FWD: New lease of life

October 5, 2004

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Tuesday October 5, 2004

New lease of life

Herculean protection efforts have pulled several iconic species from the brink

of extinction, writes MICHAEL MATHES.

AMID nightmare stories of hundreds of disappearing species, icons of the

wildlife world – including the giant panda and bald eagle – have clawed their

way back from the brink of extinction.

Championed by conservationists and immortalised as symbols of their movement,

some of the world’s most recognisable species have proved how well-funded and

efficient programmes can reverse decades of decline.

Numbers of China’s giant panda, the African elephant, the Asian rhino and the

grizzly bear, all threatened with extinction in the last century, have increased

due to intensified anti-poaching efforts and habitat preservation.

While 820 animal and plant species have been forced into extinction by humans

during the last 500 years, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN),

activists say the smattering of success stories among the pin-ups of the animal

kingdom has highlighted the way forward.

Some of those animals will be discussed at a meeting of 166 countries at the

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Fiercely contested proposals will be debated, notably surrounding the ivory

trade, amid proposals to ease restrictions on international trade for some

creatures because of the recovery in their numbers.

Some of the greatest successes have been in the United States which has some of

the world’s strongest and most effective wildlife conservation laws. The

Endangered Species Act of 1973 criminalises the capture, killing or trade of

protected animals.

Of about 1,500 species in the United States listed as endangered, the

authorities report that more than 500 are now stable or improving.

“It’s really more an awareness on the part of the general public,” said Kevin

Adams, chief of law enforcement at the US Fish and Wildlife Service. “There is

much greater awareness out there of these animals and acceptance of their place

in the ecosystem.”

Successful campaigns include those for the prized American buffalo. Tens of

millions roamed the prairies as recently as the mid-19th century but were hunted

to the edge of existence. A protection campaign saved the species and now enough

bison roam American prairies and ranches to accommodate a thriving meat and

products industry.

The Peregrine falcon was taken off the nation’s endangered list in 1999 and the

gray wolf, whose controversial reintroduction programmes inflamed passions in

several US states has also revived. Grizzly bear populations have doubled since

the early 1980s, to more than 1,000.

But America’s most iconic success story has been that of the bald eagle,

adopted as the country’s national symbol in 1782, when some 100,000 were nesting

in the continental United States. Their numbers plummeted, mainly through

hunting and the effects of the toxic pesticide DDT, to just 417 nesting pairs by

1963. Today the figure is estimated at 7,600.

Elsewhere, the one-horned Asian rhinoceros – the largest in the continent – was

hunted for its prized horn; there were just 60 of them in Nepal fewer than 50

years ago. The world’s rhino population has decreased 90% since 1970, but

aggressive anti-poaching and land protection measures in Nepal has seen numbers

increase to 450, a substantial proportion of the total of 2,000 in the region.

Only 250 Siberian tigers were alive in Russia’s far east as recently as 1993

but numbers have now nearly doubled, owing to strict anti-poaching and public

awareness campaigns.

“They have to remain vigilant to make sure they don’t slide back but at least

for now these animals have beaten the odds,” said Steven Galster, Asia director

for conservation group WildAid.

In June, a survey of the giant panda population in China showed they were

clawing their way back from near extinction, documenting at least 1,590 of the

creatures in the wild – a sharp rise from the 1,110 reported in 1988.

Robert Mather, representative for conservationist group World Wide Fund for

Nature in Thailand, says the recovery of many animal icons proves success is

possible with sufficient commitment.

“In most cases it’s just removing the pressures that were responsible for their

decline in the first place,” he said, referring to poaching and habitat loss.

“When you allow nature to recover, it will recover.” – AFP

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