species being impacted by this intensifying and all too often illegal trade."



"Ultimately it is also a tragedy for the people living in the communities and countries concerned. These natural assets are their assets: ones underpinning lives and livelihoods for millions of people. In short it is environmental crime and theft by the few and the powerful at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable," he added.



Mr Steiner said he welcomed the involvement of INTERPOL and called on the international community to step up support for the agency's Environmental Crime Programme.



He also underlined the importance of strengthening treaties such as the Lusaka Agreement on Co-operative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora, which operates in eight Eastern and Southern African countries in support of CITES.



The new Rapid Response Assessment report also recommends a greater role for MONUC, the UN peacekeeping operation in the DRC operating mainly North and South Kivu.



Strengthening its mandate in terms of support for park rangers and control of border crossings, in collaboration with national customs and international bodies, could go a long way to reduce the revenue-raising activities of militias and their role in the illegal trade. This in turn would bring a peace dividend for the people of the region.



David Higgins, Manager of the INTERPOL Environmental Crime Programme, said: "The gorillas are yet another victim of the contempt shown by organized criminal gangs for national and international laws aimed at defending wildlife. The law enforcement response must be internationally co-coordinated, strong and united, and INTERPOL is uniquely placed to facilitate this."



"We are committed to combating all forms of environmental crime on a global scale. INTERPOL is mandated to do so by providing law enforcement agencies in all our 188 member countries with the intelligence exchange, operational support, and capacity building needed to combat this world-spanning crime."



The report, issued during the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, is based on scientific data, new surveys including satellite ones, interviews, investigations and an analysis of evidence supplied to the UN Security Council.



It has been compiled by UNEP and partly updates its assessment of 2002 entitled 'The Great Apes - The Road Ahead'.



The 2002 report said at the time that around 28 per cent, or some 204,900 square kilometres of remaining gorilla habitat in Africa, could be classed as "relatively undisturbed".



"If infrastructure growth continues at current levels, the area left by 2030 is estimated to be 69,900 square kilometres or just 10 per cent. It amounts to a 2.1 per cent, or 4,500 square kilometre, annual loss of low-impacted gorilla habitat across range states including Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon and Congo," the report said at the time.



Christian Nellemann, a senior officer at UNEP's Grid Arendal centre who was lead author of the 2002 report and who has headed up the new one, said the original assessment had underestimated the scale of the bushmeat trade, the rise in logging and the impact of the Ebola virus on great ape populations.



"With the current and accelerated rate of poaching for bushmeat and habitat loss, the gorillas of the Greater Congo Basin may now disappear from most of their present range within ten to fifteen years," said Mr Nellemann.



"We are observing a decline in wildlife across many parts of the region, and also side-effects on poaching outside the region and on poaching for ivory and rhino horn, often involving poachers and smugglers operating from the Congo Basin, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, to buyers in Asia and beyond," he added.



Ian Redmond, Envoy for the Great Ape Survival Partnership, established by UNEP and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said clamping down on ape meat in the bushmeat trade would not harm local people.



"Ape meat is only a tiny proportion of the million tonnes of bushmeat consumed each year in the Congo Basin, so removing it from the diet of consumers would not greatly affect their protein intake - but it would assist in halting the current decline in gorilla populations being subjected to hunting and who, given their complex social structures, are so sensitive to the killing of individuals," he added.



The report does, however, contain some positive news. A new and as yet unpublished survey in one area of the eastern DRC, in the centre of the conflict zone, has discovered 750 critically endangered Eastern lowland gorillas.



The other good news is that the mountain gorillas in the Virungas, an area which is shared by Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo, have survived during several periods of instability. And this is the result of transboundary collaboration among the three countries, including better law enforcement and benefit sharing with the local communities.



This is also due to the efforts of courageous park rangers who last year, for example, destroyed over 1,000 kilns involved in charcoal production in the Virunga National Park. But this has come at a price - over 190 Virunga park rangers have been killed in recent years in the line of duty, with the perpetrators thought to be militias concerned about a loss of revenue.



Both UNEP and INTERPOL say that significant resources and training for law enforcement personnel and rangers on the ground must be mobilized, including long-term capacity building.



This includes funds for supporting and investigating transnational environmental crime in the region, including the companies concerned in Africa and beyond, all the way to the consumers.



The College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka, near Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) has worked with UNEP in developing new programmes for anti-poaching as part of the development of the report. The college trains rangers across the entire eastern Africa.



