Zoo Outreach Organisation &
Wildlife Information Liaison Development

 

ZOO/WILD's 2011 Current Activities . . .

Small Mammal Field Techniques Training, 10-14 November 2011, Kerala


Participants of Small Mammal Field Technique Training Workshop held in Thrissur, November 2011

      

Dr. Paul Racey demonstrating bat catching techniques using mist net

Dr. Mike Jordan explaining animal handling
methods and sex identification

ZOO/WILD and its networks CCINSA and RISCINSA organized five-days hands on training workshop hosted by Department of Wildlife, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University.  Thirty-five bat and rodent researchers from India (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh), Sri Lanka and Nepal attended this programme.  Prof. Paul A. Racey, Visiting Professor, Department of Exeter in Cornwall; Co chair, Bat Specialist Group of IUCN’s SSC and Dr. Mike Jordon, Senior Conservation Advisor, National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, Regional Chair IUCN SSC Reintroduction Specialist Group were the lead trainers of the workshop.   Dr. Sanjay Molur, ZOO, Dr. P.O. Nameer, KAU and Dr. Singaravelan took part as resource persons.  The training which had equally classroom and field activities covered the following: Introduction to small mammals, introduction to field techniques, standard techniques in inventory and monitoring, identification of habitat and sampling methodologies, catching techniques, why and how to survey, demo on setting of traps, traps and techniques, care of traps and field practice, animal handling, examining of caught small mammal, identification in field, key to identification, samples for DNA analysis, recording data, collection of pollen / feces, marking techniques, skinning and skulling methods, animal welfare and field research ethics, pollination ecology of rodents and bats, Survey protocol and Volant and non-volant small mammal conservation.  Prof. Pushpa Latha, Registrar and Ms. Sally Walker, Founder CCINSA and RISCINSA graced their presence.  The SMFTT training was sponsored by Chester Zoo, Knowsley Safari Park, Columbus Zoo and Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, USA.   

                                                                           For more details click here          

Getting along with Elephant workshops at Thailand

US Fish and Wildlife Service along with Columbus ZOO and Koln ZOO sponsored a series of three educators skills training workshop at Kanchanaburi, Thailand.  ZOO organized these trainers training programmes in collaboration with Elephant Conservation Network (ECN) from 15-24th August 2011 at Pavilion Rim Kwai Resort, Kanchanaburi.  The participants represented four key provinces from different parts of Thailand, namely, Kanchanaburi (west), Prachinburi (east), Petchaburi (upper south) and Prachuab Kirikhan (upper south). These provinces are considerably well known for their human-wildlife conflict for the last few decades. The participants can be generally catergorised into five groups:  educators from Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), Ministry of Education (schools & provincial educational office), Community leaders at village and sub-district levels, Wildlife Conservation NGO and students involved in research and education.  All three workshops had a very good mixture of participants from different background and it helped to keep up with the dynamics of the programme.  A total of 89 trainees and 6 interns were trained during this workshop series. 

The workshop was inaugurated by the Director, Department of Wildlife, Kanchanaburi.  The objective of this trainers training programme is to 1. To empower educators to confront the issue of HEC and a partial ‘solution’ HECx (Human-elephant Co-eXistence), and 2. To demonstrate innovative teaching and learning techniques designed to change human attitudes and behaviour for the better.  

ECN members involved fully during the programme.  As per their observation the participants from every workshop apparently kept alert throughout the workshop period.  Hence they were evidently keen to learn and enthusiastic to take part in the classroom lessons and outdoor activities.  During the training all the trainees received HECx teaching guide, a set of 50 elekit packets and drama kit for them to do programmes at local level.  As part of this project a refresher course has been planned early 2012 so as to understand the impact of this programme at HEC areas of Kanchanaburi.  Until the time of refresher course ECN will do follow-up and and work with enthusiastic schools, protected areas and local communities to put HECx teaching methods in practice. ECN will also review and, together with Thai practitioners, adopt the HECx teaching manual to best suit entire Thailand.

