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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/trapping/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2026 10:30:23 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Trapping</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/trapping/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Volunteers play crucial role in Bangladesh’s wildlife crime control efforts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/volunteers-play-crucial-role-in-bangladeshs-wildlife-crime-control-efforts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/volunteers-play-crucial-role-in-bangladeshs-wildlife-crime-control-efforts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2026 07:46:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sadiqur Rahman]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/24073508/8-Forest-Department-officials-along-with-local-volunteers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324467</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Crime, Environment, Environmental Law, Governance, Poaching, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A handful of animal lovers, mostly representing the youth community, spread across Bangladesh, have become crucial arsenals of the Forest Department’s wildlife crime control efforts. Despite not being assigned by the state, like the responsibilities a crime control force shoulders, the animal lovers help the Forest Department trace stressed wildlife in traps, cages or enclosures [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A handful of animal lovers, mostly representing the youth community, spread across Bangladesh, have become crucial arsenals of the Forest Department’s wildlife crime control efforts. Despite not being assigned by the state, like the responsibilities a crime control force shoulders, the animal lovers help the Forest Department trace stressed wildlife in traps, cages or enclosures of poachers and smugglers. Primarily, they share intel information about any potential wildlife crime. Often, they join the wildlife inspectors of the department, act as undercover buyers, reach the crime scene, and help arrest the criminals. All things they do are under life threats — voluntarily. The Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU), established in 2012, conducted more than 3,000 raids against wildlife criminals between July 2012 and March 2026. Almost all raids were planned with volunteers’ tip-offs. Chief conservator of forests, Md Amir Hosain Chowdhury, told Mongabay: “Volunteers are our crucial partners [in wildlife conservation].” The government of Bangladesh has also recognized the collaboration between the WCCU and the volunteers. The WCCU and wildlife photographer and conservationist Faisal Bin Azad, better known as Adnan Azad, were honored with the National Wildlife Conservation Awards 2026 on July 9. Azad is one of the pioneers in non-government campaigns for nature conservation and was one of the original volunteers with WCCU. Local volunteers and Forest Department officers pose for photographs with an administration officia after two pooches were detained while possessing a macaque illegally. Image by Siddiqur Rahman Rabbi. The Forest Department on Nov. 6, 2025,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/volunteers-play-crucial-role-in-bangladeshs-wildlife-crime-control-efforts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/volunteers-play-crucial-role-in-bangladeshs-wildlife-crime-control-efforts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324467</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Bangladesh gets ready for its first release of tiger rescued from poachers’ trap</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 09:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10084029/upscalemedia-transformed-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323027</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Hope and optimism, Mangroves, Monitoring, Poaching, Tigers, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, and Wildlife Rescues]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In a first, Bangladesh is preparing to release a tiger back into the wild after it was rescued from a poacher’s trap and provided with medical treatment. On Jan. 4 this year, the Forest Department rescued the female tiger (Panthera tigris), estimated to be around 10 years old, from the Chandpai and Sarankhola forest range [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In a first, Bangladesh is preparing to release a tiger back into the wild after it was rescued from a poacher’s trap and provided with medical treatment. On Jan. 4 this year, the Forest Department rescued the female tiger (Panthera tigris), estimated to be around 10 years old, from the Chandpai and Sarankhola forest range in the Sundarbans East division. The critically injured tiger was taken to the Khulna Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, a facility of the Bangladesh Forest Department, for treatment. “We rescued the tiger from a snare set for deer poaching. After receiving adequate care, the tiger is now ready to return to the wild. We are planning to release her in a few days,” said Md Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, divisional forest officer, Sundarbans East division. According to the latest tiger census, conducted in 2024, Bangladesh is home to 125 globally endangered Bengal tigers living in the Sundarbans mangrove forest. The rescued tiger&#8217;s left foreleg, which was caught in the snare, was severely injured. Image courtesy of the Bangladesh Forest Department. Covering 6,017 square kilometers (2,323 square miles), the mangrove forest is administratively divided into Sundarbans East and Sundarbans West. It is also divided into three blocks — Chandpai-Sarankhola, Khulna and Satkhira. As per the census, the highest number of Bengal tigers is found in the Chandpai-Sarankhola block. “This indicates that the density of other wildlife, including deer and wild boars, is also higher in this block because the forest’s top predators are more concentrated here,” Chowdhury&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/bangladesh-gets-ready-for-its-first-release-of-tiger-rescued-from-poachers-trap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323027</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Crackdown