As 2023 draws to a close, one highlight of the year has been our recent publication in the conservation journal Oryx on localised trade of the world’s largest frog, the Goliath Frog (Conraua goliath), co-authored by myself and led by Cameroonian conservation and ecology scientist, Dr Geraud Tasse. The study looked at local people’s knowledge of Goliath Frogs, whether they consumed them and shadowed a subset of the hunters. This covered several sites across Cameroon, including the Pygmy communities in the South Region. We found that a lot of the consumption was in the household with a subset of the hunted frogs going to market. We got figures on the financial value of the hunted frogs. And the season of hunting. We also gleaned what international trade data we could find. This was all basic information, but to our incredulity, this sort of socio-economic appraisal had never been published before. This work was a long time overdue despite the importance of the issue at hand for this iconic species. I had been aware of Goliath Frogs from my late childhood, a species that has held my imagination and fuelled my devotion to African forest species through my career. There is a life-sized model at the Natural History Museum London, and reputably this frog has never been held successfully in captivity. It had long been known that this large frog was hunted for its meat, being granted the highest protection class from the Cameroon government at the same level as gorillas and elephants, and listed as Endangered by the IUCN in 2004. Around this time, there had been conservation projects examining this species in Cameroon (with none across the border in Equatorial Guinea), but ended up not publishing most of its findings (though this was being chased up, alas set back by funding). By the time I was working in Cameroon in 2006, this program had closed and I assumed others would be working on it, with my interest focusing on far less and arguably far more threatened mountain frogs. Of course I still had an interest in helping where I could (one’s mantra for conservation should be to help things happen). Years went by and many researchers came and went, either with an interest in reviving Goliath Frog conservation efforts, some crass inquiries about bringing them into captivity or others just to see the frogs themselves and do more superficial studies, if any at all. Many researchers would record Goliath Frogs during general biodiversity surveys, including my own. I didn't see one myself until many years later, after a couple of failed site visits that included having to walk for hours out of an area in the middle of the night when two villages threatened to attack each other. More work would eventually be done on their terrestrial habitat associations (i.e. would they be affected by deforestation?) by Dr Gonwouo Nono LeGrand of the University of Yaoundé I (also a co-author of our new paper), as well as the impressive work by Frogs & Friends on the reproductive ecology of this frog. What has been apparent is the shear lack of details on the offtake and socio-economics of the hunting of this frog. It might have been that social aspects of the study were out of the confident venture by those researching the frogs. But this information is needed to help direct evidence-based measures for conservation action – do we change the law? Do we engage with hunters? How should we engage with anyone at all??? Even the IUCN assessment for the Goliath Frog in 2004 made scant mention of socio-economic context that drove the hunting of this species. In 2018, the IUCN Redlist provided the opportunity for us to put this right, and it is now listed in the species’ assessment. So when Cameroonian herpetologist Geraud Tasse mentioned to me he wanted to work on Goliath Frog, this was the opportunity to start filling this gap. We met and made a plan of action, how to design questionnaires, how to approach stakeholders, how extensive and ambitious we could be. In 2019 we put forward a funding bid to do the more ambitious project and study, but got knocked back. We had no feedback, but one senior colleague thought it was because our team did not seem to have a social science background, a symptom of your searchable profile having a number of papers of a particular theme under one’s belt that can obscure your other skills that have not been so fortunate to create papers. In this case, all my and Geraud’s community conservation and socio-economic survey experience (which is far from perfect) went unnoticed amidst our chytrid fungus and frog ecology research that has accumulated more cited papers. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t! Despite being declined sufficient funding to undertake dedicated works on this issue, enough survey work on the perspectives of Goliath Frogs finally reached a publishable threshold, and it is finally now “out”. It is still just a guide on how conservation work might be directed to help people and this frog live alongside each other into the distant future. There is always someone wanting to work on the Goliath Frog. Hopefully this work will help guide them a bit better on how they might conserve them a bit better.
