Eyes in the sky spy on threatened jungles

Reuters Yahoo News 20 Aug 12;

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - In the two minutes it takes to read this story, an area the size of 60 football pitches will have been clear-cut by illegal loggers globally, according to Chatham House, an independent policy institute in London.

Catching the loggers and their bosses has long been a problem because of corruption, lax law enforcement and limited ability to detect the crime quickly.

Satellite monitoring is changing that. Powerful eyes in the sky and cheaper and more powerful data-crunching computers mean there will be no place to hide for palm oil, logging or mining firms that clear without permits or outside their concessions.

Higher resolution satellite imaging and near-real time analysis will mean investors, green groups, law enforcement agencies and the public can monitor any patch of forest.

Washington-based World Resources Institute plans to launch an upgraded version of Global Forest Watch, a free Web-based service, either later this year or early in 2013.

Using a NASA satellite, the service will focus on tropical areas of the globe with an image resolution of 500 meters by 500 meters every 16 days.

Users can choose an area of interest and be alerted by e-mail about any changes in tree cover.

The Global Forest Watch tool, supported by Google and the University of Maryland among others, will also contain data about logging or agricultural licenses and their owners, protected areas, infrastructure and other details.

For investors such as banks or private equity firms, the tool can be used for due diligence to check up on a potential acquisition such as an Indonesian palm oil firm, to make sure it is on the right side of the law, said Nigel Sizer, director of WRI's Forests Initiative. Similarly, international food companies can make sure their palm oil suppliers are environmentally compliant.

Forest and conservation news site Mongabay.com recently launched a free deforestation tracker using NASA satellite data. It issues an alert if green cover in an area being tracked changes by more than 40 percent over a year. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation-tracker/

Another service, Terra-i, offers free high-resolution forest cover analysis for all of Latin America. http://www.terra-i.org/terra-i.html

Thomson Reuters subsidiary Lanworth offers detailed deforestation analysis by area, time and forest type. Their work was central to a Reuters investigation last month into illegal clearing by a palm oil firm in Borneo.

Sizer said within five years, micro satellites with 5 to 10 meters resolution will deliver real-time imaging to rapidly detect any changes in forest cover. In a decade, high-resolution video would likely be available.

(Reporting by David Fogarty, editing by Bill Tarrant)

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Aug 12

Ubin village dogs
from Ubin.sgkopi

Exploring a new stretch of Seringat-Kias
from wonderful creation and Pei.Yan Photography wild shores of singapore

The Atlas Moth Chronicles - Episode 2
from Butterflies of Singapore

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Sabah to study manhandling of fauna in conservation area by visitors

Ruben Sario The Star 19 Aug 12;

KOTA KINABALU: Photographs of various marine wildlife including turtles and giant clams being manhandled by visitors at what appears to be the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park near here are prompting a review of procedures in the conservation area.

Among the measures to be implemented are the posting of more signs warning visitors against such action, said state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun.

He said an investigation was also under way to verify the authenticity of the pictures posted on Facebook.

“Obviously we are taking this seriously but we also have to verify whether it was indeed at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park and if so, whether these were locals or foreigners.

“If they were foreigners, they would have likely been brought to the islands by tour agents, who we will track down,” he said yesterday.

He added that Sabah Parks, which is responsible for the marine park, would blacklist tour agents whose clients continued to flout the regulations.

Masidi said the ministry needed the help of licensed tour guides to inform it of illegal tour operators bringing visitors to the islands.

Sabah Tour Guides Association member David Tseu had claimed that marine park visitors who had taken pictures of themselves holding turtles and giant clams were brought there by unlicensed tour operators.

He claimed that the illegal operators were operating “rampantly” and that the authorities did not appear to have the resources to crack down on them.

Recently, Netizens reacted in anger over a photo of tourists posing with a turtle.

The photo, uploaded by wildlife conservation group Rimba, showed three people with their hands on the turtle's shell while they posed in the water, allegedly in the Perhentian Islands, off Terengganu.

A 34-second video of the incident was also uploaded.