on snares in Sumatra as elephant, sun bear and tiger rescued</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/crackdown-on-snares-in-sumatra-as-elephant-sun-bear-and-tiger-rescued/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/crackdown-on-snares-in-sumatra-as-elephant-sun-bear-and-tiger-rescued/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jun 2026 13:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jaka Hendra BaittriVinolia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/06/25125105/Sumatran-tiger-snare-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=321801</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Illegal Trade, Law, Law Enforcement, Poaching, Snares, Wildlife, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PADANG, Indonesia — Authorities in a stronghold for Sumatran tigers have warned the public against using snares to trap wild boar following the dramatic rescue of an 11-month old female tiger cub last month. While it is not illegal to set a snare for the purpose of trapping wild boar or animals that are not [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PADANG, Indonesia — Authorities in a stronghold for Sumatran tigers have warned the public against using snares to trap wild boar following the dramatic rescue of an 11-month old female tiger cub last month. While it is not illegal to set a snare for the purpose of trapping wild boar or animals that are not protected by law, the West Sumatra government said any protected species caught in a snare will now lead to criminal liability. The new clarification was set out in a letter issued in late May by the West Sumatra province office of Indonesia’s conservation agency, the BKSDA. It cites a 2024 amendment to Indonesia’s 1990 conservation law governing the protection of wildlife. “The situation has become dangerous because people are setting these snares,” explained Rizaldi, a conservation scientist at Andalas University in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province. The evacuation of a Sumatran tiger trapped in a wild boar snare in Pasaman. Image courtesy of BKSDA West Sumatra. Renewed attention on snares The recent crackdown on snares was sparked after a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) was discovered in a wild boar snare in Padang Mantiggi Utara village located in West Sumatra’s Pasaman district. Officials from the West Sumatra BKSDA, the conservation agency, arrived at the scene at around 13:30 on May 21, where they found a young female tiger in distress and pain. A snare was wrapped around the animal’s neck, trunk and right foreleg, in about five loops. “She struggled for a while&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/crackdown-on-snares-in-sumatra-as-elephant-sun-bear-and-tiger-rescued/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/06/crackdown-on-snares-in-sumatra-as-elephant-sun-bear-and-tiger-rescued/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-321801</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Thailand, old camera-trap photos shed new light on Asian tapirs</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-thailand-old-camera-trap-photos-shed-new-light-on-asian-tapirs/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-thailand-old-camera-trap-photos-shed-new-light-on-asian-tapirs/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Feb 2026 23:06:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/23130817/a.-%C2%A9Royle-Safaris-Malayan-tapir-1-e1771852183468-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314643</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Environment, Forests, Green, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Research, Snares, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers in Thailand have used archived camera-trapping data to identify a stronghold for Asian tapirs in the Khlong Saeng–Khao Sok Forest Complex, a lush network of protected areas in the country’s southern Surat Thani province. The new study, led by Wyatt Petersen, a biologist at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand, and published [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers in Thailand have used archived camera-trapping data to identify a stronghold for Asian tapirs in the Khlong Saeng–Khao Sok Forest Complex, a lush network of protected areas in the country’s southern Surat Thani province. The new study, led by Wyatt Petersen, a biologist at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand, and published in the journal Mammalian Biology, shows how camera-trap “bycatch” data — images of nontarget species — can be used to monitor tapirs (Tapirus indicus). To date, tapirs have mostly been surveyed using visual transects, in which researchers walk along a predefined path through the forest and count any tapirs they can spot along the way. The Asian tapir, sometimes also called the Malayan tapir, is the largest of the world’s four tapir species and the only one found outside Latin America. It ranges from southern Myanmar and Thailand to Sumatra and is considered endangered, with fewer than 2,500 mature individuals remaining, according to the latest assessment conducted in 2014 for the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority. Boldly black-and-white patterned adult tapirs can weigh up to 350 kilograms (772 pounds), whereas the more discrete brown coats of calves are flecked with white, perfectly camouflaging them against the dappled light of the forest floor. As nocturnal understory specialists, they have stubbornly thick hides to protect them against scrubby thorns, and a protruding prehensile snout for gathering foliage and fruits that doubles as a “snorkel” while rummaging underwater for aquatic plants. Although Asian tapirs are preyed on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-thailand-old-camera-trap-photos-shed-new-light-on-asian-tapirs/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-thailand-old-camera-trap-photos-shed-new-light-on-asian-tapirs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314643</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Small cat conservationists hail Uganda’s new Echuya Forest National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/small-cat-conservationists-hail-ugandas-new-echuya-forest-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/small-cat-conservationists-hail-ugandas-new-echuya-forest-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Dec 