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Reintroduction of the wood bison
From endangered to huntable : The bison has always been considered as a symbol of the survival of man in North America.
Of the three existing sub-species, the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) is the largest : an adult bull weighs as much as one ton. It is the emblem of the Province of Manitoba. The remaining herd of 2,000 wood bison, preserved in Wood Buffalo National Park, was becoming hybridized with introduced plains bison. In 1965, a first pure-bred selected herd was moved from Wood Buffalo National Park to Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary, in the Northwest Territories, and a second one to Elk Island National Park, in Alberta.
To secure the long term conservation of the wood bison, remove it from the red list of endangered species, and restore it to a huntable status, at least five free-ranging herds needed to be reestablished in Canada. The reintroduction of this species would also allow its reintegration in the local Indian traditional economy.
The Foundation initiated the translocation of 34 wood bison in february 1984 to Northern Manitoba, from where it had totally disappeared a century ago. Eleven calves were born that same year.
At the same time, the Foundation involved the local Indian people, the Waterhen Band, in building captive breeding and release pens, making sure that the reintroduction would benefit their local economy, especially when bison numbers would allow release to the wild and subsequent harvesting of the animals. It would then become possible for the Band either to hunt them themselves or have them hunted by outsiders.
The wood bison reintroduction, breeding and release were such a success that it was downlisted from Canada's Red List of Endangered Species in 1988 :
Three additional populations were established in the Northern Territories where limited hunting has been allowed by residents since 1990. Since 1993, a quota of wood bison can also be harvested by non-residents in Canada.
This endeavour has allowed constructive dialogue and collaboration between local Indian tribes, the Provincial and the Federal Government on the restoration, management and sustainable harvesting of wildlife. It is providing long-term incentive for wood bison conservation as well as benefits and employment to local people throughout Canada.
The Foundation's aim was to ensure that this initiative continues to provide socio-economic benefits for the local Indian Band, help the initiatives taken by Canada - and then by the United States - to downlist the species, and have it recognized internationally as unendangered, which was accomplished in June 1997 by CITES. It is, furthermore, to publicize this example of successful rehabilitation of a species driven by the incentive of a sustainable harvest providing benefits to the local economy. -
Wildlife management in tropical moist forest
Everyone is aware that tropical moist primary forest have been disappearing by millions of hectares. Natural habitats are being transformed to small farms or large-scale agricultural monocultures such as soybean and sugarcane, and extensive livestock ranching, etc.These forests are however the home to some of the planet's highest biodiversity, including very large numbers of living organisms and ecosystems, which are still unknown to science.
Since the extinction of wild species is primarily due to the loss of their habitat, and since this loss results from socio-economic pressures favoring alternative land-uses, it must be demonstrated that wild products can be equally or even more profitable" The contribution of wildlife as a natural resource of great social and economic value for rural populations as food, local and international trade was recognized by all participants". A meeting was held in Manaus, with the support of the Foundation. All participants, except those from Costa-Rica and El Salvador, expressed however regrets that the value of wildlife as a resource was not recognizes by Latin American governments and, as a result, funding for wildlife research, conservation and development projects and law enforcement was very limited.
This situation is slowly changing, but protectionist attitudes must be altered so as to encourage the sustainable of valuable fauna and flora, in order to open and/or develop controlled national and international markets for this biodiversity, so as to justify and motivate its long-term conservation and development. -
Emergency rescue of marsh deer,
Habitat destruction, illegal hunting and livestock disease have endangered the marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus), largest neo-tropical deer, throughout its distribution area.In the state of São Paulo, Brazil, its last habitat in the Rio Tiete Valley was due to be flooded by the Tres Irmaõs hydroelectric dam.
The objective was to capture, using a net-gun from a helicopter, and translocate the last free-ranging marsh deer population to a captive breeding center and to private ranches.
Two missions were carried out :
The first to adjust the capture and tranquilizing technique to the habitat and the species.
