Survivor III in Kenya

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PLEASE EMAIL whiskers TO JOIN THE PROTEST CAMPAIGN - THANK YOU

 

 

Dear Friends

Many emails have been written by me, and much research done into finding a solution to getting the Survivor III lot to conform to normal ethics regarding wildlife – or any life. The CBS film company SHOULD GET OUT of the Shaba Reserve because they should not be there at all – they are in an Reserve containing an endangered species of Zebra – what they and the Kenyan lot are doing is blatant disregard for agreements they entered into with CITES and IUCN:

 

 

Grevy's Zebra is an CITES Appendix I species; categorised as Endangered in the 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. The IUCN/SSC Equid Specialist Group recommends that management improvements

need to be taken at the main sites of Buffalo Springs, Samburu and Shaba National Parks.

Management improvements include:

administrative reforms, creation of wildlife corridors to link reserves, better water management, better protection from soil erosion and the prevention of further development around the Parks. The economic value of the wildlife as a tourist attraction needs improved marketing. Further censuses need to be undertaken

to comprehensively assess the present status of Grevy's Zebra populations.

In spite of this, the American CBS Survivor III series has reportedly used 20 square kilometres of Reserve for its camp, while information regarding the control of this group is being withhelD by Kenyan authorities and local NGO's ...

 

The IUCN Representative has said that they have basically no interest per se in the activities of this filming unit - yet they profess to have concerns for the threatened species of Grevy's Zebra. ( !!!!! )

What is the point of having a CITES "agreement" or an IUCN presence if blatant wildlife malpractices are suggested by the current tragedy being enacted by a cash-strapped Isiolo local government prepared to sell out for only $230 000 ?

 

 

 

 

Grevy's Zebra

- Equus grevyi Oustalet, 1882 .

HABITAT : Semi-arid scrub and grassland.

GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD: Grevy's Zebra is now restricted to Ethiopia and Kenya. Most surviving in Ethiopia are in the north-east of Lake Turkana; the Alledeghi plains; the Yabello Sanctuary and around Lake Chew Bahar. In Kenya, Grevy 's Zebra occurs in much of its former range: east of the Rift Valley and Lake Turkana, north of Mount Kenya and the Tana River, and east towards western Somalia.

CURRENT POPULATION: 4,276 Kenya (1988), 1,500 Ethiopia (1980) probably decreasing.

PREVIOUS GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD: Historically the species was found in the Awash Valley, the Ogaden region, and north-east of Lake Turkana in Ethiopia, south into Kenya east of the Rift Valley and Lake Turkana, north of Mount Kenya and the Tana River, and east into western Somalia. The species is now extinct within Somalia.

 

REASONS FOR DECLINE: Hunting for skins was a major problem during the 1970s. Habitat loss has also contributed to the decline.

CURRENT THREATS: Habitat loss continues through competition with increasing numbers of domestic livestock. Pastoralists are becoming more sedentary around permanent and seasonal water sources, leading to the exclusion of wildlife. Badly managed tourism (such as off road driving) contributes to the damage. Important breeding areas can be disturbed by excessive tourism, sometimes restricting access of breeding females to watering sites. Little poaching has been recorded since Grevy's Zebra was listed on CITES Appendix I. Zebras are occasionally caught in non-specific snares and shot for food.