2025 14:56:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/11132905/Image_1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311098</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bushmeat, Cats, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Environment, forest degradation, Forests, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, National Parks, Small Cats, Snares, Tourism, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In what’s being called immensely good news for the African golden cat, often described as the continent’s most elusive and threatened wildcat species, Uganda’s Echuya Forest will become a national park. “Having Echuya elevated to that level of protection is massive,” says Badru Mugerwa, founder and director of Embaka, an NGO, and of the African [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In what’s being called immensely good news for the African golden cat, often described as the continent’s most elusive and threatened wildcat species, Uganda’s Echuya Forest will become a national park. “Having Echuya elevated to that level of protection is massive,” says Badru Mugerwa, founder and director of Embaka, an NGO, and of the African Golden Cat Conservation Alliance (AGCCA). “The African golden cat is one of those species that are being pushed to extinction in the forest.” Besides the African golden cat (Caracal aurata), it’s also a win for a multitude of other species, he adds, as Echuya is home to more than 100 bird species, many of them endemic to the region, as well as to baboons (Papio anubis), blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis) and other mammal species. Echuya Forest hosts a wide array of biodiversity, including more than 100 bird species. Among them is the regal sunbird (Cinnyris regius). Image by Giles Bassière via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Echuya Forest covers around 3,400 hectares (8,400 acres) in Uganda’s extreme southwest near the Rwandan border, and is split between the districts of Kisoro and Rubanda. It’s currently a protected reserve. The declaration elevating it to a national park is part of a wider announcement by Uganda&#8217;s government as it creates six new national parks, bringing the country’s total to 16. The news of this added level of protection is welcome, says Emmanuel Akampurira, deputy director of the Embaka Echuya Project, who notes that numerous threats have persisted in Echuya&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/small-cat-conservationists-hail-ugandas-new-echuya-forest-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/small-cat-conservationists-hail-ugandas-new-echuya-forest-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311098</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Asian golden cat range expands, but declines continue amid rising threats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/asian-golden-cat-range-expands-but-declines-continue-amid-rising-threats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/asian-golden-cat-range-expands-but-declines-continue-amid-rising-threats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Nov 2025 15:45:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/07124346/Image_2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309032</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Camera Trapping, Cats, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forest Fragmentation, Habitat Loss, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Predators, Research, Small Cats, Snares, Species, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A single camera trap image of an Asian golden cat, photographed in Nepal&#8217;s Jajarkot district, has expanded this felid species’ range westward by nearly 400 kilometers (248 miles). Out of nearly 60,000 camera trap images snapped in 2024 in the district, this elusive cat showed itself just once. It’s likely, says Badri Baral, program coordinator [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A single camera trap image of an Asian golden cat, photographed in Nepal&#8217;s Jajarkot district, has expanded this felid species’ range westward by nearly 400 kilometers (248 miles). Out of nearly 60,000 camera trap images snapped in 2024 in the district, this elusive cat showed itself just once. It’s likely, says Badri Baral, program coordinator with Nature Conservation Initiative Nepal, that more Asian golden cats could be found between Jajarkot and the Gaurishankar Conservation Area, an area until recently believed to mark the felid’s farthest westward distribution. This positive news about the elusive wildcat, which dwells in forests across South and Southeast Asia, comes at nearly the same time as bad news, as its IUCN status went from near threatened to vulnerable. A single camera trap image of an Asian golden cat from Jajarkot, has extended its range by nearly 400 kilometers westward in Nepal. Image courtesy of Badri Baral/NCI-Nepal. Researchers say the Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) was likely once abundant across its range. That’s not the case today, with numbers thinned and populations lost due to an excess of threats including deforestation, snaring, and retaliatory killings. Those risks, along with more accurate occurrence and population data featured in IUCN’s 2023 species assessment, are behind the revised threat status. The shift to vulnerable “represents a genuine concern,” says Thomas Gray, Tiger Landscape and Recovery Lead with the WWF Tigers Alive Initiative, who was part of the assessment team. The new IUCN listing also highlights the challenges of assigning a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/asian-golden-cat-range-expands-but-declines-continue-amid-rising-threats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309032</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To track a unicorn: Laos team goes all out to find the last saolas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/to-track-a-unicorn-laos-team-goes-all-out-to-find-the-last-saolas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/to-track-a-unicorn-laos-team-goes-all-out-to-find-the-last-saolas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Sep 2025 