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A couple of weeks ago, a news story circulated the local press (Wirral Globe, Chester Standard) of dog walkers being worried about Grass Snakes being found using a park in Ellesmere Port (https://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/23469694.ellesmere-port-grass-snakes-spotted-rossmore-fields/). The tone of the articles was mostly concern about safety to pets and people by these snakes, with the disappointing confusion amplified by the journalist over whether they were venomous. The representatives of the Cheshire West Council did a sterling job reassuring these snakes are harmless. Even if they were venomous, as Adders are, their presence at a park should be no more concerning than the presence of a driveway, stinging nettles or changing weather – even in countries with dangerously venomous snakes, park users share the spaces with few incidents. From what we can tell, there are no photos to verify these were actually wild Grass Snakes, as opposed to escaped pets. Grass Snakes are not unheard of in south Wirral or Cheshire, sadly none known in the north other than old anecdotes from old Wirralians. We are examining maps about connecting habitat and it looks like a spill over from less accessible wasteland and canal. Grass Snakes are not necessarily endangered in Britain, but their status in Wirral and Cheshire is hardly robust. Records are few and far between. Why this is exactly, is still not certain. Grass snakes rely on amphibians and fish to eat. At one site I worked in Essex, which was teeming with reptiles, Grass Snake were scarce due to frogs, toads and fish practically absent due to chemical pollution from a nearby abandoned oil refinery. Does Cheshire & Wirral have a relatively low abundance of amphibians and fish due to pollution? Grass Snake also need places to lay their eggs, notably dung heaps or piles of cut grass. One study in the Netherlands, another in Sweden, noted that the decline of livestock farming that created dung heaps for egg laying was associated with the decline in Grass Snakes (see https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10531-012-0308-0 and https://researchportal.hkr.se/ws/files/42968355/HJ_v22_n3_a12.pdf). There are now incentives in the Netherlands, probably elsewhere, to create compost bins for Grass Snakes to incubate their eggs in. Then there is disturbance by people. As dog walkers use the park, it is likely snakes will be discouraged from using it as a habitat, especially a small one like this. One case study from one London park found a decline as park users accessed their habitat, in relation to restricted areas. Most of this information was learned by myself through attending the Herpetofauna Workers Meetings organized by ARGsUK and ARC Trust. There is a level of anguish from myself, and probably others, concerning the media’s negative tones toward a rare species for our region (I realise that attentions need to be grabbed so a bit of sensationalism has to be tolerated). I recall being starved of access to sites with Grass Snakes when I was growing up, jealous of Chris Packham’s nostalgia for capturing them in childhood. Part of the reason I got the Wirral Amphibian & Reptile Group up and running was to create opportunities for people on the peninsular to engage with their local wildlife, to not pass by their local park without knowing what was living there and to make sure records are up to date so these species can be protected. As one example, I grew up walking my dog in Harrison Park and the Red Noses at New Brighton and never saw lizards until I made a dedicated survey for them (without the dog scaring them away). As for these snakes in Ellesmere Port, the Wirral ARG members may very well be paying a visit and seeing if there are any adjacent sites the snakes may also be visiting. If you wish to join the ARG and take part in this, possibly even adding it to a CV for a career in conservation, do get in touch. If you wish to help, do report in your sightings of amphibians and reptiles to Record Pool or the local biological record centre, and get involved with your local wildlife group, such as the Cheshire Wildlife Trust, local park friends group, and/or your local Amphibian & Reptile Group. As a recorder for Merseyside and Cheshire, I verify records registered by citizen scientists and there are occasional Grass Snake records. It is likely people see more from day to day, so if you are reading this and have a photo of a grass snake, please send in the record at the link below. If you can, set up a compost bin or make a grass heap exposed to the sun for them to lay their eggs. A pond and log pile will help amphibians prosper, and feed the snakes. If you meet snakes out and about, give them a wide berth and enjoy them from afar, especially if they are basking. These are fascinating, important and increasingly rare animals. Lets not be afraid, lets help them.
