For almost half a century, the Bukhara deer -- a species endemic to Central Asia -- had not been seen in the wild in the forests along the Syr Darya river. But the species has now returned to Kazakhstan's southern Turkestan district with the recent release of ten deer into their traditional habitat.
The animals, bred in a pen set up in 2001, were released in late May by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and local conservationists.
Olga Pereladova, the director of WWF's Central Asia Program in Moscow, explains that the last of the Bukhara deer in the Syr Darya valley were killed in 1962. “Since then, there have been no deer at all. It was not only a problem of the animals' elimination, but a problem of destruction of habitats because a lot of riparian forests were cut down," Pereladova said.
The deer will continue to be fed for several months to help them adapt to life in the wild, their new territory, and a change in diet.
Pereladova says the sanctuary offers good protection during the adaptation period. The territory forms a peninsula surrounded by the waters of the Syr Darya and is fenced off from people living on nearby farms.
During the eight years of preparation for the release, funding of up to $15,000 a year was provided mainly by WWF Netherlands. Norway's government and the Kazakh regional government have also been contributing.
The Bukhara deer (Cervus elaphus bactrianus) is ash gray, with yellowish highlights and a grayish-white rump patch. The male deer have antlers. The animals’ habitat includes Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The WWF has been working since 1999 to save the species in cooperation with local communities and officials across the region. Pereladova says the population has since increased from only 350 to 1,300.
Successful Strategy
That's partly thanks to a series of successful reintroductions.
In 2007, a group of deer was released in Uzbekistan's Zarafshan Nature Reserve. The animals, raised in nearby pens, were the second group to be set free in the reserve, following a successful release in 2005.
A similar release took place in 2007 in Kazakhstan's Altyn Emel National Park, on the right bank of the Ili River. The animals came from a game reserve located on the other bank of the river.
"In Zarafshan, they're reproducing very well and the released groups are already contacting the group of deer in the Tajik part of the [river] valley,” Pereladova said. “So we hope for the sustainable establishment of the population. But new releases are planned because we again have extra animals in the pens. In Altyn Emel, newborns were seen."
Pereladova says a transfer of deer was also planned in the lower regions of the Amu Darya River in Uzbekistan.
"The Badaitugai Nature Reserve is overpopulated, [while in] downstream Amu Darya, new sites of riparian forests have developed, and [deer] can be released there,” she said. “There is now a UNDP [United Nations Development Program] project ongoing in a system of protected areas of development of the Amu Darya Delta. Together with them, we are planning these translocations."
The Bukhara deer lives in Central Asia's riparian forests, which are characterized by thickets of trees and grassy clearings interspersed with wetlands. These forests, locally known as tugai, are located on the floodplains of rivers.
Overgrazing, agriculture, and illegal logging have contributed significantly to the destruction of the tugai. The problem is particularly acute along the Amu Darya River in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Pereladova says, however, that riparian forests are recovering fast along the Syr Darya, which lies primarily in Kazakhstan.
A number of protected areas have been established to preserve tugai ecosystems across the region.
One of them is the Beshai Palangon (which means "the forest of tigers" in Tajik) Nature Reserve in southern Tajikistan, between the Vakhsh and Pyandj rivers.
The reserve's chief, Nuriddin Saifulloev, told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that the Bukhara deer population there has increased to 18.
"When I was appointed head of the reserve [three years ago], we brought in 14 deer,” Saifulloev said. “They were very little. Now they are living freely in the reserve. Their life is very good. Some of them gave birth to fawns, so there are baby deer now."
Unbroken Habitat
Late last year, 100,000 hectares were included as buffer zones around the reserve. Pereladova calls the move "very important," saying it unites a previously fragmented protected territory.
Since 2007, WWF says that thanks to funding from Norway's government, it has improved the water drainage system in the reserve and surrounding areas. Canals were cleaned to ensure water flow from rivers to the tugai lakes and allow the recovery of the lakes, forest, and populations of various species.
But Saifulloev warns that the Bukhara deer and its habitat still need better protection. He says that the population has disappeared in Tajikistan's Romit Nature Reserve, while only a few animals remain in the Qarotogh Nature Refuge.
Pereladova says Central Asian states have demonstrated their commitment to preserve the Bukhara deer and tugai, despite often limited resources.
Central Asian governments are “doing what they can and sometimes even more than they can, initiating activities for which they don't have enough funding, but anyway trying to do what is possible; and applying for support,” she said. “So it's not that we're coming and doing something from outside, but we are combining our efforts."
But she says education among the local populations and winning their participation in nature conservancy work is crucial, and begins with educating children.
