Jaguars

The jaguar is one of the most endangered animals in the world but also one shrouded by legend and mystery. In history it was believed shamans could transform into jaguars and in Mayan society it was believed they were reincarnations of old kings. Jaguars live in a variety of habitats . Currently there are stable jaguar populations in several areas including Mexico and Argentina.
Jaguars face many obstacles that make it harder for them to live in coexistence with humans. One main problem is being shot or poisoned by livestock farmers. The other is a short food supply. Jaguars and humans present competition to each other when it comes to food. The humans have over hunted many large animals making them very scarce. Since the jaguar eats mainly large animals this poses a problem.
The WCS started a conservation program for jaguars in 1999 . The WCS works with locals to educate them about jaguars and the importance of not killing. The WCS found that while doing this program it was discovered that over 80% of jaguars live within hunting range of a livestock farm. Jaguars are a dieing breed, it is very important that more is done and more people are educated to save the species.

Dancing bears of India

This post is about the Sloth bears of India that are trained cruelly to dance for entertainment. Making bears dance has a long history that started in ancient times. The bears are usually trained by the poorer class that has few other options to make money. The practice was until recently in many places in the world including the U.K. The bears are trained by putting hot plates under their feet and and turning on music. This is done until the bear associates the music with pain and then dances every time the music comes on. In india their trainers are primarily a nomadic group called Kalandar.  Currently international animal welfare groups are working to make so that these people do not have to use this bear as their means for making money. The practice is a horrible thing and carries up to a seven year sentence for someone caught with a dancing bear. Below is a TED talk about these bears and their conditions.

Models

This week I will talk about new models to conserve animals. For a while now it has been known that the current north American model is failing to conserve animals. Because of this the CEO of panthera has recently been talking of implementing a new method for animal conservation. The idea would basically consist of massive interlinking corridors which would allow animals to live alongside humans. The reason he says that the set model is failing is because of the human impact everywhere. So. Instead he says there will huge tracts of interlinking land everywhere some even spanning across continents. This way instead of making a small preserve we can truly protect wildlifes environments without a human impact. The picture above shows one of the corridors that is being proposed in South America.

Seven tenets of the American conservation model

In this post I will tell about the seven tenets of the conservation policy. These tenets lay down the framework for the entire model. The first tenet is the public trust doctrine which states that wildlife belongs to all the public. The next is that wildlife cannot be sold in a market. Furs and antlers may be sold but not the animal. All hunting laws must also be made by the public for the public. After that the model states that all citizens can hunt. And that funding for conservation purposes is obtained through the purchases of liscenses and permits. It also calls for non frivolous use of wildlife. Which means that if you kill something it should be used in some way. The last two say that wildlife must be maintained internationally and that it be maintained with current scientific data. In my next post I will address issues with the American conservation model.

Source:http://joomla.wildlife.org/index.php?id=171&option=com_content&task=view

American conservation model

Wildlife conservation is the wise use, regulation,and restoration of wildlife and their habitats. In my first post I will talk about the North American conservation model. The model started in the 19th century when American Bison were drove nearly to extinction by settlers. There are two basic principals to the model, fish and wildlife are for non commercial use only. The second principal is that wildlife is managed in such a manner that the population is always sustained. In my next post I will talk about the seven core tenets of the American conservation model. I will also talk about other models of conservation.