WWF News! World Wildlife Foundations reaching major eco milestones thanks to help from Heavy Metal Rock Band METALLICA?
Green celebs support the hard work of WWF
With support from green celebrities as varied as Queen Noor of Jordan and heavy metal legends Metallica championing their cause, WWF is working one program or project at a time to protect endangered species and endangered habitats. Metallica, who participated in the worldwide concert ‘Live Earth’ this past July announce that all proceeds from the sale of recordings from that concert go to support the work of environmental causes such as WWF. The recordings are available on iTunes.
More than 60% of WWF’s funding comes from citizen donations, while only 9% of those funds are used for administrative costs. The rest of the funds raised are put to work around the world.
WWF announces that Gabon seized a large cache of ape parts and leopard skins
On January 19 WWF was announced that law enforcement officers in Gabon arrested five men accused of possessing illegal animal products, including those of endangered species. The raids were conducted by members of Gabon’s Water and Forest and Defense Ministries with the assistance of WWF partner AALF.
Among the items confiscated were the head and hands of an endangered gorilla, twelve chimpanzee heads and 30 chimpanzee hands. The skins of twelve leopards, a portion of lion skin, snake skins and five elephant tails were also recovered.
“The problem of illegal wildlife poaching and trade is not specific to Gabon, such specialized dealers exist throughout Western and Central Africa. But these arrests demonstrate that stopping them is possible with effective law enforcement,” said Luc Mathot, founder of Conservation Justice.
For more on this story visit WWF.
WWF study finds the number of Tigers could triple if large-scale landscapes are protected
In a paper co-authored by WWF scientists, they say a study finds that proper management of Asia’s tiger reserves could support more than 10,000 tigers, three times the current number. By managing the reserves as large-scale landscapes which allow connectivity through designated habitat corridors, between core breeding sites, the population of endangered species could naturally multiply.
The number of wild tigers has dwindled from about 100,000 in the early 20th century to as few as 3,200 today. Poaching of tigers and their prey, habitat destruction and human/tiger conflict are to blame for the dramatic decline. Most of the remaining tigers are spread out in small isolated pockets across their natural range in thirteen Asian countries.
This study was the first assessment of the political commitment of all thirteen tiger range countries, showing their will to double the tiger population across Asia by 2022. “A Landscape-Based Conservation Strategy to Double the Wild Tiger Population” appears in the current issue of Conservation Letters. They caution it will take a global effort to ensure core breeding reserves are maintained and connected via habitat corridors.
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