The second, after the start of flooding, to rescue the remaining animals. Out of a population of about 180 animals, 158 were successfully caught, and training of Brazilian personnel in the technique of helicopter net-gun animal capture was carried out. The future strategy was to be conducted by CESP (São Paulo Electric Company). -
Conservation status
The jaguar (Panthera onça) has been one of the least known of the large cats because of its secretive life in some of the densest jungles of the world. It was listed by CITES in 1973 as endangered throughout its range.
However jaguar appeared to be widely present throughout Latin America, from Paraguay through Brazil, all of Central America up to North-East Mexico. It is abundant throughout a large part of its range and is being extensively hunted in all the areas where it coexists with domestic livestock.
The Foundation, with the CIC, initiated a Symposium on jaguar in Manaus, Brazil, with the presence of the most reknowned international experts. More than 50 participants, representing Universities, scientific Institutes, Governments and Wildlife Management Departments from the countries concerned, attended the meeting.
The meeting agreed that there was no significant poaching of jaguar for the fur trade, that jaguar was a natural resource which deserved to be properly managed, but that suitable funding for such management was generally lacking in the range States. It was suggested that, in view of its success, an approach similar to that used for African leopard (Panthera pardus) be implemented for jaguar: i.e. that of setting hunting quotas, including for trophy hunting, ensuring that financial returns benefit wildlife management agencies as well as landowners and local population. -
Roe deer as a game species in suburban forests
Every year, 800,000 persons visit a 1,500 hectare forest entirely surrounded by suburban housing just East of Paris. The forest is managed and hunting of Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) leased by the National Forestry Office.
Besides extraction of timber and hunting other activities include biking, horseback riding and strolling on the road network throughout the forest. It was noted that Roe deer population density had decreased by two-thirds in the last few years.
The Foundation offered its help in order to elaborate a strategy aiming to reconcile access to the forest by all interested parties with the tranquillity needed in certain places and at certain times for wildlife species to thrive.
An important number of Roe deer were captured and equipped with radio-collars in order to monitor their movements, to see how human activities affect the animals' behaviour. -
Radio-collaring of wolves
Northern Finland holds several hundred thousand domesticated tundra reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) which form the mainstay of the nomadic Laplander's economy. Some wild specimens of this tundra reindeer are found in Central Norway.However, a much larger wild subspecies, (R.t.fennicus), is found in the northern conifer forest of Finland.
The Central Hunters' Union of Finland, in cooperation with the Finnish Government, is in the process of ensuring the long-term conservation and sustainable use of this resource and has asked the Foundation and the CIC for their support.
Capture, translocation for restocking and separation of these wild populations from the domestic herds - with which they could hybridize - are being carried out. -
Conservation of forest reindeer
Northern Finland holds several hundred thousand domesticated tundra reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) which form the mainstay of the nomadic Laplander's economy. Some wild specimens of this tundra reindeer are found in Central Norway.However, a much larger wild subspecies, (R.t.fennicus), is found in the northern conifer forest of Finland.
The Central Hunters' Union of Finland, in cooperation with the Finnish Government, is in the process of ensuring the long-term conservation and sustainable use of this resource and has asked the Foundation and the CIC for their support.
Capture, translocation for restocking and separation of these wild populations from the domestic herds - with which they could hybridize - are being carried out. -
Can intensive farming support wildlife?
As a game bird, the grey partridge (Perdix perdix), always were to French cereal-growing plains what grouse (Lagopus scoticus) have meant to the moors of Scotland. Partridge populations had decreased dramatically in the last decades.
Research by the Game Conservancy (U.K.) had demonstrated that insecticides were certainly responsible, but it was believed that other chemical treatments and agricultural methods such as irrigation might also affect recruitment of young birds.
The Foundation launched a big project on the general theme: "Is it possible to reconcile modern, intensive agriculture and the grey partridge's survival in Europe? " Newborn partridge chicks are entirely dependant on a high-protein insect diet during the first ten days of their lives. Insufficient insect densities led to 100% chick mortality. But the presence of most insects on farmland depends largely on broad-leafed weeds.
Weeds and insects are, on the other hand, considered as pests by farmers and were eliminated in the race for greater cereal production.