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Best of our wild blogs: 18 Aug 12

Red-legged Crake takes a snake
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Viral infection kills stray dogs on Ubin

Pet owners advised against taking dogs there, urged to vaccinate them
Lim Yi Han Straits Times 18 Aug 12;

DO NOT take your dog to Pulau Ubin.

The advice comes from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) which said yesterday that several dogs were recently found dead on that island.

A post-mortem on one dog indicated it was afflicted with canine distemper virus (CDV), a contagious viral infection that affects the lungs, gut and nervous system.

Infection comes from contact with droplets, urine or faeces and objects contaminated with the discharge of an infected animal.

CDV is not known to affect humans.

AVA said it has not received information to indicate there are CDV cases on the mainland for now.

It is working with animal welfare groups - Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Animal Lovers League - and relevant agencies to tackle the issue in Pulau Ubin.

This includes working with the Residents' Committee to advise residents on taking precautionary moves such as keeping their dogs apart from other dogs.

Other animal welfare groups are also wary of the situation. Mr Ricky Yeo, president of Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD), said: "We have to be more cautious when people call in these few weeks about stray dogs in Ubin."

He added that the likelihood of CDV spreading to dogs on the mainland is low "but there's still a possibility".

He added that ASD quarantines stray dogs and monitors them before letting them come into contact with other dogs.

In the early stage of infection, symptoms include eye and nose discharge, coughing, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Later, the dog may be prone to fits and disorientation and their footpads become thicker.

AVA is advising owners to vaccinate their pets after they have reached six weeks old, and to keep the vaccinations up-to-date.

It also requires all puppies sold in pet shops and dog farms to be vaccinated against CDV.

Unvaccinated dogs, and those with a weaker immune system such as puppies as well as old and weak dogs, are at a higher risk of being struck by CDV, which can be fatal.

Owners should clean and disinfect the area the dog lives in and the objects it comes into contact with daily.

Infected dogs need veterinary and nursing care that may include the use of antibiotics to prevent secondary bacterial infection.

Those with feedback and queries can contact the AVA on 1800-476-1600.

Canine virus threat on Pulau Ubin
Today Online 18 Aug 12;

SINGAPORE - Dog owners are advised not to take their pets to Pulau Ubin.

This comes as the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) confirmed yesterday that the recent deaths of several dogs there were due to the canine distemper virus (CDV).

A post-mortem on a dog's carcass found that it had been infected with CDV, a contagious viral infection that is fatal in most unvaccinated dogs. It is not known to affect humans.

The virus affects the lungs, gut and nervous system. Unvaccinated dogs - as well as those with weaker immune systems, such as puppies and old dogs - are at a higher risk of infection. It is spread through urine or faeces of an infected animal or from contact with droplets when an infected dog coughs.

Early-stage symptoms include eye and nose discharge, coughing, vomiting and diarrhoea. In the later stages, the dog may display signs such as disorientation and fits, and its footpads become thickened.

Infected dogs need supportive veterinary and nursing care.

The AVA said it is working with residents' committees to advise pet-owners on preventive care for their dogs, such as avoiding contact with other animals, vaccination and seeking veterinary attention immediately if their pet is unwell.

Residents there are also advised to alert the AVA if they come across stray dogs showing symptoms of CDV.

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Malaysia, Johor: 100 police reports over relocation of graves for Rapid project

Desiree Tresa Gasper and Yee Xiang Yun The Star 17 Aug 12;

JOHOR BARU: Police have received more than 100 reports from Pengerang residents, fishermen and contractors relating to the relocation of graves in line with the Petronas refinery and petrochemical integrated development (Rapid) project there.

Kota Tinggi OCPD Supt Che Mahazan Che Aik said that police were still investigating the reports lodged.

“The most recent report is from a resident who claimed that the grave of his ancestor was removed and dumped in a disrespectful manner by the persons in charge of the relocation works,” he said.

He added that the investigation papers had been forwarded to the Public Prosecutor's office for further action and had been classified under Section 297 of the Penal Code for treating remains with indignity.