                                                                              For more details click here

Promoting Human-elephant Coexistence among HEC area inhabitants of Coimbatore, South India

A series of three educator skills training workshops, funded by IEF was conducted in the fringe areas of Western Ghats, Coimbatore where villagers (Thoovaipathy, Vadivelampalayam and Ramanathapuram near Chinnatadagam) experience severe human-elephant conflict HEC. The objective of these workshops is to train people in HEC localities to bring in attitudinal change in the mindset by avoiding confrontation with the elephant if possible and there by avoid conflicts.  The training method promotes Human Elephant coexistence HECx with elephants by way of learning behavioural and biological facts of the animal, which aid their understanding of elephant psychology, intrinsic worth and unbeatable strength. HECx stresses wildlife conservation and habitat protection by teaching about elephant decline and ecosystem degradation and theft, which instill a more sensible attitude among the people who live in elephant areas.  It also conveys traditional methods used by villagers when they had no help at all, which promote coexistence.  

The first workshop was organised at Nilgiri Biosphere Nature Park from 18-19 June 2011, the second at Vadivelampalayam near Alandurai from 2-3 July 2011 and the third workshop at Ramanathapuram near Chinnatadagam from 9-10 July 2011.  The coordinators of the workshops were Nilgiri Biosphere Nature Park, The Tulsi Trust and South India Consumer & Human Rights Organisation, Coimbatore Chapter and Iyaragaj-Pathukappu Nala Sangam respectively.   A total of 76 participants were trained.    During the programme each participant was provided with 50 ele-kit packets, 1 drama kit and a teaching manual “Getting along with Elephants” developed exclusively for Tamil Nadu.

                                                                                                 For more details click here

Western Ghats Reptile Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) Workshop

The Western Ghats reptile Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) Workshop held in Coimbatore from 28 February to March 2011) at Karl Kubel Institute. A total of 245 species of reptiles were assessed, several endemic to the Western Ghats, and others occurring in the Western Ghats or in southern India. Species endemic to the Eastern Ghats and peninsular India were also considered in the assessments. 40 participants with expertise in the field represented 28 organizations in the assessments. While the 1997 Indian reptile CAMP organised by ZOO had several well-established herpetologists of that era, the 2011 Western Ghats reptile CAMP workshop had a fairly young representation with a majority of the participants attending the CAMP workshop for the very first time; many of them having developed their expertise in this field since the first reptile CAMP workshop nearly 14 years ago!

Final outputs will include a complete account of information in the Threatened Taxa Monitoring System (TTMS) website at www.southasiantaxa.org where all point locality data, text, maps, etc. will be provided open access, hopefully by July 2011. Later in the year, around October, the IUCN Red List will publish the assessments for all endemic reptiles of the region on the www.iucnredlist.org website.

The Western Ghats reptile CAMP workshop is part of the global reptile assessments (GRA) of the IUCN SSC, similar to the global mammal and amphibian assessments. However, workshops to assess reptiles are more ad hoc depending on availability of funds. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) under the large grant awards to the Wildlife information Liaison Development (WILD) Society funded this workshop. Collaborators include Zoo Outreach Organisation, the South Asian Reptile Network and the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, South Asia network, working along with the IUCN GRA.

Enhancing knowledge about the conservation status of globally threatened species in the Western Ghats, with a particular emphasis on reptiles

Regional conservation management plans are often developed with the needs of ‘charismatic’ species such as elephants, tigers or birds in mind. Other important species groups can sometimes be overlooked when identifying the sites for biodiversity conservation. The CEPF Western Ghats Ecosystem Profile highlights the gaps in conservation knowledge for several important taxonomic groups, especially reptiles and freshwater ecosystem. WILD got a grant from CEPF to Enhance the knowledge about the conservation status of globally threatened species in the Western Ghats, with a particular emphasis on reptiles and the project includes the following two components.

The Conservation Assessment & Management Plan / Global Reptile Assessment for Western Ghats Reptiles:
WILD and IUCN Reptile Assessment Unit along with other local collaborators will draw on published literature and the collective knowledge of the South Asian Reptile Network to coordinate the compilation of draft species accounts and range maps for each of the Western Ghats reptiles, which will subsequently be peer-reviewed during a 5-day workshop of national and international experts with a view to producing agreed evaluations of the current conservation status for each species. Accounts will include detailed information on the species as documented in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The results will be compared and combined with results of similar ongoing global initiatives (eg. Global Amphibian Assessment) and the analyses will provide holistic conservation planning. Global assessments (including supporting documentation) resulting from the project for both threatened and non-threatened taxa will be made publically available on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the South Asia Threatened Taxa Monitoring System maintained by WILD.