To resolve this problem, the Foundation brought together as partners all the interested stakeholders: farmers, hunters, agronomists, biologists, etcÉand their professional institutions. A number of farms practicing intensive cereal growing were chosen as proving grounds.
Different avenues for weed/insect/partridge rehabilitation were tested, the ecology of the farmland and the evolution of partridge populations monitored.
United Kingdom research had highlighted the need for the "3-legged stool" approach for partridge conservation and development, i.e. providing nesting cover where insects were abundant, controlling predators and adapting shooting levels to partridge densities.
The Foundation showed that a fourth leg was needed for that stool in order to enable partridge population to grow back to former densities: supplemental feeding for the adults, all year round, together with adapted high-protein pellets for the chicks in their early age.
This last leg is imperative in what remains a hostile and poor environment for wild birds. As a result of the project, on many farms in Central and Northern France, wild partridge nesting densities have grown back to over 50 breeding pairs per 100 hectares and breeding success allows a sustained bag of one bird /hectare/year.
The Foundation's strategy has been to publicize on a large scale the project's results, demonstrating that means exist to reconcile conservation of some biodiversity with agricultural policies and economic constraints. An extension booklet was published, and a 55-minute videocassette was produced explaining the recipes for success. -
Wildlife conservation
In the 1970's, it was apparent to the Government of the MPR and to the Foundation that the pastoralist economy of the country, based mainly on raising millions of domestic sheep and goats, together with widespread poaching of game species was endangering the very survival of some exceptional wildlife species which were abundant in the past.
For instance, the argali (Ovis ammon), which are the largest wild sheep in the world - adult males weigh up to 300 kilos - were now rarely seen: they are found in the Altaï mountain range of Mongolia. At the initiative of the Foundation, the MPR's Government accepted to collaborate in the domain of ecological monitoring and wildlife management in the country.
A protocol was signed in 1978 between IGF and the MPR government to:
create Khukhtsyrh Reserve preserving approximately 100,000 hectares for the wildlife of the High Altaï, i.e. argali, siberian ibex, wolves, snow leopard, etc.,
draw up and implement a management plan for argali and ibex,
equip wardens to patrol the Reserve,
organize scientific expeditions to carry out wildlife inventories, monitor their trends and evaluate range recovery following the exclusion of domestic stock from the Reserve,
establish contacts, for the MPR Government, with North-American specialists in management of wild sheep and particularly of water supply for desert sheep habitat improvement,
introduce Mongolian hunting authorities to European and American safari agents so as to develop tourist hunting revenues through sustainable use of wildlife.
After a few years of total protection, this collaboration resulted in the possibility to reopen argali hunting on a limited quota basis, harvesting 5 to 30 trophy argali, depending on natural mortality of the previous year.A scientific mission of the Foundation in June 1994 estimated that Khukhtsyrh Reserve was by then populated by 800 argali and 1,500 ibex, with numbers increasing.
The Foundation was equally active in informing the US Government of these conservation measures, which have made it possible to import argali hunting trophies into the US. Since US sportsmen make up about half of all sheep hunters, this possibility provided vital financial returns to local and national conservation authorities in Mongolia.
In 1982, another agreement was reached with the MPR Government to help establish the Ar-Toul Reserve, of approximately one million hectares, in the virgin taïga northeast of Ulan-Bator. The wildlife of the taïga includes Asiatic wapiti, brown bear, wolf, wolverine, lynx, Siberian roedeer, capercaillie, etc.
The Foundation was instrumental in convincing the MPR Government to invest very large sums from the national budget for the conservation and management of wildlife.
The Foundation will continue to collaborate and provide follow-up and advice to the MPR Government. Two missions were carried out in 1997. It is to be hoped that the new regional autonomy of the MPR's Provinces will allow further development of the Foundation's approach, which consists in demonstrating that conservation of biodiversity is compatible with the development of rural and national economies. -
Translocation of blackbuck antelope
In Nepal, due to a number of factors, the range of blackbuck antelope (Antelope cervicapra) had been reduced : the Kingdom of Nepal asked the Foundation to help them with a financial contribution to reestablish a viable population in the west of the country. A certain number of blackbuck antelope were captured, translocated and released to the wild, in partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management of Nepal.