“Other than dissatisfaction on the relocation of graves, we also received reports of residents who are unhappy about land compensation issues and environmental pollution due to the Rapid project,” he said.

He added that most of the issues had been ironed out but there was still a small group of unhappy residents.

Meanwhile, a group of discontented residents are planning to gather at the graveyard in Telok Empang, Pengerang on Saturday (Aug 18) to show their dissatisfaction with the grave relocation plans.

The group will converge at the graveyard at 9am and will stay overnight while performing prayers and cleaning the graves.

The event coordinator Hong Thian Hwa said that the programme would coincide with the Hungry Ghost Festival. It was previously reported that some 11,000 Muslim graves had already been relocated to make way for the RM60bil Rapid project while the authorities are planning to move some 3,000 Chinese graves and 1,000 Muslim graves soon.

Johor MB clarifies issue on grave relocation
The Star 20 Aug 12;

JOHOR BARU: The Johor mentri besar has clarified there has been no relocation of Muslim graves to make way for the construction of the RM60bil Refinery and Petrochemical Intergrated Complex (Rapid) project in Pengerang.

In a statement issued here on Monday, Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman also clarified that the state government was working closely with the Chinese associations to find an amicable solution to the relocation of Chinese cemeteries.

"There has been no relocation of Muslim graves. As for Chinese cemeteries, the state government is working closely with Chinese associations to find an amicable solution to the relocation of the graves," he said.

He was responding to media reports on the Rapid project and the relocation of Chinese graves by Johor MCA deputy chairman Datuk Hoo Seong Chang on Sunday.

Hoo, when met by reporters, said the Johor MCA would meet family members linked to the 3,000 Chinese graves, which would be affected by the relocation.

Abdul Ghani also clarified Sunday's news reports that stated that 100-odd police reports had been received by the Kota Tinggi police from Pengerang residents on the issue of the grave relocation.

According to him, the police reports were not exclusively on the grave issue, but also included cumulative reports covering other matters, pertaining to the Pengerang oil and gas developments. - Bernama

Rapid: Muslim Graves To Be Relocated
Bernama 21 Aug 12;

JOHOR BAHARU, Aug 21 (Bernama) -- Muslim graves would be relocated to make way for the construction of the RM60 billion Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Complex (Rapid) project in Pengerang.

A statement issued by the office of Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman here today, said the new site of the graves has been identified.

"Although the new site has been identified, the relocation has not commenced and we're still in discussions with the local Muslim community," it added.

The Rapid project by national oil and gas corporation, Petronas, is part of the government's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

It is expected to draw a follow up investment of RM100 billion into the country's oil and gas industry.

Today's statement was to clarify the one issued by the Menteri Besar's office yesterday.

-- BERNAMA

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Two New Owl Species Discovered in the Philippines

Megan Gannon LiveScience.com Yahoo News 18 Aug 12;

Two new owl species have been identified in the Philippines, and researchers say the birds' songs led them to the discovery.

Photo By Oriental Bird Club: original painting by John Gale 13 hrs ago

"More than 15 years ago, we realized that new subspecies of Ninox hawk-owls existed in the Philippines," zoologist Pam Rasmussen, of Michigan State University (MSU), said in a statement. "But it wasn't until last year that we obtained enough recordings that we could confirm that they were not just subspecies, but two new species of owls."

In fact, the researchers found that the Philippine hawk-owl (Ninox philippensis) consists of seven allopatric species, or those that emerge as a consequence of individuals being isolated geographically, or temporally. They also identified one subspecies.

Two of the species had never been described nor officially named, until now. One of the newly identified owl species, now called the Camiguin hawk-owl, lives only on the small island of Camiguin Sur and has a very different voice and set of physical features than other owls in the region, the researchers said. It has blue-gray eyes and sings a long solo song at night that builds in intensity with a low growling tone. Pairs of Camiguin hawk-owls, meanwhile, sing short barking duets that kick off with a growl.

The researchers, who reported their findings in Forktail, the Journal of Asian Ornithology, also identified the Cebu hawk-owl after studying its structure and vocalizations.