"When we started work, the habitats suffered from illegal logging, grazing, etc. And people didn't know what Bukhara deer was. They had forgotten it. Now all of them know it,” Pereladova said.
“Children participated in special actions, collecting winter forage for our deer, and they transferred this knowledge to their parents,” she continued. “In Turkmenistan, go along the border of the [Amu Darya Nature Reserve and] talk to people: they know what the [Bukhara deer] is, why it is protected, and [they say] it is an honor for them that they have saved their national heritage."
Source: Radio Free Europe
Showing posts with label deer conservation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deer conservation. Show all posts
Monday, August 03, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
MALAYSIA NEWS: Hunting Moratorium on Sanbar and Barking Deer
PETALING JAYA: The hunting of sambar and barking deer will be stopped for two years, in a move to safeguard their numbers and ultimately, that of the Malayan tiger.
Wildlife and National Parks Department enforcement director Saharudin Anan said the two-year moratorium on hunting will start this November, when the annual one-month open season for both game species usually kicks off.
He said no hunting licences will be issued for deer this year and next, to allow the declining deer population to rebound and provide a food source for wild tigers.
Wildlife scientists have said that tiger densities depended very much on the abundance of large preys such as the sambar and barking deer, but they have been overhunted in recent years.
Sambar deer numbers have plunged drastically, prompting the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to list the species as endangered last year.
The Perhilitan 2007 annual report revealed that 221 sambar deer and 315 barking deer were captured by licensed sports hunters that year, the bulk of them in Pahang.
The department issued 574 hunting licences for both species that year, which brought in a revenue of RM81,500.
The licence costs RM200 for the sambar deer and RM100 for the barking deer, and permits the capture of one animal.
In Kuala Lumpur, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the ministry has sought military assistance to help curb illegal wildlife trade in the country.
“The border is so long and the areas are so wide. And many people realise that our jungles are rich in resources and all kinds of flora and fauna.
“But all hope is not lost. We are working with the military to come out with more effective enforcement,” he said when launching the forum, Mainstreaming Biodiversity with a Focus on the National Tiger Action Plan yesterday.
“We have a masterplan and our commitment is to achieve that plan,” Uggah said.
He added that a task force, consisting of enforcement agencies, would also be formed to look into matters pertaining to wildlife poaching and smuggling.
Source: The Star
Wildlife and National Parks Department enforcement director Saharudin Anan said the two-year moratorium on hunting will start this November, when the annual one-month open season for both game species usually kicks off.
He said no hunting licences will be issued for deer this year and next, to allow the declining deer population to rebound and provide a food source for wild tigers.
Wildlife scientists have said that tiger densities depended very much on the abundance of large preys such as the sambar and barking deer, but they have been overhunted in recent years.
Sambar deer numbers have plunged drastically, prompting the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to list the species as endangered last year.
The Perhilitan 2007 annual report revealed that 221 sambar deer and 315 barking deer were captured by licensed sports hunters that year, the bulk of them in Pahang.
The department issued 574 hunting licences for both species that year, which brought in a revenue of RM81,500.
The licence costs RM200 for the sambar deer and RM100 for the barking deer, and permits the capture of one animal.
In Kuala Lumpur, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said the ministry has sought military assistance to help curb illegal wildlife trade in the country.
“The border is so long and the areas are so wide. And many people realise that our jungles are rich in resources and all kinds of flora and fauna.
“But all hope is not lost. We are working with the military to come out with more effective enforcement,” he said when launching the forum, Mainstreaming Biodiversity with a Focus on the National Tiger Action Plan yesterday.
“We have a masterplan and our commitment is to achieve that plan,” Uggah said.
He added that a task force, consisting of enforcement agencies, would also be formed to look into matters pertaining to wildlife poaching and smuggling.
Source: The Star
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
CHINA NEWS: Overabundant Pythons Threaten Rare Deer
And now for something completely different: a species of deer impacted by an overabundant native species.
Chinese conservationists say rapid the propagation of pythons at a nature reserve in south China's Hainan Province has endangered the increase of a rare deer species living there.
Both conservationists and researchers are at a loss to offer efficient ways that will guarantee a success in protection of the rare deer species, Eld's deer or Cervus eldi hainanus in Latin, while reining in the population of pythons from fast propagation around Datian Nature Reserve in southwestern part of Hainan.
Pythons and Eld's deer are both listed for top state protection in China, according to Xu Shiying, chief of the administration for Datian Nature Reserve.