04:49:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/02105213/8-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306770</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Laos, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cattle, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Critically Endangered Species, DNA, Environment, Forests, Green, Innovation, Mammals, Snares, Tracking, Ungulates, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Few people have the opportunity to meet near-mythical beasts in real life — but Rob Timmins has. He’s one of the few biologists ever to spend time with a saola, a wild ox once known as the “Asian unicorn,” and arguably the most threatened large mammal on the planet. First described by science in 1993, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Few people have the opportunity to meet near-mythical beasts in real life — but Rob Timmins has. He’s one of the few biologists ever to spend time with a saola, a wild ox once known as the “Asian unicorn,” and arguably the most threatened large mammal on the planet. First described by science in 1993, the species, Pseudoryx nghetinhensis, has only ever been recorded alive a handful of times: five camera-trap detections, and a few individuals briefly held in captivity. Timmins met one of those captive animals, a female named Martha, in 1996 after she was captured by villagers in Laos and taken to a nearby facility. She survived there only a few weeks before passing away. Martha was “truly beautiful amidst all the sadness of her captivity,” says Timmins, who is now chief technical adviser of the Saola Foundation for Annamite Mountain Conservation. “In behavior, [she] was very unlike any other ungulate I’d ever seen. Very docile, seemingly very calm.” The saola’s peaceful nature has in fact earned it a nickname in a Lao dialect: Saat Supphap, which means “polite animal.” The species is considered so evolutionarily distinct it’s placed in a genus of its own. Sporting a hefty pair of dark horns, a sloping back and bold flashes of white across the face, saolas resemble antelopes, yet their closest living relatives are wild cattle like gaur and buffalo. Yet the world is on the cusp of losing this gentle, one-of-a-kind mammal forever, before scientists have even begun to&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/to-track-a-unicorn-laos-team-goes-all-out-to-find-the-last-saolas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/to-track-a-unicorn-laos-team-goes-all-out-to-find-the-last-saolas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306770</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On Java’s Mount Slamet, two former trappers find new calling as bird protectors</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/on-javas-mount-slamet-two-former-trappers-find-new-calling-as-bird-protectors/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/on-javas-mount-slamet-two-former-trappers-find-new-calling-as-bird-protectors/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2025 15:13:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[L. Darmawan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/29084318/A-Sikatan-cacing-jawa_Cyornis-banyumas_Burung-Indonesia_Jihad-1536x1025-1-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=305124</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Central Java, Indonesia, Java, Oceania, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Hunting, Trapping, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANYUMAS, Indonesia — As youngsters, Ari and Junianto would clamber over the upland above Sambirata village, gathering sap to glue-trap the birds nesting below Java’s Mount Slamet. “If it gets wet it’ll lose its stickiness, so you’d have to place it during the day,” Junianto, now in his mid-30s, told Mongabay Indonesia as he pressed [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANYUMAS, Indonesia — As youngsters, Ari and Junianto would clamber over the upland above Sambirata village, gathering sap to glue-trap the birds nesting below Java’s Mount Slamet. “If it gets wet it’ll lose its stickiness, so you’d have to place it during the day,” Junianto, now in his mid-30s, told Mongabay Indonesia as he pressed on through thin mist up Mount Slamet together with Ari. A mother Javan blue flycatcher (Cyornis banyumas) is seen feeding her young in their nest. Image courtesy of Burung Indonesia/Jihad. Junianto learned to trap birds in the fourth grade. Before long, hunting had become his primary occupation. Often he would carry a small snake as bait for bigger birds. Within half an hour, they’d usually catch a white-eye (from the Zosteropidae family) or an olive bulbul (Iole viridescens) — both are greenish songbirds — somewhere between 800 and 1500 meters (2,600 and 4,900 feet) up the mountain. Junianto, a former bird hunter, is now a conservation activist. Image by L. Darmawan for Mongabay Indonesia. Their contact lists grew as they became more experienced hunters. Junianto began stockpiling birds from other hunters that he supplied to traders in the neighboring city of Purwokerto. Ari, meanwhile, branched out into selling species on social media. Between 2011 and 2012, he sold not just songbirds, but also slow lorises (Nycticebus coucang), sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) and even Javan hawk-eagles (Nisaetus bartelsi), Indonesia’s national bird — the equivalent of trading bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in the U.S. Ari recalled earlier&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/on-javas-mount-slamet-two-former-trappers-find-new-calling-as-bird-protectors/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/on-javas-mount-slamet-two-former-trappers-find-new-calling-as-bird-protectors/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-305124</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Report alleges criminality in Cambodian, Vietnamese monkey trade</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Apr 2025 02:13:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/21013607/VN-shipment-1-supplied-by-Animal-Rights-BE-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297860</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Atlantic Forest, Cambodia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Diseases, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Environmental Policy, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Medicine, Monkeys, Poaching, Primates, Protected