"The owls don't learn their songs, which are genetically programmed in their DNA and are used to attract mates or defend their territory; so if they're very different, they must be new species," Rasmussen explained in a statement from MSU. "When we first heard the songs of both owls, we were amazed because they were so distinctly different that we realized they were new species."

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Another Illegal Wildlife Trading Ring Uncovered in Jakarta

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 17 Aug 12;

Authorities have uncovered a second illegal wildlife trading operation in the space of less than a month, seizing endangered animal pelts during a raid on a house in Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Tuesday night.

Darori, the Forestry Ministry’s director general of nature conservation and forest protection, said his office had managed to scupper an attempt to sell the pelt of a Sumatran tiger and a Javan leopard.

Officers also arrested four people at the house. One of them, identified only as R.S., has been identified as an illegal wildlife trafficker and named a suspect by the police.

He has been charged with trading in protected animal parts under the 1990 Natural Resources Conservation Law, for which he could get up to five years in prison and up to Rp 100 million ($10,500) in fines.

Tuesday’s raid comes just four weeks after police seized dozens of stuffed rare animals and pelts from a suspected taxidermist in Depok.

The stuffed animals confiscated in the July 17 bust included 14 tigers, two leopards, one clouded leopard, a lion, three bears and a tapir. There were also two sacks full of tiger pelts, as well as a stuffed tiger head and four mounted deer heads.

The Sumatran tiger and Javan leopard are classified as critically endangered species, one step away from being extinct. Trading in or possession of these protected animals or their parts is a criminal offense.

The suspect, Feri, has also been charged under the Natural Resources Conservation Law and faces up to five years in prison.

His arrest came a day after Greenpeace Indonesia reported that the Sumatran tiger, one of the most threatened of the remaining six tiger subspecies in the world, was disappearing from the wild at a rate of around 51 animals a year.

The World Wide Fund for Nature recently identified Indonesia as a key country of origin for tiger parts and elephant ivory in the illegal trade of wild animal parts.

In its “Wildlife Crime Scorecard” released last month, it rated the government as “failing on key aspects of compliance or enforcement.”

“Although Indonesia has increased its efforts to protect wild tiger populations and detect illegal trade, there remains a significant enforcement gap for tigers at the retail level, with Sumatra having a significant illegal domestic market for tiger parts,” the report said.

Additional reporting from Antara

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Best of our wild blogs: 17 Aug 12

25 Aug (Sat) NUS PEACE Animal Welfare Symposium
from NUS PEACE

Bountiful Buttons at East Coast Park
from wild shores of singapore

Lawn rangers
from The annotated budak

Progress in the study of birdsounds
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Indonesia: Hot Spots Located In 129 Locations In Riau

Ahmad Fuad Yahya Bernama 16 Aug 12;

JAKARTA, Aug 16 (Bernama) -- Hot spots have been detected in 129 more locations in Riau island, Indonesia.

The worst hit district was Pelalawan with 43 hot spots detected in its forests, according to Aristya Ardhitama, the analyst at Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency's monitoring station in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau.

Ardhitama said the resulting haze had affected the visibility range for flights passing the island.

"The worst was on Tuesday when the range was below 1 kilometre. However, flight activities at Sultan Syarif Kasyim II Airpot in Pekanbaru have not been affected so far," he said.

He added that the haze situation in Riau was expected to prolong a few more weeks.

The hot spots also have contributed to the haze situation in other parts of Southeast Asia including Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA

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Great white shark should be on endangered list: environmentalists

Deborah Zabarenko PlanetArk 17 Aug 12;

Great white sharks swimming off the California coast should be protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, according to a trio of environmental groups that contend there are fewer than 350 of the animals in these western coastal waters.

Commercial fishing by U.S. and Mexican vessels is the primary threat to great white sharks in this area, the scientific petition by the groups Oceana, Center for Biological Diversity and Shark Stewards said.

The request for federal protection was filed Monday with the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington, with a second petition to be filed this week under California's Endangered Species Act, Geoff Shester of Oceana said in a telephone interview.