A UNEP report published in 2007 and entitled The Last Stand of the Orangutan underlined similar threats to great apes in Asia. Since then, the Indonesian government has successfully stepped up law enforcement in many of its parks - and these improvements could be mirrored in the Congo Basin.


The report 'The Last Stand of the Gorilla - Environmental Crime and Conflict in the Congo Basin' was financed by the Government of France and the Great Ape Survival Partnership (GRASP) established by UNEP and UNESCO.


Source

Lion Extinction Looms

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjunstorm/3465748469/

The video here has been very badly put together but it does make a point, and one which most people are tending to overlook. Please watch it.

Thylacine

Is the Thylacine extinct? Make up your mind.

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/faircompanies/2175355310/

The Haunting of the Thylacine



Tasmanian Tiger - End of Extinction (1/6)


Tasmanian Tiger - End of Extinction (2/6)


Tasmanian Tiger - End of Extinction (3/6)


Tasmanian Tiger - End of Extinction (4/6)


Tasmanian Tiger - End of Extinction (5/6)


Tasmanian Tiger - End of Extinction (6/6)



possible tasmanian tiger filmed in Australia


Supposed tasmanian tiger (thylacine) filmed in 1973


Tasmanian Tiger Sighting 2009


Wilk workowaty (Thylacine)


So What do you think?

Raising The Dead - Extinct Big Cats

Iran, Russia hope to revive extinct big cats

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/flametree/3347978472/

Iranian and Russian ecologists have announced ambitious plans to return Caspian Tigers as well as Asiatic cheetahs, which disappeared some half a century ago in their countries, to the wild.




A delegation of Russian ecologists headed by Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Sergey Donskoy arrived in Tehran a week ago to discuss avenues to reestablish the wild cats.



During the meeting, the Iranian ecologists shed light on the prospect of repopulating the jungles in northern Iran with extraordinary Caspian Tiger, which became extinct over 40 years ago.



This is while through modern genetic analysis it has been discovered the Caspian Tiger and the Siberian Tiger, still in existence, are separated by only one letter of genetic code. The Caspian Tiger can be reestablished by using their relative, the Siberian Tiger.


                                                Caspian Tiger

Russian and international conservation groups banned hunting of tiger in 1947, but it was too late for the Caspian Tiger to make a recovery. Poaching and contributing factors wiped out the majestic cat. Conservation efforts, however, did help to protect and stabilize the Siberian Tiger. Fortunately, the subspecies commingling in the distant past will allow the Caspian Tiger to once again take its rightful place in the family tree of tigers.



The Russian ecologist asked for Iranian assistance in revival of Asiatic cheetahs in the northern Caucasus region.



Described as powerful and graceful hunters, cheetahs are the world's fastest animal and easy to train. Cheetahs were trained by ancient Persian kings, who used them to hunt gazelles.



Recognizing the cats' precarious situation, Iran's Department of Environment has worked with the UN Development Program-Global Environment Facility and Wildlife Conservation Society in New York since 2001 to save the only 50 to 60 Asiatic cheetahs which live in the Read Full Article

Extinction - scaremongering and propaganda?

Blackwashing: do NGO tactics risk long term public trust?

Instead of making exaggerated claims about species becoming extinct, NGOs could make progress on issues like deforestation by collaborating more closely with companies, claims a new report


The continued expansion of palm oil plantations means orangutans are just a few years from extinction, if you accept the predictions of various environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth.

                                  Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/1967chevrolet/


One group, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), has gone further in claiming, 'orangutans are predicted to become extinct as early as 2011.'



Neither claim is likely to be true and may in fact be evidence of 'blackwashing', a term used to describe environmental scaremongering and propaganda.



A report published recently in the journal of tropical biology and conservation analysed the publicity tactics used by both NGOs and palm oil companies on the issue of tropical deforestation.



It is openly critical of groups, including FOE and RAN, for making, 'exaggerated claims in their campaigns...misleading and unverified accusations of avoidable environmental degradation by corporations.'



It says there are 50,000 orangutans in 54 wild populations scattered across Sumatra and Borneo. And that at least 38 of those populations exceed 250 individuals, the level needed to maintain a viable breeding population.



No extinction in 2011



Other organisations like the Sumatran Orangutan Society refuse to use extinction dates because of their unreliability. ‘We prefer to say that they are likely to be the first great ape species to become extinct unless we stop deforestation,’ says spokesperson Helen Buckland.