Journal of Threatened Taxa
WILD, the publisher of JoTT (on-line Journal) will solicit scientific articles from all Western Ghats projects for publication over four years. Additional strategies such as encouraging CEPF granting agency to encourage all grantees to publish as well as approaching all grantees personally will be started immediately. All articles will be peer-reviewed in keeping with the highest standards and finally accepted papers published within a month. A special theme on Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot for CEPF grantees will be initiated, which will be a section of every issue. Articles peer reviewed will be published in the special section as and when they are finally accepted reducing lag time in publication.

The intention is to encourage, over the next 2-4 years all scientific results emanating from the Western Ghats region, be it from the CEPF grants or otherwise, to be published at a rapid rate in the journal. The publication is intended to reduce time delays in critical finding publications and to make the entire study in the Western Ghats effective by quick dissemination of results and promoting actions on the field. The publication provides completion to projects and highlights the findings, the actions and funding agencies and their actions to the scientific and action committees. This journal will provide all of the above benefits and due to its rapid publication, research findings can be timely or immediate based on the needs and priorities in the region of Western Ghats.

Eastern Himalayas and Western Ghats Freshwater
Biodiversity Assessment
Projects

Eastern Ghats Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment Project:
Biodiversity within inland water ecosystems in the Eastern Himalaya region is both highly diverse and of great regional importance to livelihoods and economies. However, development activities are not always compatible with the conservation of this diversity, and the ecosystem requirements of biodiversity are frequently not considered in the development planning process. One of the main reasons cited for inadequate representation of biodiversity is a lack of readily available information on the status and distribution of inland water taxa. In response to this need for information, the IUCN Species Programme, in collaboration with Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO) conducted the Eastern Himalaya Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment, a review of the global conservation status of 1,073 freshwater species belonging to three taxonomic groups ? fishes (520 taxa), molluscs (186 taxa), and odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) (367 taxa). Other groups that include freshwater species that have been comprehensively (i.e. all known species) assessed are freshwater crabs (assessed in 2008, and 57 species of crab are present within the assessment region), mammals, birds, and amphibians and their assessments can be accessed on the IUCN Red List.

Western Ghats Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment Project:
The Western Ghats is one of the world’s most heavily populated Biodiversity Hotspots providing for and supporting 400 million people through water for drinking, transport, irrigation, and hydroelectric power, together with food and resources to sustain livelihoods. However, the pace of growth of the Indian economy and rates of industrial and urban development are not in tune with the conservation needs of it’s diverse freshwater ecosystems and the remarkably high diversity of species they contain.  In most instances the development planning process does not consider the requirements of these freshwater ecosystems, mainly due to a lack of adequate information on the distribution and status of freshwater species and the threats they face. There is also little appreciation for the value of freshwater ecosystems to the livelihoods of many highly dependent people, often the poorest in society. In response to this need for information and for raised awareness, the IUCN Global Species Programme’s Freshwater Biodiversity Unit, in collaboration with the Zoo Outreach Organisation (ZOO), conducted the Western Ghats Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment to review the global conservation status and distributions of 1,146 freshwater species belonging to four taxonomic groups: fishes (290 taxa), molluscs (77 taxa), odonates (171 taxa) and aquatic plants (608 taxa). 

The methodology for these assessments are based on the collation and analysis of existing information, requiring experts to be trained in biodiversity assessment methods including  application of the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, and species mapping using GIS software. Distribution ranges have been mapped to river sub-basin (the logical unit for management) for the majority of species. This provides an important tool for input to the conservation and development planning processes. The full dataset, including all species distribution files (GIS shapefiles), is freely available on the DVD accompanying this report and through the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM (www.iucnredlist.org). Additional freshwater groups that have, through other projects, also been comprehensively assessed in the region are amphibians, birds, mammals and crabs and results from these assessments are also available through the IUCN Red List.

ZOO WILD Activity Report for the period 2010-11