Further information More information on Grass Snakes can be found here: https://www.arc-trust.org/grass-snake If you meet a Grass Snake, or any other reptile or amphibian, please upload your sighting here: https://www.recordpool.org.uk/ To get involved with the Wirral Amphibian & Reptile Group (ARG), see here: https://groups.arguk.org/wiarg For getting involved with ARGs elsewhere in UK, see here: https://groups.arguk.org/ Resuming support for those stranded in Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict – Helping the Frog Helpers11/29/2022 In 2020, efforts were made to raise funds to support our project’s past and present field assistants who have been caught up in the civil war-torn, English-speaking regions of Cameroon. These frontline amphibian conservationists were facing hardship from the lack of work opportunities after most conservation organizations were forced to withdraw from activities there. In the interim, from 2019, some small funds were provided from our core project budget to support some stranded colleagues. As the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 rolled forward, we couldn’t raise the normal funds through grant applications, not to mention our own salaries, to help.
Thus a campaign for funds was set up (see https://thomasdb.weebly.com/blog/support-for-those-stranded-in-cameroons-anglophone-conflict), asking friends and colleagues to donate. Due to the sensitive nature of fund-raising, this had to be pursued so the benefactors were not identifiable (Cameroon is still connected to the world wide web, including the troubled areas, to an extent). It also meant relatively low-profile announcements. This took place during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which may not have been the best time to be asking people for money when livelihoods even in the West were uncertain. We did raise funds, but only £586, which was still gratefully received and went far. However, the old trope that “that’s a lot of money to them” does not work out in real life. Time has passed, people’s lives still need to go on, but the civil war has not stopped. As more sustainable, viable funding is still lacking for substantial, longer-term programs in Cameroon, our field assistants are still struggling. Here we are resuming the campaign to resume funds for our frontline amphibian (and forest & water) conservationists have as normal a life as possible. The target at the moment is to assist at least four long term field assistants in Cameroon’s Anglophone region. A further three are being considered (mostly seeking their whereabouts to find out how they are and how they may be assisted). The monetary target is £5,000 (which is about 3,750,000 CFA), which covers the transfer fees (that won’t exceed £30) will go a long way even after being circulated around the benefactors. If you wish to make a donation, click this link (updated 06/03/2023): https://gofund.me/f0d01925 And please share this with your acquaintances and encourage them to donate too. This time we would like to make a bigger impact. Reposted from Wirral Amphibian & Reptile Group (WiARG) webpageIn the summer of 2021, the Wirral Amphibian & Reptile Group (WiARG) led a study on the habitat use of amphibians in the north west Wirral coast. This primarily looked at whether amphibians were using areas outside of the Red Rocks Nature Reserve, where it was already known populations of four amphibian species occur: Smooth Newt, Common Frog, Common Toad, and the Natterjack Toad. The study was born out of the long-term consideration of expanding and sustaining the rare Natterjack population on the Wirral. Natterjack had been reintroduced to Red Rocks in 1996 and was sustaining its population thanks to management of its breeding habitat by the Cheshire Wildlife Trust (the Wirral Parks & Recreation before them). While they were stable there, this was still a small, vulnerable population, with more needed to expand across the Wirral coast. Back in 2019 when WiARG were turning our attentions to Red Rocks, there was only bare sand, housing, roads and sea walls connecting the dunes there to the dunes at Meols and the Gunsite. We had thought about how the habitat between the two main sand dune sites could be restored so these rare toads could have lots of other breeding populations. In particular, we wanted to work out how to engage with the public to get consent for geoengineering the coast to make this possible. Then came the revelation that the beach at Hoylake was being kept artificially bare, that the council had been spraying and raking vegetation that would have formed coastal habitat. Things then started moving. First of all, the council stopped spraying and raking the beach. Then the coastal vegetation started to grow, and grow, forming green mats of a mixture of saltmarsh and sand dune species. Over a hundred plant species were found to be colonising (or resurrecting within?) the shore over two years. Sadly, despite much positive support for