Briefly 487 AMERICAS
Giraffe deaths spark probe in Brazil with 15 confiscated from Rio zoo Brazilian authorities are investigating the deaths of three giraffes and allegations that another 15 were mistreated at a zoo in Rio de Janeiro, according to the federal police. In January 2022, two men were arrested for ill-treatment of the animals, confiscating 15 giraffes that had been imported from Africa at a safari resort on the south coast of Rio. The animals were confiscated as part of a police probe into the death days earlier of three other individuals from the same group, which had been imported by the BioParque do Rio, the city’s new zoo. The BioParque vehemently denied that the giraffes had been mistreated and that there were irregularities in the import process, which they said was approved by African and Brazilian authorities. The Rio zoo was reopened in 2021 under the name BioParque do Rio, after undergoing reforms to improve the conditions for the animals, with a focus on environmental conservation. Source: The South African (2022)
thesouthafrican.com/lifestyle/environment/ giraffe-deaths-spark-probe-in-brazil-with- 15-confiscated-from-rio-zoo
Legal controversies about protection of American wolves The Biden administration has appealed the federal court ruling that sent the grey wolf Canis lupus back onto the endangered spe- cies list, emphasizing the unsettled protec- tion status of the iconic apex predator across the USA. The U.S. Department of Justice recently filed a notice of appeal to the decision of a federal judge in California who, in February, ordered the wolf back under the safeguards of the Endangered Species Act. Animal welfare advocates and hunting proponents reacted to the news with uncertainty; neither camp is sure what this means for the future of America’s largest wild canine. Over the last 20 years, the species has repeatedly been shielded, and not shielded, by protective laws either because of policy changes or court orders; the status has changed half a dozen times. The flip-flopping status and constant legal fights make for shifting legal sands beneath the feet of what is for many a beloved top predator, but is unwelcome by some who have lost pets or livestock to wolf predation. Source: mLIVE (2022)
mlive.com/public- interest/2022/05/feds-file-to-appeal-re-
listing-of-gray-wolves-as-endangered.html
Time is running out for porpoise on the brink of extinction Scientists fear for the last remaining indi- viduals of the world’s smallest cetacean, the vaquita Phocoena sinus. The outlook for the Critically Endangered porpoise is blea- ker than ever: a recent survey found fewer than 10 individuals remaining in their lim- ited geographical range in Mexico’s Gulf of California. The vaquita’s population has been reduced by 99% over the past decade, a decline driven by bycatch in gillnets used to fish for totoaba, a fish highly prized in Chinese medicine. Responding to interna- tional pressure, the Mexican government outlawed totoaba fishing and the use of gillnets, but the ban was ineffective and eventually rolled back. The impact on local livelihoods and the lure of a lucrative black market for totoaba, combined with a lack of enforcement and limited provision of alternative gear or means of income for fishers, led to the involvement of cartels and an expansion of the totoaba market, which coincided with 50% annual declines in vaquita numbers. Conservationists em- phasise the need for improved governance, support for fishers, and community buy-in if the vaquita is to survive. Source: The Guardian (2022) theguardian. com/world/2022/feb/11/tiny-vaquita- numbers-less-than-10-can-they-be-saved
Avian flu outbreak threatens wild birds in North America.. . An outbreak of avian influenza that has been spreading across the USA and Canada over the past months appears to be getting worse. First appearing in Canada in late 2021, the disease has ravaged industrial flocks and has also been detected in a wide variety of North American wild birds, raising alarm among ecologists. A particularly virulent strain known as the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1), or HPAI, the virus has already killed millions of domestic North American fowl. To date, more than 28 mil- lion domestic poultry in 29 states have died either through infection or preventative cul- ling. This particular strain of HPAI appears to be more infectious and deadlier to wild birds than previous versions, but gauging the pathogen’s true impact on wild popula- tions is more difficult than with domestic poultry, whose numbers are regularly re- corded. The virus, which can cause severe neurological and respiratory issues in birds, was probably transmitted by wild birds con- taminated from last year’sEurasianHPAI outbreak. Source: Audubon (2022)
audubon.org/ news/north-american-birds-face-their- own-pandemic-latest-bout-avian-flu
.. . but radar-powered forecasts help save birds from deadly city lights The skies above North America host some 3 billion fewer birds today than in 1970, ac- cording to a 2019 analysis. Among the rea- sons for this dramatic decline are not only climate change, vanishing habitat and pesti- cides, but also light pollution. Strong lights attract migratory birds who end up wasting time and precious body fat, are easy prey for predators and often collide fatally with windows of city buildings. One tool that could ease the toll is weather radar, which bounces off birds as well as raindrops. Radar has been used in recent years to quantify the orbiting birds attracted by the annual light installation to commemorate the 9/11 attacks in New York City. In 2017, researchers found .10,000 birds were at- tracted within 20 minutes of lighting up. Based on these studies, a programme called BirdCast has been launched, which incor- porates continent-scale weather radar and machine learning to forecast the exact nights when hundreds of millions of mi- gratory birds will torrent over cities in the USA. Researchers feed those data to con- servationists and policymakers, to help the birds survive the journey by dimming lights along the way. Source: Science (2022)
science.org/content/ article/radar-powered-forecasts-save- birds-deadly-city-lights
Miniature frog species discovered in Mexico Scientists fromtheUniversity of Cambridge, UK have discovered six new species of frog the size of a thumbnail in Mexico; the frogs are c. 15mm long when fully grown. Lead researcher Tom Jameson said the new spe- cies had gone unnoticed so far because they are small and brown and look similar to other frogs. The new species are direct- developing: rather than hatching from eggs into tadpoles as most frogs do, they emerge from the eggs as perfect miniature frogs. The researchers warned that climate change and expansion of human activities could threaten the existence of these small amphibians that live in the dark, humid leaf litter of the forests. One species in par- ticular is under threat from the devel- opment of a mine. The frogs are also threatened by a deadly fungal disease, chy- tridiomycosis, which is wiping out am- phibian populations across the world. The researchers hope the frogs have a future, as areas have been identified that can be protected. Source: ITV News (2022)
itv.com/news/ anglia/2022-04-27/tiny-frogs-smaller- than-1p-coin-discovered-by-scientists
Oryx, 2022, 56(4), 483–488 © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605322000606
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