Report co-author Rhett Butler explains further: 'We aren't saying the deforestation isn't occuring (it certainly is) but that NGOs need to be careful about getting the facts right. For example, claiming that orang-utans are going to be extinct by 2011 is not accurate.'



RAN admitted that its figure was inaccurate. Spokesperson Margaret Swink said it had been taken from a Guardian news report that in turn got it from a British orangutan association.



'Everyone wants to take the fact that is the most convincing or grabs people's attention the quickest. We try and be as accurate as possible but we don't always succeed.



'We are a campaigning organisation so research is not our main thrust,' she says.



Unfair comparison



Swink says she hopes people realise that the action they and other NGOs take are designed to force corporations to be more responsible and acknowledge the impact their decisions have on wild orangutan populations.



'This is the critical point rather than the exact extinct date of 2011, 2015 or 2020,' she says.



A point reiterated by Friends of the Earth (FOE), who said it was 'completely unfair' to compare the tactics of corporations and NGOs.



'On the one hand FOE is concerned about human rights and environmental protection. On the other hand, you have PR projects funded by industries that destroy the environment and commit human rights abuses,' says head of economics Ed Matthews.



Matthews said species like the orangutan were emblematic of the wider destruction of rainforest in Indonesia. 'To get corporations to act, to galvanise political parties, we have to focus on emblematic cases.



'But we would never have used the figures we used if we had not thought it was credible,’ he says.



Short-term tactics



The report says such an approach could actually be 'counterproductive' to safeguarding against deforestation.



In the short term, says the report, blackwashing can 'make headlines, raise the profile of environmental debates and increase donations'. But in the longer term, blackwashing exposed for what it really is could, 'diminish the trust invested in environmental groups and more generally undermine public support for conservation.'



Co-author Rhett Butler says NGOs rushing to defend their use of facts are missing a more important point, namely the unprecedented power environmental groups have to change corporate behaviour, if they stick to accurate facts.



'Given current trends, it seems likely that in the future the bulk of environmental degradation (especially deforestation) will be driven by industrial enterprises rather than subsistence users. Thus since corporate entities are the actors, engagement is important.'



NGO power



Butler points to the success of a recent Greenpeace campaign that pressurised the largest soy crushes in the Amazon to implement a moratorium on soy processing, pending the development of a tracking mechanism to ensure their crop was coming from environmentally-responsible producers.



He said while the rise of industrial-scale deforestation was ‘alarming’, it allowed NGOs to focus their attention on a ‘vastly smaller number of resource-exploiting corporations’.



‘Many of these are either multinational firms or domestic companies seeking access to international markets which compels them to exhibit some sensitivity to the growing environmental concerns of global consumers and shareholders,’ says Butler in a previous report he co-authored, ‘New Strategies for conserving tropical forests’

>>>Read Full Article>>>

Zoos warn of mass extinctions from climate change

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/albertoalerigi/

Zoos and aquariums are warning they will be the last place on Earth where people will still be able to see species ranging from polar bears to corals, unless global leaders manage to halt climate change.

Governments must set targets limiting levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, to prevent a mass extinction of wildlife, according to a statement signed by more than 200 zoos.

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums want governments to set a target of stabilising CO2 in the atmosphere at 350 parts per million (ppm) to prevent the gas causing temperature rises which will do irreversible damage to habitats such as coral reefs. CO2 levels currently stand at around 385ppm.

Paul Pearce-Kelly, senior curator at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), said: ''From seahorses to golden-headed lion tamarins, zoos and aquariums play a crucial role in breeding endangered species for reintroduction into the wild.

''However, the climate change threat to the natural world is so severe that we're rapidly losing suitable habitats for these species.''

WAZA president Dr Mark Penning said: ''The urgent protection of ecosystems, which act as natural carbon sinks, is vital if humanity is to avoid the fate of runaway climate change.

''Our only hope is that world leaders respond to this reality and take appropriate action.''

He added: ''Climate change is not just

>>>READ FULL ARTICLE>>>

Stem Cells' Next Use: Fighting Extinction

Photo By: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7326810@N08/

It's a lonely world for the two northern white rhinos at Escondido's Wild Animal Park. They are among less than a dozen of their kind left on Earth.

Conservationists work constantly through habitat protection and other means to save these and other endangered species. And now they are adding a new technology to their list of possible solutions to extinction -- stem cells.