the succession, there was a loud chorus of disapproval that made the issue highly polarised. This was apparently enflamed by party politics seizing the opportunity to discredit opponents making the decisions and win over disgruntled voters. Whichever decisions were to be made, a scientific evidence base would be needed. We therefore took the opportunity to obtain baseline data on the status of amphibians outside of Red Rocks, not just Hoylake but other, adjacent areas. This complemented other studies, such as on plant biodiversity and geomorphology. We held back from surveying residential properties to save frightening people who would see us wondering around their gardens at night. Academically, this study has been interesting in understanding how amphibians move along coastal environments – one rule of thumb is that amphibians avoid saline environments or at least do not thrive in them. For example, oceanic islands formed by volcanic activity typically have no amphibians at all as amphibians can’t enter the sea and survive long. Natterjack have some tolerance to salt water that can give them the upper hand over Common Toad, but even a high tide can put them off breeding in a pond for a while. One night we found that where amphibians stopped, the crabs started – there was an abundance of Shore Crab on land. This may have been an unusual night as we didn’t see it every time, but was food for thought. Due to the viciousness of some of the discourse from some members of the public, manifest by abuse directed to other scientists involved with studying the beach, we did our best to keep a low profile. And it seemed to work as we carried on without hassle, with no snide comments from the usual suspects after we posted findings on social media platforms. Afterall we just wanted to do the science, enjoy ourselves meeting amphibians doing interesting things on the coast and send it back to the public for consideration. And we met some lovely amphibians, even the protected Natterjack in abundance, which we had to arrange for licensing to survey from Natural England. Common Toad were mostly found to be spilling over into Hoylake Beach, with one young Natterjack, but none more than 100m out. In contrast, we found no amphibians at all in the raked West Kirby beach. The only amphibians in the eastern end of Hoylake Beach were Common Frog (more terrestrial than people realise), and this Spring they were found breeding in a puddle on the beach with the tadpoles still present in early June. The data from 2021 is being analysed and further surveys to augment the dataset are being planned, at Hoylake, West Kirby and further afield to capture better information on coastal movements of amphibians. A manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal is already drafted with this preliminary data – this is just the start of things, a scientific paper is more a status report than the final story. The story is however pointing to a potential future for when the habitats of Hoylake Beach could act as a corridor for Natterjack and other amphibians to move east toward the other sand dunes of Meols and Leasowe-Wallasey. And that would only be one part of the broader restoration of the living systems of the Wirral that would benefit people as much as the species that will prosper because of them.
What can you do to help? There is a consultation for residents of the Wirral to feedback to the council how the beach at Hoylake should be managed. This might include:
If you want to lend your voice to this, the consultancy ends 10th August, so make sure to make your thoughts known here: https://haveyoursay.wirral.gov.uk/hoylake-beach-information/survey_tools/hoylake-beach This blog was written for the Wirral Amphibian & Reptile Group in November 2021 during the COP 2021 international climate change meeting. I am sharing here as we have met the heatwave of mid July 2022, and also so it can have an easier recourse to a link (the ARG UK platform does not seem to have it or I have not found it yet) and there is a little epilogue to add post-2022 heatwave: As the discussion of climate change and resulting climate breakdown is at the forefront of news at the moment, we highlight how these issues touch the Wirral’s amphibians and reptiles (collectively referred to as “herps”), often in unexpected and counterintuitive ways. Many of us living in the Wirral already notice how our winters have been less snowy the past decade compared to previous. But how is this affecting our herpetofauna on the Wirral, who are sensitive to changes in temperature and have to hibernate through the winter? Some of us have been surprised by seeing frogs moving about on Christmas Day. Do these mid-winter emergences result in their death when wandering around in a daze with nothing to eat and does resumption of cold kill them off? How about changes to rainfall? Or rising temperature? At the Wirral Amphibian & Reptile Group (WiARG) we are doing our bit to see how our local herps are