Datian Nature Reserve, which is in Dongfang City and a rainforest base, was established in 1976 with the mission to protect Eld's deer, which used to be on the verge of extinction.
The number of the rare deer species has increased and topped 1,600 at Datian Nature Reserve thanks to conservation efforts in the past three decades.
The exact number of pythons in this nature reserve, however, is not known.
Datian is now home to 690 deer after conservation workers have moved some of the deer to other nature reserves on the island province, according to Xu.
"We have been patroling the nature reserve and found that the actual number of fawns is far below 100," Xu said.
Conservation workers have spotted deer remains in the pythons' manure. One python was found dead in April 2008 as its belly was burst open by an antlered buck it had swallowed earlier. Another python was also found in early May to have swallowed a muntjac, a kind of minor deer species, according to Xu.
"We can't kill pythons for the sake of protecting Eld's deer, so the only thing we can do is to move pythons elsewhere as long as we find them at Datian," said Xu.
Conservation workers have found and moved 28 pythons from Datian Nature Reserve to Hainan Python Institute since 2007.
Zhang Liling, head of Hainan Python Institute, said it was necessary to have pythons around Datian Nature Reserve to keep an ecological balance there.
"Pythons don't have a natural enemy around Datian, but without the presence of pythons, rabbits, wild boars and other rodents will propagate at an even alarming speed and will eat away limited food sources that Eld's deer depend on," said Zhang, who is also a professor with animal science department of Hainan University.
According to Zhang, female pythons produce 20 to 50 eggs each year, of which, 70 to 80 percent could be hatch successfully.
While echoing Xu's stand about the need to restrict the number of pythons in Datian for the sake of maintaining an ecological balance in the nature reserve, Zhang failed to come up with a clear vision of how to do so.
Experts say Eld's deer, a sub-species of swamp deer and also known as "slope deer," among the locals, were living on Hainan four million years ago, long before any human activity on the island. They numbered just 26 by 1976 as a result of increased human activity and environmental degradation.
The government identified Eld's deer for top protection in 1988. It has been listed as one of the world's most endangered species by the World Conservation Union or the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The natural habitat area for the rare deer species in Hainan Island, including Datian nature reserve, has increased from 1,314 hectares in 1976 to 20,000 hectares, alongside a rise in the population in the deer species.
Source: xinhuanet
Chinese conservationists say rapid the propagation of pythons at a nature reserve in south China's Hainan Province has endangered the increase of a rare deer species living there.
Both conservationists and researchers are at a loss to offer efficient ways that will guarantee a success in protection of the rare deer species, Eld's deer or Cervus eldi hainanus in Latin, while reining in the population of pythons from fast propagation around Datian Nature Reserve in southwestern part of Hainan.
Pythons and Eld's deer are both listed for top state protection in China, according to Xu Shiying, chief of the administration for Datian Nature Reserve.
Datian Nature Reserve, which is in Dongfang City and a rainforest base, was established in 1976 with the mission to protect Eld's deer, which used to be on the verge of extinction.
The number of the rare deer species has increased and topped 1,600 at Datian Nature Reserve thanks to conservation efforts in the past three decades.
The exact number of pythons in this nature reserve, however, is not known.
Datian is now home to 690 deer after conservation workers have moved some of the deer to other nature reserves on the island province, according to Xu.
"We have been patroling the nature reserve and found that the actual number of fawns is far below 100," Xu said.
Conservation workers have spotted deer remains in the pythons' manure. One python was found dead in April 2008 as its belly was burst open by an antlered buck it had swallowed earlier. Another python was also found in early May to have swallowed a muntjac, a kind of minor deer species, according to Xu.
"We can't kill pythons for the sake of protecting Eld's deer, so the only thing we can do is to move pythons elsewhere as long as we find them at Datian," said Xu.
Conservation workers have found and moved 28 pythons from Datian Nature Reserve to Hainan Python Institute since 2007.
Zhang Liling, head of Hainan Python Institute, said it was necessary to have pythons around Datian Nature Reserve to keep an ecological balance there.
"Pythons don't have a natural enemy around Datian, but without the presence of pythons, rabbits, wild boars and other rodents will propagate at an even alarming speed and will eat away limited food sources that Eld's deer depend on," said Zhang, who is also a professor with animal science department of Hainan University.
According to Zhang, female pythons produce 20 to 50 eggs each year, of which, 70 to 80 percent could be hatch successfully.
While echoing Xu's stand about the need to restrict the number of pythons in Datian for the sake of maintaining an ecological balance in the nature reserve, Zhang failed to come up with a clear vision of how to do so.