Areas, Research, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Many long-tailed macaques imported into the United States from Southeast Asia were likely poached from the wild and then sold as captive-bred to medical research institutions, a recent report alleges. The 137-page report by Sandy River Research details “biologically impossible” birth rates at monkey-breeding facilities across Southeast Asia. It highlights contradictory claims made by [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BANGKOK — Many long-tailed macaques imported into the United States from Southeast Asia were likely poached from the wild and then sold as captive-bred to medical research institutions, a recent report alleges. The 137-page report by Sandy River Research details “biologically impossible” birth rates at monkey-breeding facilities across Southeast Asia. It highlights contradictory claims made by these facilities about their capacities and uses calculations based on publicly available data regarding the export of monkeys, suggesting that wild monkeys are being caught, laundered at scale through the Mekong region’s breeding facilities, and then sold as captive-bred monkeys, mostly to U.S.-based researchers. The report goes on to note how regulatory failures and a lack of due diligence has ensured that poachers, smugglers, breeding facilities and the biomedical research industry have found ways to profit at the expense of endangered long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). The public health risks of wild-caught monkeys being shipped around the world not only heighten the risk of zoonotic diseases spreading, but also jeopardize the scientific integrity of any research based on the study of wild monkeys, the report added. The “unabated” poaching of long-tailed macaques across Southeast Asia has seen populations plummet, with multiple studies pointing to the demand created by the biomedical research industry as a key driver in the species’ decline in some Southeast Asian countries. Inspections at Brussels Airport found long-tailed macaques exported from Vietnam. Image supplied by Animal Rights BE. The report doesn’t list an author and Sandy River Research states on its website that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/report-alleges-criminality-in-cambodian-vietnamese-monkey-trade/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297860</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Snared, skinned, sold: Brutal March for Indonesia’s Sumatran tigers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/snared-skinned-sold-brutal-march-for-indonesias-sumatran-tigers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/snared-skinned-sold-brutal-march-for-indonesias-sumatran-tigers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2025 05:02:57 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Junaidi HanafiahRahmi CarolinaVinolia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/04/09085354/animals_209019-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=297230</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Poaching, Predators, Snares, Tigers, Top Predators, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ROKAN HULU/PADANG/CENTRAL ACEH, Indonesia — In separate incidents in early March, officials across three Indonesian provinces rescued a critically endangered Sumatran tiger with its leg amputated, arrested six people for butchering another of the big cats, and detained five suspects in rural Aceh allegedly selling tiger body parts. The spate of arrests began on March [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ROKAN HULU/PADANG/CENTRAL ACEH, Indonesia — In separate incidents in early March, officials across three Indonesian provinces rescued a critically endangered Sumatran tiger with its leg amputated, arrested six people for butchering another of the big cats, and detained five suspects in rural Aceh allegedly selling tiger body parts. The spate of arrests began on March 2 in the highlands of Sumatra’s Riau province, after conservation agency officials received a report of a Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) caught in a snare trap in Tibawan village, Rokan Hulu district. The officials, based in Pekanbaru, the provincial capital, asked local leaders, including the police, to secure the location as they made the eight-hour drive to Tibawan. When they arrived the next morning, however, they found an empty snare and signs someone had used a machete to beat a path through the forest. Blood spots and car tire tracks were nearby. The subsequent investigation focused on a group of men believed to have approached the location at around 10 p.m., about one hour before the officials departed from Pekanbaru. Inquiries led investigators to a black minivan seen at a car wash in Ujung Batu, the largest town in Rokan Hulu district. Police pulled it over and detained its three occupants. “The back of that car was full of animal feces,” one officer told Mongabay Indonesia. Officers arrested two more people, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the trap, who had allegedly skinned and chopped up the tiger, storing the body parts in plastic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/04/snared-skinned-sold-brutal-march-for-indonesias-sumatran-tigers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-297230</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mammals, birds in Vietnam’s rare coastal forests revealed by camera traps</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/mammals-birds-in-vietnams-rare-coastal-forests-revealed-by-camera-traps/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/mammals-birds-in-vietnams-rare-coastal-forests-revealed-by-camera-traps/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Feb 2025 01:30:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/12141207/Banner-2-scaled-e1739369808158-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294282</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Dry Forests, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Hunting, Mammals, Poaching, Rainforests, Research, Snares, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2019, scientists rediscovered a species of miniature deer long lost to science within the dry coastal forests of southern Vietnam’s Nui Chua National Park. A victim of snaring, the