A message from the Houston Zoo’s carnivore department:
Jaguar
There will be a Spotlight on South America event this weekend (May 29 and 30, 2010) at the Zoo. The event is designed to foster awareness and appreciation of some of our beautiful animals from that region. The proceeds earned from this event will go to supporting two community based conservation projects that work tirelessly to ensure the survival of South American species in the wild.
The first is the Bigal River Biological Reserve, it is a 1000 hectare preserve in Ecuador. This area is community owned and is home to a variety of species of plants and animals (including Jaguars). It is part of a much larger track of tropical rain forest along the eastern slopes of the Ecuadorian Andes. The Reserve extends both inside and outside of the Sumaco National Park (which is 190,562 hectares and is one of 3 Biosphere Reserves found in Ecuador). Approximately 6 km of the Reserve comes in direct contact with the National Park and acts as a buffer zone.
The Bigal River Conservation Project was created to help better understand the conservation status of the endangered species present in the area and to find solutions that will ensure their long term survival. The four main goals of the project are: 1) to create an environmental awareness and encourage protection of local biodiversity within the local communities through education, 2) to facilitate community participation in actions oriented towards natural resources management and biodiversity’s data recollection process, 3) to generate long lasting incomes for the members of the communities from environmentally friendly activities and 4) to protect the Reserve and what is left of the tropical rain forest in the area. These goals will be accomplished through education, scientific research and surveillance and monitoring of both the Reserve and Park.
Maned wolf
The second is the Maned Wolf Conservation Project, which also combines research, conservation and education. It was started in 2001 to improve the conservation of Maned Wolves by assessing the changing landscapes of the species survival. It is located in the Serra da Canastra, a mountainous region in the Minas Gerais State in southeastern Brazil which contains a variety of Savannah habitats. The Serra da Canastra National Park encompasses a total of 200,000 hectares, 1/3 of which is regulated and managed by the Brazilian government. The remaining 2/3 is still under private ownership.
The project captures and monitors (via radio collars) Maned Wolves year round. To date they have captured 43 individuals in the study area. The goal is to gather as much information as possible about Maned Wolves in order to establish conservation actions such as habitat restoration, creation of corridors and management of maned wolf populations. In addition to studying the wolves, the project also strives to educate the people living in communities in the area about the species and how to live peacefully with them. The group also mediates conflicts between wolves and farmers to help improve attitudes towards the species. One way the project is doing this is to provide a prototypes of chicken coops designed to keep out wolves to a dozen farms. Since the initiation of this project, economic losses have been reduced, chicken production has improved, and many farmers are now advocates for the wolves.
Come and join us this weekend, and don’t miss the ”Carnivore Store” where a variety of paintings of assorted sizes, magnets, photos, and more will be available. There will also be docents and keepers presenting interesting biofacts to look at and touch in our events area located in front of our newly renovated Jaguar exhibit. Click here for more details about this event.