Until last year, there was no way to tell how many great white sharks lived off the coast of California, Baja California and Mexico, Shester said on Wednesday.

In 2011, two studies of this population of great white sharks in the Pacific found it to be genetically distinct and isolated from other groups of these creatures around the globe, he said. The studies estimated there are fewer than 350 adult and sub-adults in these waters.

Although there is no way to know how many sharks were in the area previously, it is known that their main prey - California sea lions, harbor seals and elephant seals - were depleted by human exploitation in the 1700s and 1800s, according to Shester.

While the seal and sea lion populations have rebounded, it will probably take great white sharks longer to do so, because this species grows slowly and most great whites do not reproduce until the age of 10 years and have few young.

The low estimate for the great white shark population off the West Coast makes the group inherently vulnerable, said Shester, Oceana's California program director.

A total population of 350 means there are probably fewer than 100 breeding females, he said. This would make it challenging for the great white shark population to rebuild.

If this group of sharks went extinct, he said, other groups would survive, but these animals would be gone from the North American West Coast for centuries or millennia, because this population does not commingle with other groups.

"These are iconic top predators that are basically keeping the entire food web of our ocean in check," Shester said. "They regulate populations of seals and sea lions and that benefits entire ecosystem including our fisheries. Ultimately the loss of top predators like sharks could have disastrous consequences for oceans and coastal economies that depend on it."

(Reporting by Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Jackie Frank)

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Poachers pose new threat to Bengal tiger cubs

Anis Ahmed and Azad Majumder PlanetArk 16 Aug 12;

Royal Bengal tigers have been under threat from habitat destruction, illegal trade for body parts, natural calamities and angry villagers, but their cubs are now facing a new danger -- poachers.

Three frail tiger cubs lying in an iron cage in a Dhaka zoo are the first live cubs to be recovered from poachers, who had planned to smuggle the animals out of the country.

"(Tigers) come out of the woods in search of food in the villages, and often get caught and killed," said a forest ranger in the Sundarbans mangrove forest in Bangladesh, who asked not to be identified.

"Now, the poachers have expanded their illegal trade by catching and smuggling cubs that are easier to trap and safer to move away."

There are an estimated 300 to 500 majestic Royal Bengal tigers in the 10,000 square km (6,213 miles) Sundarbans forest, which stretches across part of Bangladesh and India and has been designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO.

The numbers of the striped cats, which usually weigh over 200 kg (440 pounds) when fully grown, have been falling steadily.

Residents of a Dhaka high rise building found the squeaking and grunting cubs in June when the animals were trying to climb from the ground floor. Special security forces took the cubs to a private zoo, where keepers fed them with bottled milk and put them on display.

But due to health problems and stress from the throngs of visitors, the cubs were taken to a specially designed home in Dhaka's Botanical Garden where they are being fed food imported from China.

The recovery of the live cubs was a wake-up call for conservationists who had been unaware of illegal trade in tiger cubs. Adult tigers are prized for their skins and their body parts are used in traditional Asian medicine.

"We have had reports of tigers being killed by poachers. But this was the first time we saw that they were captured alive," said Reaj Morshed, programme officer at the Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh (WTB).

Security forces arrested a man and his mother for collecting the cubs and keeping them until the animals could be smuggled out of the country. Each cub was priced at 2 million taka($24,400).

Since the rescue the government has tightened laws for smuggling tiger cubs and imposed a seven-year sentence and a fine of 500,000 taka fine.

Sundarbans forest guards will also be equipped with new guns and trained to curb poaching and smuggling.

Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad, the country representative for the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), believes the new law is a step in the right direction.

"Previously we didn't have a stringent law to deal with this, but now I think with the law in force and increased awareness on the part of the people, protection will be easier," he said.

But not everyone agrees.

"This country had plenty of laws to govern the forests but they were never strictly enforced," said Mohammad Badiuzzaman, at a nearby village. "Mere talking of laws and launching of plans will do little to help save the forest and its inhabitants."

(Additional reporting by Serajul Quadir; editing by Elaine Lies)

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