Ryder's group wants to reprogram adult cells from drill monkeys and northern white rhinos into stem cells. Using a type of virus called a retrovirus, scientists introduce genes into the DNA of an adult cell that cause it to behave like an embryonic stem cell, a versatile cell that can divide to form any other cell type in the body.

The Zoo researchers are working in collaboration with world-renowned stem cell researcher Jeanne Loring and her lab at the Scripps Research Institute.

Exactly how or when science might use cell reprogramming technology in animals isn't yet clear. If this new application for stem cells succeeds, however, it could potentially be used to replace or regrow damaged tissues in animals, just as in humans.

Scientists could also clone an animal by injecting the stem cells into very early-stage embryos, and implanting them into a surrogate mother from a closely related species.

Reprogrammed stem cells are today's hottest topic in the world of stem cell research. Some researchers say the ability to convert adult cells into stem cells could lead to breakthroughs far sooner than they'd originally believed.

But the process also has its risks. Retroviruses sometimes can cause a cell to become cancerous. Researchers are working now on ways to deal with this problem.

And the San Diego Zoo has an additional resource that could help detect defects in the reprogrammed cells. The institute is home since the 1970s to the Frozen Zoo, one of the largest animal biobanks in the world. The Frozen Zoo stores DNA and tissue samples from more than 8,400 individual animals -- a Noah's Ark on ice that plays an ever-expanding role in conservation.

When it comes to reprogramming stem cells, the Frozen Zoo gives scientists another way to screen for problems. By comparing the chromosomes in the reprogrammed cells to normal chromosomes from the same species, scientists can check for certain kinds of abnormalities -- and hopefully reduce the possibility of defects.

Cloning, Then and Now
The San Diego Zoo has participated in a couple of attempts to clone endangered species in the past; a banteng at the Wild Animal Park was successfully cloned in 2003. The older and more common methods of cloning, however, are extremely inefficient. Producing Dolly the sheep, for example, took hundreds of attempts.

Stem cells could provide an easier and more efficient method of cloning. Cloning can't save endangered animals from serious threats like habitat loss or poaching, but it could assist in breeding efforts by duplicating valuable animals in a zoo’s collection or cloning from cells of dead animals stored in biobanks like the Frozen Zoo.

Recent breakthroughs have made cloning using stem cells a more viable proposition. Earlier this year, Chinese scientists cloned mice by reprogramming skin cells from the mice into stem cells. Scientists could potentially clone dead animals of an endangered species with the same technique, using the tissue samples ..........

Read More: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/11/30/science/861endangered112909.txt

Good News for Tigers

Tom Kaplan: 'I have big plans for big cats'

US billionaire, Tom Kaplan, is funding a new Oxford University research centre in a bid to save endangered lions and tigers - and fulfill a childhood passion.

"It's time to put our asses on the line," says Tom Kaplan. "Otherwise we might as well give up." The American tough-guy slang sits incongruously with the soft voice and the immaculate business suit, but then a lot of things about Kaplan are incongruous.

Who could have predicted that a mild-mannered Oxford-educated historian, with a PhD in the politics of colonial Malaya, would make an absolute killing from mineral extraction, with assets valued at billions of dollars?

Who then could have predicted that, while still in his mid-forties, the billionaire minerals magnate would channel his energies and business acumen into saving big cats from extinction?

Peeping out from under his immaculate business suit is a bright orange wrist-band with the legend "Tigers Forever". His mission is to save tigers, he explains, not just by maintaining their present numbers, but by increasing their numbers by 50 per cent in the next 10 years. This unassuming businessman means business. Where others wring their hands, he acts.

New York-based Panthera, the charity which Kaplan founded in 2006, has rapidly become one of the biggest players in wildlife conservation in the world, with projects around the globe and spending on a scale – its various financial commitments are set to top $20 million in five years – which other agencies can only envy.

"I am a businessman because I am good at business," says Kaplan. "But big cats are my first love."

He first fell under their spell as a seven-year-old, when he was given a copy of The Maneaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett. Soon his bedroom was lined with posters of tigers and other predatory felids. By the age of 10, he was tracking bobcats in Florida. By 11, he was jaguar-spotting in Colombia with his mother. A life-long passion had taken root.

And his love of animals runs in the family. He has been married for 10 years to Dafna, whom he met at high school in Switzerland, and who was later serving in the Israeli defence forces while he was at Oxford. They are now based in New York. Only their daughter, Orianne's fixation was snakes.