This project initiated the research on suitable reintroduction conditions and identified the need to make further attempts, if conditions were favorable. -
Taxonomy of wild sheep
One of the first preoccupations of the Foundation was the conservation and management of Mongolia's argali (Ovis ammon), largest wild sheep in the world.But other species of wild sheep occur from the Western Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia, through the Middle East, all of Central Asia and Eastern Siberia. The identification of the different species has kept professional taxonomists arguing fiercely for decades.
The Foundation has promoted and facilitated the DNA study of Asian wild sheep and goats. This will help to identify the species and/or isolated populations. This information is necessary for management and law enforcement information purposes -
Reintroduction of the cheer pheasant
Following a request from the Government of Pakistan, the Foundation furnished financial support in order to reintroduce, with the help of the Game Conservancy, a viable population of Cheer Pheasant (Catreus wallichi) in the Margalla Hills, via the shipment of eggs from breeding birds in the U.K
Over a period of 3 years, 1,000 cheer pheasant eggs were produced , sent to be hatched in Pakistan, and the products released to the wild.
The operation has been continued under the sponsorship of the World Pheasant Association. -
Initiation, monitoring and funding of Khukhtsyrh High Altaï Reserve
In 1978, The Foundation signed with the Mongolian People's Republic a formal agreement to cooperate in the study, monitoring, conservation, management and development of the country's wildlife. The Foundation had identified as a conservation priority the High Altaï range, with its population of argali (Ovis ammon ammon), siberian ibex (Capra ibex sibirica), snow leopard ( Panthera uncia), wolves (Canis lupus), and marmots (Marmotta marmotta). The Mongolian People's Republic government agreed to designate the Khukhtsyrh Reserve, of approximately 100,000 hectares in the highest massif of the High Altaï, to conserve the exceptional wild flora and fauna of this region.
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Initiation, monitoring and funding of Ar-Toul taïga Reserve
In 1982, The mongolian people's Republic government asked the Foundation's support to set up, between Ulan Baatar and the Russian border, an area of approximately 1 million hectares of virgin taïga as a Reserve. This region of pristine southern boreal forest holds no roads or human settlement. It is populated by Asiatic wapiti (Cervus canadensis wachei), brown bear (Ursus arctos), wolves (Canis lupus), wolverines (Gulo gulo), moose (Alces alces cameloides), siberian roe deer (Capreolus capreolus bedfordi), as well as capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and hazel grouse (Tetrastes bonasia).
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Rhino translocation
In the 1980's, most African and Asian rhino species/populations were on the brink of extinction, due to heavy poaching for the horn. The Foundation decided to contribute to an emergency operation in favour of the african black rhino (Diceros bicornis) in Southern Africa. A special all-terrain Mercedes truck was provided for the transport of tranquilized rhinos. Financial support was also provided to Zimbabwe's Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management for the darting of rhinos by helicopter.
The objective was to capture the animals from international border areas and translocate them to heavily guarded areas in central Zimbabwe. with success although operations were nearly halted after the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management's budgets were cut in 1990, following the CITES ivory trade ban. Two charter flights of French school children were taken in the field to observe operations, and witness the reality of the problem and the practical solutions. -
Reintroduction of Scimitar-horned oryx
A hundred years ago the scimitar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) were present all around the Sahara. They had disappeared from North Africa at the beginning of the century and may now be extinct in the remainder of their original range. In 1983, the Government of Tunisia requested the help of the Foundation to reintroduce oryx in Bou-Hedma National Park, so as to reestablish a free-ranging herd in southern Tunisia. A breeding herd of 10 juvenile oryx (5 males and 5 females), captive-bred in U.K. Zoological Parks, brought by air and road , were released in 1986. Guineafowl (Numida meleagris), caught in the wild in Senegal, were also reintroduced at a later date.By 1997, those first ten oryx had produced a herd of 84 animals. The operation has been so successful that the Tunisian Government is now planning the restocking of two other National Parks with some of the Bou-Hedma stock.