silver-backed chevrotain (Tragulus versicolor) hadn’t been seen by scientists in the wild for nearly 30 years. Its unearthing via a camera-trapping study sparked a conservation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2019, scientists rediscovered a species of miniature deer long lost to science within the dry coastal forests of southern Vietnam’s Nui Chua National Park. A victim of snaring, the silver-backed chevrotain (Tragulus versicolor) hadn’t been seen by scientists in the wild for nearly 30 years. Its unearthing via a camera-trapping study sparked a conservation focus on the reserve, contributing to its 2022 designation as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Although the resighting was a feat in itself, the scientists were captivated by the diversity of other species turning up in their images. “This inspired us to look beyond the species level and investigate the ground-dwelling mammal and bird community in Nui Chua,” An Nguyen, a member of the deer survey team and Ph.D. student at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany, said in a statement. Nguyen and his colleagues from Germany, the U.S. and Vietnam embarked on a four-year study of the reserve, setting up 145 camera traps between 2018 and 2022 across a range of habitats ascending from Nui Chua’s coastal dry forests, through semi-dry forests and into its highest-elevation broadleaf wet rainforests. Nui Chua National Park spans roughly 22,500 hectares (55,600 acres) of coastal mountains in southeast Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan province, within a region known as the Greater Annamites due to its proximity to the Annamite Mountain Range that extends like a spine from southern Vietnam northward along its western border with Cambodia and Laos. Due to the reserve’s unique climatic conditions, it’s&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/mammals-birds-in-vietnams-rare-coastal-forests-revealed-by-camera-traps/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294282</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>CITES rejects proposed suspension of Cambodian monkey exports</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/cites-rejects-proposed-suspension-of-cambodian-monkey-exports/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/cites-rejects-proposed-suspension-of-cambodian-monkey-exports/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2025 09:50:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/11/18065718/Battambang-LTMs-2020-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=294219</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Southeast Asia, and Switzerland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Animal Rights, Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Illegal Trade, Monkeys, Poaching, Primates, Protected Areas, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Exports of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia will remain legal pending further review, despite recommendations for a suspension to prevent poaching of the critically endangered monkey from the wild. The proposed suspension had been raised at last week’s meeting in Geneva of the Standing Committee of CITES, the global convention on the wildlife trade. It called [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Exports of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia will remain legal pending further review, despite recommendations for a suspension to prevent poaching of the critically endangered monkey from the wild. The proposed suspension had been raised at last week’s meeting in Geneva of the Standing Committee of CITES, the global convention on the wildlife trade. It called on Cambodian authorities to provide more proof that wild-caught macaques (Macaca fascicularis) weren’t being sold as captive-bred animals, casting doubt on official data ostensibly showing that the country’s macaque exports were being supplied by breeding centers. But delegates to the meeting on Feb. 4 agreed to grant Cambodian wildlife officials until November 2025 to host inspections from CITES, produce logbooks for captive-bred monkeys, and submit more data regarding the birth rates at monkey-breeding facilities. Chheang Dany, deputy director of Cambodia’s Forestry Administration, said at the CITES meeting that Cambodia strongly objected to the recommendation that trade be suspended. He said “Cambodia already provided clarification” on data surrounding birth rates that CITES experts and conservationists had said were too high to be realistic. Dany also said data surrounding long-tailed macaque birth rates provided to CITES without Cambodia’s consent. Reporters visited a long-tailed macaque breeding facility in Pursat province. The farm is owned by Vanny Bio, one of the companies indicted by U.S. federal prosecutors. Image by Gerald Flynn / Mongabay. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had spent five years investigating alleged monkey laundering in Cambodia — the practice of wild-caught monkeys being passed off as&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/02/cites-rejects-proposed-suspension-of-cambodian-monkey-exports/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-294219</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Logging persists in Cameroon’s wildlife-rich Ebo Forest despite warnings</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/logging-persists-in-cameroons-wildlife-rich-ebo-forest-despite-warnings/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/logging-persists-in-cameroons-wildlife-rich-ebo-forest-despite-warnings/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Nov 2024 20:59:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amindeh Blaise Atabong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/22113437/IMG_20210109_155127_430-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290493</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and East Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forestry, Forests, Green, Logging, Megafauna, Poaching, Primates, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Roads, Snares, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the heart of southwestern Cameroon, Ebo Forest is under immense threat from logging. This pristine and vibrant biodiverse ecosystem spanning 200,000 hectares (490,000 acres) is considered a critically