"Pop, you know you always said we should try to give something back?" she said, when she was just five. "Well, why don't we try to save indigo snakes?" Project Orianne, a Kaplan-founded snake conservation project in Georgia, was the result. A billionaire father can be a girl's best friend.

But childish sentiment alone is not going to save the world's big cats – the tigers and leopards and jaguars and other felids on the endangered species lists. Nor is money alone. For Kaplan, conservation involves the head as much as the heart.
"When I founded Panthera, I set out to procure the greatest talent in wildlife conservation. And I use that mercantile image advisedly. Whatever you are doing in life, you have to build a high-class vehicle to deliver your vision."

To that end, he has appointed Alan Rabinowitz, a fellow New Yorker and world-renowned conservationist, to be the CEO of Panthera. Rabinowitz was the driving force behind the Jaguar Corridor that now extends from Mexico to Argentina and is regarded as a model of wildlife conservation in practice. It is not enough to talk conservation; it is necessary to provide viable habitats, often spanning many different countries.

Similar "corridors" – effectively offering the big cats safe passage between their various natural habitats – are being considered for tigers in Asia and lions in Africa. One of the tiger corridors alone could stretch from Nepal to Malaysia. It is a colossal, visionary undertaking.

But outstanding leaders, as Kaplan knows from his business experience, need outstanding lieutenants. To that end, he is investing millions of dollars in endowing the scholarships and research grants needed to inspire a new generation of conservationists.

He has donated millions to his alma mater, Oxford University, where last week he welcomed students from around the world – Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Bhutan, Bolivia – to study conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, which he is funding, and launched a new diploma course in international wildlife practice. "This is going to be the premier university-based felid conservation centre in the world," he says, with a note of pride.

When Kaplan talks about the big cats he has seen in the wild, it could be a schoolboy speaking. "I once saw a male and female tiger together in a reserve in Rajasthan. They must have mated about eight times in two hours! And after each time, the female cuffed the male, as if she was cross with him. Extraordinary."

Left to their own devices, he says, the animals would reproduce effortlessly. Unlike the giant panda, say, big cats are naturally prolific. But on a crowded planet, it can be hard to persuade people of the desirability of breeding more dangerous predators. There are now, dismayingly, more tigers in zoos than in the wild.

"People need to look at wildlife conservation in its totality," says Kaplan. "As soon as you lose the apex predator, it has harmful consequences right down the food chain."

Convincing others of that logic, winning the necessary hearts and minds, requires different strategies in different parts of the world. In Brazil, Kaplan has recently acquired huge cattle ranches on the edge of the forest. "Who would have thought it? Me, a vegetarian, buying 8,000 head of cattle?" But he knows that buying the land is the most practical way to protect his beloved jaguars. Under Brazilian law, the farmers would otherwise be entitled to shoot the jaguars if they preyed on their livestock.

He also knows that, at the intersection of forest and farmland, there will be what conservationists call an "edge effect": a flourishing eco-system at the point where two different habitats meet.

"Local communities need to be brought into the conservation process. They need to be treated as stake-holders. In a developing country like Brazil, there is huge scope for offering rural communities help with health care, say, in exchange for their cooperation."

Idealism may be at the heart of the projects which Panthera has undertaken, but Kaplan understands better than anyone the Realpolitik of conservation – the hard facts, the clinching arguments, the hidden interstices between money, power and land.

In Malaysia, he persuaded the government that they were not just conserving the tiger but, specifically, the Malayan tiger, a rare sub-species; he appealed to national pride, and did not just deal in wishy-washy slogans.

In Pakistan, he went one better, persuading then President Musharraf, not known as an animal-lover, to take a close interest in snow leopards: convening conferences and establishing leopard reserves. How did he do it? By quietly impressing on the Pakistani president how much kudos his country would get on the world stage from protecting its leopards, while India made such a hash of protecting its tigers.

Kaplan may be planning ahead, dreaming big dreams, making big plans, but he has not forgotten the lesson he learnt 20 years ago, when he was a history student at Oxford: it is the past of the planet that holds the key to the future of the planet.

"If you ask people to look too far into the future, they don't get it. You need to foster an understanding of the habitat destruction that has taken place in the past, and how we can avoid making the same mistakes. You need to explain and execute a strategy that shows people why wildlife is worth conserving."
For more information about the big-cats conservation charity Panthera, visit www.panthera.org

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6005984/Tom-Kaplan-I-have-big-plans-for-big-cats.html