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Reintroduction of Dama gazelle
The Mohrr Gazelle (Gazella dama mohrr), a sub-species of the dama gazelle is one of the rarest and most beautiful animals in the world.
In the past, it was widespread in Western Sahara. By 1930, it had practically disappeared. The last known specimens were probably shot in 1968. Fortunately, the Kingdom of Morocco had sent 10 gazelles, caught in the wild, to Spain for safekeeping in 1960.
At the request of the Kingdom of Morocco to the CIC, the Foundation negotiated the gift by the Experimental Station of Arid Zones, Almeria, Spain, of 3 animals which, together with another 3 given to the CIC by Hellabrunn Park of Munich, were released in the R'Mila Royal Reserve, near Marrakech in 1992.
In 1996, the reintroduction was considered a success as, after the third generation, 17 dama gazelles were grazing in the Royal Reserve.
Wetland Reserve of Merdja-Zerga Morocco (1984)
In collaboration with the CIC, and in agreement with the Moroccan Authorities, the Foundation sent engineers from France for an initiation to the management of wetlands, identification and census of migratory birds. Material assistance was provided to delimit the Reserve. -
Giant sable population survey
It was in 1908 that a new sub-species of sable antelope, the giant sable (Hippotragus niger variani), was described for the first time. It is the most magnificent and most famous of Angola's rich wildlife heritage, and is in fact unique to Angola (endemic sub-species). Among many other taxon, the giant sable was brought to the brink of extinction, due to the enormity of Angola's human tragedy. The Foundation is supporting the Kissama Foundation in Angola to carry out the monitoring of the remnant giant sable population in order to help the Government plan future conservation actions for this rare and precious animal.
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Elephant poaching
In the early seventies, the Central African Republic (CAR) was estimated to have had an elephant population of approximately 80,000 animals. Heavily armed gangs of poachers, originally killing only for ivory, but now also for meat, reduced the CAR elephant population to an estimated 10,000, level at which it stands today. To help the management authorities of Manovo-Gounda-St.Floris National Park curb poaching within the Park, the Foundation furnished equipment, motorcycles, arms and training. An anti-poaching unit was formed and armed patrols organized with the support of the Central African Armed Forces The Foundation's future strategy is to involve local communities in the management of their wildlife, encourage the Central African Government to continue its involvement in anti-poaching, and to inform bilateral and multilateral donor agencies of the need for outside help.
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Elephant conservation and management
The African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) is without doubt the most spectacular species of that continent. It is the largest living terrestrial mammal. The species was originally present from the Cape of Good Hope to North Africa. The African elephant was practically eradicated in Southern Africa by the beginning of the century, but its populations have been steadily expanding in the last decades and, well conserved, are actually now overabundant in some countries such as Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The Foundation, informed of the widespread poaching of elephants, leading to an expanding illegal international ivory trade, initiated in 1985, in collaboration with FAO and CITES, an ivory trade control system attributing legal ivory export quotas only to those African countries utilizing under control their own elephant populations. This system, accompanied by suitable ivory marking procedures, was put into place by CITES in 1986 and succeeded, within two years, in eliminating nearly all illegal international trade in ivory.
Unfortunately, public disinformation campaigns in Europe and North America had been launched to declare the African elephant endangered, leading to a ban on ivory trade in 1989. This ban led to considerably reduced resources for anti-poaching activities. Elephant numbers continued to rise in Southern Africa, to decline in Eastern African and remained stable in Central Africa where poaching has kept elephants at a depressed level. In 1997, faced with those realities, CITES Parties voted to allow again international trade in ivory from those countries which had demonstrated their ability to conserve their elephants.
Elephant and Protected Areas
In Chobe National.Park (Botswana), overabundant elephants have in recent years completely destroyed the beautiful old riparian forest of the Park.
In Amboseli National Park (Kenya), there are now more than 800 elephants, twice as many as the Park can support sustainably. Within the last twenty years, the woodland cover has disappeared to less than 10% of what it was, giraffe numbers plunged from 200 to less than 30, lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) and bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) have become extinct after losing their habitat.