Experts say Eld's deer, a sub-species of swamp deer and also known as "slope deer," among the locals, were living on Hainan four million years ago, long before any human activity on the island. They numbered just 26 by 1976 as a result of increased human activity and environmental degradation.
The government identified Eld's deer for top protection in 1988. It has been listed as one of the world's most endangered species by the World Conservation Union or the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The natural habitat area for the rare deer species in Hainan Island, including Datian nature reserve, has increased from 1,314 hectares in 1976 to 20,000 hectares, alongside a rise in the population in the deer species.
Source: xinhuanet
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
PAKISTAN NEWS: Poachers Killing Endangered Deer
Foreign guests belonging to Gulf States have been found involved in killing protected animals with the connivance of local influentials. While the Sindh Wildlife Department remains silent over the matter, The News has learnt that the illegal hunting of animals including deer [Ed. note - hog deer, Axis porcinus?] — on the list of protected animals according to SWD Act 1972 — is going on unchecked. Most influential people along with their foreign guests have reportedly killed 38 deer in Thar Desert, near Umarkot.
The wide desert area, including Achhro Thar (White Desert), near Pakistan-India border, is a natural habitat of this endangered species. Locals explain that deer cross the border into Pakistan territory in winter and monsoon seasons every year. “The animal usually comes to the other side early morning and poachers kill the animal at its entrance site,” Amar Leghari, a local environmentalist from Sanghar, told The News.
“It is a natural grazing field for the deer in Thar linking Umerkot, Sanghar, Nawabshah and Khairpur districts. Only local people know the habitats, who lead the poachers after taking big amounts from them,” he said.
Reports add that the Sindh Wildlife Department officials deputed there, after possessing skins and other evidence arrested some poachers but later released them after the high-ranking people approached higher authorities.
Only the workers of these influential people were arrested, while those with direct links to the corridors of power were excluded from the report registered by the officials. Later, the SWD local officials were hushed up over the issue of challenging the most powerful people, activists said.
Local people explain that the influential poachers pay attractive sums to traditional foot-trackers to kill these wild animals.
On contracts, local activists explain, “it is routine crime. These people hailing from Gulf States set up camps in these areas for some time in the winter and kill endangered species, including deer and houbara bustard along with the local influential people. According to the activist, this time around the media has taken notice of the situation because political rivals have raised the issue against a candidate, who was the host of these foreign and local guests and arranged the hunting.
The SWD department issues licenses to poachers after receiving prescribed fees for hunting birds from November to March 15 every year. But they are not allowed to kill the endangered species in their habitats.
In case of violation of the rules, the poachers can be fined amounts ranging from Rs100,000 to Rs500,000, depending on the nature of destruction.
When The News approached the Sindh Wildlife Conservator, his subordinates said he was unavailable, while the other officials claim that they are unaware of the crime.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=93689
The wide desert area, including Achhro Thar (White Desert), near Pakistan-India border, is a natural habitat of this endangered species. Locals explain that deer cross the border into Pakistan territory in winter and monsoon seasons every year. “The animal usually comes to the other side early morning and poachers kill the animal at its entrance site,” Amar Leghari, a local environmentalist from Sanghar, told The News.
“It is a natural grazing field for the deer in Thar linking Umerkot, Sanghar, Nawabshah and Khairpur districts. Only local people know the habitats, who lead the poachers after taking big amounts from them,” he said.
Reports add that the Sindh Wildlife Department officials deputed there, after possessing skins and other evidence arrested some poachers but later released them after the high-ranking people approached higher authorities.
Only the workers of these influential people were arrested, while those with direct links to the corridors of power were excluded from the report registered by the officials. Later, the SWD local officials were hushed up over the issue of challenging the most powerful people, activists said.
Local people explain that the influential poachers pay attractive sums to traditional foot-trackers to kill these wild animals.
On contracts, local activists explain, “it is routine crime. These people hailing from Gulf States set up camps in these areas for some time in the winter and kill endangered species, including deer and houbara bustard along with the local influential people. According to the activist, this time around the media has taken notice of the situation because political rivals have raised the issue against a candidate, who was the host of these foreign and local guests and arranged the hunting.
The SWD department issues licenses to poachers after receiving prescribed fees for hunting birds from November to March 15 every year. But they are not allowed to kill the endangered species in their habitats.
In case of violation of the rules, the poachers can be fined amounts ranging from Rs100,000 to Rs500,000, depending on the nature of destruction.
When The News approached the Sindh Wildlife Conservator, his subordinates said he was unavailable, while the other officials claim that they are unaware of the crime.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=93689
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