faring in response to a changing climate. Our basic effort is to monitor and take action to build resilience where we can. Some volunteers are monitoring various sites for the initiation of breeding by various amphibians, especially by WiARG secretary Sue Noyce of Common Frogs at Central Park in Wallasey. We have also been checking for earliest emergences for Spring and latest occurrence for autumn in Common Lizard at Harrison Park Wallasey. This year, we still found lizards active mid-October. And there has been our study on how amphibians use coastal habitat down to the strandline at Hoylake-West Kirby, which has implications for inferring changes to sea-level. Sometimes it may be necessary to highlight the need to divert seemingly positive climate action where it will do more harm than good, such as planting of trees in habitat that will actually cause declines of herps. Tree planting to restore lost woodland and reconnect others is great, but planting in habitats like established grasslands, sand dunes, peatland and heathland does shade out the sunny spots herps and other organisms need to live - thankfully the Wirral Tree Strategy does take this into account. As one example, in one park where we found an important Common Lizard population, the rangers diverted tree planting efforts to another site so they would not loose their grassland habitat. The most salient example of how climate change (more realistic rephrase: climate breakdown) is impacting amphibians on the Wirral is at Royden Park near Frankby. We found the Great Crested Newt still occur here, but the single pond we found them breeding was found to dry out before larvae could metamorphose in both years surveyed. We are hoping for a 2022 Spring and Summer that is wet enough and mild enough for the water to stay long enough for the babies to grow, but it doesn’t look good. At the start of this project in 2019 it was already clear that the network of ponds in Royden were far from adequate to support a resilient population. It is likely the loss in the past century of big animals such as deer, beavers, livestock that would have kept the ponds open and resilient has caused them to shrink in size and suitability for pond life. WiARG has been working with the Wirral Council rangers to manage these ponds, trimming branches and small trees from the edge of the ponds and removing debris to reduce anaerobic digestion which reduces oxygen levels. Doing this actually helps stop these ponds releasing greenhouse gases and helps them sequester more carbon. After the initial works by volunteers from WiARG with those at Royden Park, it was realised a more dedicated, drastic action was needed, especially as volunteer time in the winter of 2020-21 was lost to covid-19 lockdowns. So the Volunteer Rangers of Royden Park led a grant bid with WiARG to get contractors to drastically thin out trees and line one pond adjacent to another where crested newts had been seen but not yet breeding. The grant bid with the Burbo Bank Community Fund was successful and we are waiting for works to commence. This should produce a pond that is more resistant to drying out during droughts. With the negotiations at COP26 in Glasgow in progress, changes to the climate are with us already and we need to be vigilant to how these changes will impact our wildlife. As efforts continue to reduce emissions and capture carbon, WiARG will be proactively working to understand how these changes are affecting our newts, frogs, toads, lizards (and snakes if any show up) and do what we can to mitigate the negative impacts for a resilient and healthy community across the Wirral. Update July 2022 As of July 2022, after what we thought was a reassuringly wet Spring and early Summer, the UK was hit by an unprecedented heatwave, parts of the country over 40 Celcius, most of it comfortably in the 30s. By this time, the new pond at Royden Park had been dug (in February-March) with native aquatic plants planted. This pond was still holding water, while most of the other ponds at the park had dried out, especially the one pond where we have found Great Crested Newt breeding. This is likely to be the third year in a row that this newt subpopulation has failed to complete their life cycle. We were also finding fewer individuals from surveys this season. It is therefore very worrying that we may have been too late to create this deeper pond resilient to drying. We will be monitoring the situation, but it may now be time for a broader strategy for Great Crested Newt conservation and ponds on the Wirral. In 2018, a civil war broke out between separatists and the government in the English speaking North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. This is a part of Cameroon I have been working in since 2006. All my project work there has stopped - not that I live there all the time but others working on my behalf have had to stop entering forests to carry out surveys due to the risk they might be mistaken for combatants.