important habitat for many rare animals, including Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglydtes ellioti) known to use tools for cracking coula nuts and fishing for termites. Ebo also [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the heart of southwestern Cameroon, Ebo Forest is under immense threat from logging. This pristine and vibrant biodiverse ecosystem spanning 200,000 hectares (490,000 acres) is considered a critically important habitat for many rare animals, including Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees (Pan troglydtes ellioti) known to use tools for cracking coula nuts and fishing for termites. Ebo also harbors numerous critically endangered wildlife, including western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli), forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), and one of two of the country’s only Preuss’s red colobus (Piliocolobus preussi) populations. Historically, Ebo’s habitat has been left relatively unscathed, with less than 0.3% primary forest cleared between 2002 and 2021, according to satellite data from monitoring platform Global Forest Watch (GFW). Meanwhile, the surrounding Littoral region of Cameroon lost nearly 8% during that same time. But in 2022, despite repeated warnings from conservationists and local communities that it would have dire impacts on area wildlife, a group of local politicians and businesspeople began construction of a road that pierced Ebo’s southern portion. Another road transected northeastern Ebo in 2023, according to data from GFW. A vehicle makes its way through dirt road leading into the Ebo forest. Image courtesy of Ekonde Daniel. Forest loss has only intensified further in 2024, with satellite data and imagery showing the proliferation of what appear to be logging roads and associated clearing in southeastern Ebo. There had been plans to conserve Ebo Forest’s unique biodiversity by designating the ecosystem a national park. But the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/logging-persists-in-cameroons-wildlife-rich-ebo-forest-despite-warnings/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/logging-persists-in-cameroons-wildlife-rich-ebo-forest-despite-warnings/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290493</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatran tiger confirmed killed by snare in Indonesia’s West Sumatra province</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/sumatran-tiger-confirmed-killed-by-snare-in-indonesias-west-sumatra-province/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/sumatran-tiger-confirmed-killed-by-snare-in-indonesias-west-sumatra-province/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Aug 2024 17:46:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jaka Hendra BaittriVinolia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/12114221/animals_02483-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285986</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, Sumatra, and West Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Environment, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Poaching, Snares, Tigers, Top Predators, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PADANG, Indonesia — One of an estimated 400 of the world’s remaining Sumatran tigers was found dead on July 25 after becoming trapped in a wire snare set in Agam district, West Sumatra province. “Based on the results of the postmortem, this female Sumatran tiger died due to a ruptured trachea, fracture of the neck [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PADANG, Indonesia — One of an estimated 400 of the world’s remaining Sumatran tigers was found dead on July 25 after becoming trapped in a wire snare set in Agam district, West Sumatra province. “Based on the results of the postmortem, this female Sumatran tiger died due to a ruptured trachea, fracture of the neck bone and respiratory failure because of being entangled around the throat,” Lugi Hartanto, the head of the West Sumatra conservation agency, told Mongabay Indonesia. The tiger was a female, no more than 3 years old, and had not given birth to cubs, Lugi said. Residents in Agam had complained of a tiger prowling farming areas over a period of around four months prior to the discovery. Efforts by conservation fieldworkers to capture the tiger using a cage trap, with the intention of moving the animal to a new location, had not been successful. “The plan since March was to evacuate the tiger, but we couldn’t catch it,” Lugi said. Lugi said farmers commonly used small snares to trap wild boar, which are known to eat food crops across much of rural Indonesia. Conservation agency staff had visited many villages in West Sumatra to request that farmers not set snares because of the danger to Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae). Lugi said agency staff would continue to work with residents living near tiger habitats, but emphasized the challenges involved because of the risks to life and livelihood that farmers faced on the ground. A tigress that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/sumatran-tiger-confirmed-killed-by-snare-in-indonesias-west-sumatra-province/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/sumatran-tiger-confirmed-killed-by-snare-in-indonesias-west-sumatra-province/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285986</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>On the trail of Borneo’s bay cat, one of the world’s most mysterious felines</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/on-the-trail-of-borneos-bay-cat-one-of-the-worlds-most-mysterious-felines/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/on-the-trail-of-borneos-bay-cat-one-of-the-worlds-most-mysterious-felines/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Apr 2024 15:20:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/15134501/9a-Kuching-007-Borneos-bay-cat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280951</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Almost Famous Animals]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Cats, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Rainforests, Research, Small Cats, Snares, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Few researchers have ever seen this elusive wildcat and it is known primarily from a few camera trap photos. Which raises the question: How do you conserve an endangered species about which we know almost nothing?]