Adult elephants eat more than 200 kg/day of vegetation. During a severe drought in the 70's, 7,000 elephants of Tsavo East National Park (Kenya) died of hunger after consuming all the trees and bushes.
In Krüger National Park, (South Africa), which covers 2 million hectares and holds 8,000 elephants, 400 of them, i.e. 5% of the park's population, which corresponds to its annual increase, have had to be removed every year to prevent those megaherbivores from altering the park's landscapes since it is entirely fenced.
Elephant and People Conflict
Contrary to the image which the city-dwellers have of elephants i.e. large gentle giants, lovers of children, rural Africans regard them with fear, suspicion and hostility. Elephants, often coming out of protected areas, trample and eat their crops, destroy their granaries, fruit trees, dams and soil contours; worse, they kill hundreds of people in Africa each year. Those real costs borne by the Africans must be more than balanced by benefits if elephants are to be conserved. Otherwise, people will eliminate them in the long term.
Sustainable Use of Elephants
There are today several hundred thousand elephants in Africa. This number of animals can, on a sustainable basis, generate US $ 30 million /year from the sale of their ivory and 60,000 tons/year of meat; leather goods made from elephant skin are as profitable as the ivory; thousands of jobs derive from consumptive and non-consumptive use of elephants. The maximum sustainable yield (MSY) for elephant is around 5% of the population. Consumptive use of this portion has no impact on eco-tourism. On the other hand, it is a resource which can be used by the sale of animals, cropping and sport-hunting.
Elephants' Value in U.S.Dollars / Hectare
It must be noted that the safari hunting industry provides earnings in excess of U.S.$ 50 million per year in Southern Africa's communal lands. This corresponds in many cases to more than US $ 10/hectare. This figure, obtained from areas that are largely unsuitable for dry land farming, outcompetes commercial beef ranching. Where elephant hunting is carried out, trophy quotas are usually set at around 0.7% of Maximum Sustainable Yield and contributes up to nearly 35% of the income from the land. -
Conservation of biodiversity
The Foundation participated in the drafting process of what has now become an international treaty: the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) signed in Rio in 1992 by 168 countries. In principle, this treaty should enable humanity to conserve in the long term all forms of life on earth. In practice, the realization of this goal is not easy and every day that goes by a growing population of humanity, in its struggle for survival and battle for development, discards or destroys in complete indifference some of its living heritage. Unfortunately, extinction is forever. The obstacles to conserving biodiversity in its entirety lie at various levels:
Shortsightedness: much of humanity's actions are driven by short term motivations; survival, politics, profit, all need quick solutions. Long-term research and planning usually lack funding,
Misunderstanding: ecologists and economists speak different languages; as a result, when scientists claim that biodiversity is "invaluable", economists evaluate it at zero in national or international accounting. This error can lead to where an apparent growth in the GDP could in fact hide a loss of biodiversity.
Ignorance : most species, particularly microorganisms, have not been inventoried, and the role they play in ecosystems is unknown to science, Even though the Foundation's main interest lies with large terrestrial mammals, it would have been senseless to try to conserve them, or reintroduce and rehabilitate them without ensuring that suitable habitats were available. How to motivate local people and decision-makers to conserve and enhance the value of natural habitats has therefore been a preoccupation of the Foundation since it was created. Twenty years ago, the Foundation started with demonstrating to Mongolia's government the economic value of wildlife through sport-hunting; recently, the same approach was followed by IGF to communicate that the revenue from mopane forest in Southern Africa could be doubled by developing the harvest of wild mopane silkworms. Only when the values of all products derived from wild fauna and flora - be it as meat, leather, medicinal or cosmetic ingredients - are added up can we prove that wild habitats can outcompete their transformation to impoverished "domesticated" ecosystems. Only if we take the time and have the will to enhance "wild" values per hectare, sustainably used, can we hope to conserve them in the long term. -
Production durable de viande de brousse
En 2002, la Fondation IGF a mis sur pied un projet de valorisation de la filière de production de viande de brousse dans la forêt dense humide du sud de la République Centrafricaine, dans le but de concilier la conservation de la faune sauvage et les intérêts socio-économiques des populations locales.