In addition to the risk of atrocities committed by both sides of the civil war, those who have not been able to relocate to the francophone regions struggle to earn a livelihood. I have been sending some funds over, but now my own income has now been drastically reduced due to the lockdown. Even if there had been no lockdown, I would have been limited in what I can send to support people so they can survive and would be getting them working on my projects so I can pay them. This all came to a head this weekend, when a friend’s house lost its roof in a storm. This is a friend who I have worked with, ran a guest house and greatly encouraged research and conservation of his area's cultural and natural heritage. I was in no doubt I could not pay to replace this roof myself (c. £350), and felt it would be insulting to send what little I had in an emergency fund I had set aside (less than £50). I have thus set up this fundraiser. I do this with trepidation. It is difficult to talk about who will benefit from this fund, to name names, as this is a dangerous situation for numerous reasons. Announcing who gets the funds risks those being targeted by militia on either side, as well as raising suspicions that funds might be going to militia. Care is going to be needed to make sure funds are not going to fund militarism in any form. To be clear here, this fund is strictly neutral with regard to the civil war. At present this is supporting a handful of people I know. I am not sure how things are going to work out, if there will be scope to expand on this to help others in a more objective, evidence-based manner. If you are reading this and can make constructive suggestions, please get in touch. So the first stage is to get this roof repaired, followed by sending funds for food, etc to other contacts (about five other households). If lots (117?) of us chip in £3 to £5, this could help out for the time being. Following up from this, donations are welcomed so a passive flow of income can be sent over. Full accounts will be audited and published on a quarterly basis until further notice. You can donate through Paypal HERE. Many thanks, Tom A first proper blog post as critical matters are arising:
As zoos in England are now granted to re-open this month and claw-back some revenue, zoos in Wales and Scotland are still forced to stay closed. This is mostly down to these devolved governments having more stringent, disciplined lockdown restrictions compared to England (yes the UK is a nation, but historical nations within are devolved). However, I fear there is another factor at play: a distaste for zoos in general. Focusing on Scotland, the otherwise encouragingly progressive political ideology and governance of the devolved Scottish government is one that potentially casts zoos as the enemy. (I had anticipated this would have been a flash point with a Jeremy Corbyn Labour government, which I otherwise would have preferred to what we have now). Progressive, compassionate people are understandably against perceived imprisonment and exploitation of animals, especially when they have no knowledge of animal welfare or modern zoo management. This is something those of us with this knowledge need to communicate to progressive, well-meaning people to appreciate good zoological parks and their place in making the world a better place. So please bear with me as I share this based on 23 years since I first went behind the scenes at a zoo (going on to work at a further eight) and c. 31 years privately caring for animals other than domestic species. I will discuss zoos in general, but mostly in the West and British Isles. The contribution of a zoo to conservation is often not obvious and has been criticised in the past, even accusations of making conservation problems worse. A zoo to environmental conservation might nowadays be paralleled with a hospital to health. Where a hospital will receive a patient in critical health crisis, a zoo receives a species approaching extinction to create a safety-net population. Zoos even take on animals on welfare grounds alone. A hospital will have a hub providing educational material on the body and how to be healthy, and a good zoo will provide material on animals, their biology, ecology and how to protect them and their environment. A hospital might have a collection box for various charitable endeavours for health, including research, zoos likewise have their collection boxes for conservation and research projects (external or internal). A similar comparison could be made to schools and their contributions to education. A zoo might lead or collaborate on a large, far-reaching environmental initiative in the same way a hospital or school might respectively for a health or educational initiative. Disdain for zoos likely comes from historical legacies of animal abuse or neglect. But the same could be said for hospitals that abuse their patients or schools their pupils. Like schools and hospitals, zoos have modernised and mistakes of the past are seen as crimes today. Of course things aren’t perfect but this doesn’t mean zoos shouldn’t exist. Any problems can be selectively changed. How we do conservation breeding is being shifted, and there are many conservation initiatives that zoos are not directly needed for (though their educational role does come into play). I’ve met plenty of idiots working in zoos who shouldn’t be, but can say the same for almost every other facility whatever its purpose. They do get weeded out. There is also the case of people projecting thoughts and emotions onto animals that the animals themselves just do not have. Thinking animals in a zoo feel imprisoned is a common projection, and from moving from zoos to the field, I can tell you that animals can also have their ranges constrained in the wild, even voluntarily staying put at the same site for some time. It depends on the animal of course, an enclosure can be too small for a given species. Keepers know their animals and how they express distress or discomfort in their own way, so know to act accordingly. I can tell you keepers agonise over the welfare of their charges. As with hospitals and schools, zoos have their running costs. From my early experience in zoos, it was apparent that their upkeep and raising of revenue was a distraction from outward-looking endeavours. Zoos need paying visitors to keep ticking over, the funds for conservation come from extra donations and focused campaigns - given the distraction of running the park, it is incredible these outward looking efforts go ahead and testimony to the discipline of zoo managers. The next year at the very least, myself and colleagues are going to see a lull in conservation and research spending while zoos find their feet again. Avenues for funding for one conservation project I am preparing in Cameroon have been lost due to the pandemic lockdown pressuring several zoo budgets. At least we can do some work with other funding pots, though those funds had come from zoos too. (This program was founded with funding from three British zoos, with collaboration and funding for 14 years from zoos). Despite zoos modernising, and pushing the boundaries for what they can do to be a positive force in the environment movement, there are still the mumblings of how terrible they are. This week, a friend sharing the news that Edinburgh Zoo won’t open received comments on how its terrible animals are “caged”, a sentiment commonly seen on other public message boards when a zoo news story is shared. I’ve met (plant) ecologists who are against zoos. Zoo conservationists tell me that potential collaborators in other sectors of conservation won’t work with them. A few years back I saw someone who kills squirrels for a living blog about being dubious about zoos (mostly on the back of the death of Harambe the gorilla, a tragic but necessary shooting balancing the life of a baby). And the usual animal liberation movement, which typically shares misinformation on zoos and animals in general and does lobby governments and the public (all the more tenacious with social media). Misguided anti-zoo sentiment is alive and well. In Scotland, we have Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park (collectively under the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland) stepping up to the plate for the conservation of the Scottish Wildcat, reintroduction of the beaver and pine hoverfly. This is in addition to being the core funders of the Budongo Conservation Field Station in Uganda, which works to conserve chimpanzees, other forest wildlife, trains and employs a large number of Ugandan conservationists. That’s not to mention the Partula Snail breeding, and many other internationally important efforts based at these zoos. The Scottish National Party even used a visit to Edinburgh Zoo to score a soundbite, now used ad nauseum, that "There are more Giant Pandas than Tory MPs in Scotland". Other Scottish zoos do their bit in addition to propping up important breeding programs. Blair Drummond Safari Park sends funds to South African rhino and vulture conservation projects, tiger conservation in India, Barbary Macaques in Morrocco. Camperdown Wildlife Park in Dundee has funded lemur conservation in Madagascar, and participates in breeding programs for threatened species such as Lions-tailed Macaque, Waldrapp Ibis. In Wales, we have the Welsh Mountain Zoo, which in addition to breeding programs for Sumatran Tiger, Cotton-topped Tamarin and Snow Leopard, has a seal rescue unit and sends funds to Madagascan projects. Folly Farm has recently joined the Black Rhinoceros conservation program with a calf born recently, this species’ status on this Earth far from secure and deteriorating. Zoos just keep getting better and better, their staff getting more and more competent and innovative. When I started my career, it was a question of getting zoos to do more, now it’s a question of how to channel the energy to maximise what they are already doing. Zoo staff are more qualified, more educated and are modifying husbandry, breeding and conservation practises to be more effective. Across the UK, zoos are said to contribute £31 million per annum. But this is contingent on getting revenues, unfortunately by charging visitors to view the collections (a lot of zoo staff would prefer the public never enter the parks). While the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales weigh up the risks of when to allow zoo parks to open or provide them financial assistance, whoever is involved with the decision process should view zoos for the benefit they have. Decision should not be prejudiced by anti-zoo sentiment. As garden centres, offices, factories have been allowed to open in Scotland (and arguably do a lot of harm to the environment), this delay in allowing the same for zoos does smell like prejudice in a misguided progressive hope they go extinct. So while you are here, if you want to assist these institutions while they are in a difficult position, you can donate here: RZSS (Edinburgh Zoo & Highland Wildlife Park) - https://www.rzss.org.uk/support-us/ Welsh Mountain Zoo - https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/displayCharityCampaignPage.action?charityCampaignUrl=welshmountainzoo Folly Farm Zoo - https://www.folly-farm.co.uk/news/support-us/ If there are fundraising links for other zoos in Wales and Scotland, let me know and I can post them. So after some time, I have rebooted a web page to promote my work, mostly to help let others know what I am doing and general background for potential collaborations. I am generally open for collaborations and consultancies for biodiversity, conservation and postdoctoral research.
I will be writing blog posts on various things, usually relating to some form of environmental issue, whether it be biodiversity, climate, governance, who knows. I have had a very varied background, growing up in Merseyside, starting my career in zoos, going through the academia mill while doing bits in nature reserves, working auxiliary jobs like bar staff, gardener. Have gone on organise expeditions overseas to carry out research and develop conservation projects, and am now back in Merseyside looking after a small collection of reptiles, amphibians and tarantulas while doing more local projects but still organising projects elsewhere. Hope people find what I share thought-provoking, useful and enjoyable. |
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