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[There is a photograph of the bay cat I can’t get out of my head. In it, the cat looks intensely right at the viewer, its sun-yellow eyes sporting two dark lines running up from them as if someone had applied makeup. In the mix of light and shade, its coat passes from brown to orange to blood red. Its long tail is tipped in white. The animal is in a dingy cage, littered with dead rats, but that doesn’t detract a bit from the cat’s majesty and strangeness. Jim Sanderson, the world’s leading expert on small wildcats, took the photo in 2008. The cat, which had previously been kept in a cage in a gas station, was being held in a private menagerie in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo. Sanderson, who founded the Small Wild Cat Conservation Foundation, says the cat’s owner “knew what he had.” And what he had was arguably the world’s most elusive wildcat — and among the most endangered. A few days later, the cat was gone — likely sold for a pile of cash into the illegal wildlife trade. Its end was probably ignominious. The Borneo bay cat (Catopuma badia) is so rare, elusive and strange that after its discovery, it vanished from science for more than 60 years. Today, the bay cat remains stubbornly difficult to even find, no less research or conserve. It makes the snow leopard look conspicuous. The haunting portrait of a captive bay cat photographed in 2008. Jim Sanderson took this&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/on-the-trail-of-borneos-bay-cat-one-of-the-worlds-most-mysterious-felines/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/on-the-trail-of-borneos-bay-cat-one-of-the-worlds-most-mysterious-felines/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280951</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservationists look to defy gloomy outlook for Borneo’s sun bears</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/conservationists-look-to-defy-gloomy-outlook-for-borneos-sun-bears/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/conservationists-look-to-defy-gloomy-outlook-for-borneos-sun-bears/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Oct 2023 13:08:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/31114315/Banner-2-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=274826</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bears, Biodiversity, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Deforestation, Ecotourism, Education, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, GPS, Green, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mammals, Palm Oil, Pet Trade, Poaching, Rainforests, Rehabilitation, Reintroductions, Research, Snares, Sun Bears, Tracking, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Rehabilitation, Wildlife Rescues, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SABAH, Malaysia — The 3-year-old sun bear sits teddy bear-like in a secluded grassy glade in its rainforest enclosure. Its soft, densely furred belly vibrates as it sucks on one of its front paws, emitting a series of strange, guttural whimpers. Its head downturned, the young bear looks up at us shyly with deep brown [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SABAH, Malaysia — The 3-year-old sun bear sits teddy bear-like in a secluded grassy glade in its rainforest enclosure. Its soft, densely furred belly vibrates as it sucks on one of its front paws, emitting a series of strange, guttural whimpers. Its head downturned, the young bear looks up at us shyly with deep brown eyes, penetrating our human instinct to care for the vulnerable. “This is a rather sad behavior,” Siew Te Wong, CEO and founder of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC), tells Mongabay during a visit to the pioneering rescue and education facility in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Wong says the bear, named Kipaku, was brought to the center as an orphaned cub, and what we’re witnessing is the little bear’s trauma response. “As with all infant mammals, this bear has an urge to suckle,” Wong says. “But he has no mother; his mother was brutally killed by poachers, so he’s had no opportunity to suckle … in the end, he’s developed this self-soothing behavior.” Like Kipaku, most of the 44 sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) Wong and his colleagues currently care for at the BSBCC were brought to them as orphaned cubs illegally taken from the wild and subsequently confiscated by authorities. One of the goals of the BSBCC is to return some of the rescued bears back into the wild to bolster flagging local populations. Since it was launched in 2008, the center has rewilded 12 bears into remote forest reserves in Sabah. But&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/conservationists-look-to-defy-gloomy-outlook-for-borneos-sun-bears/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/conservationists-look-to-defy-gloomy-outlook-for-borneos-sun-bears/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-274826</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Endangered Formosan black bears caught in Taiwanese ‘snaring crisis’ (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/endangered-formosan-black-bears-caught-in-taiwanese-snaring-crisis-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/endangered-formosan-black-bears-caught-in-taiwanese-snaring-crisis-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Oct 2023 15:47:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gregory McCann]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/10/02145718/20210315105611668941602-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273772</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Taiwan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Bears, Commentary, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Poaching, Snares, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2020 a report titled “Wildlife-snaring crisis in Asian Forests” was published by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), estimating that over 12 million snares engulf Indochinese forests (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) alone, mostly in ‘protected’ areas. By contrast, it is difficult to know how many snares blanket Taiwan’s mountainous forests, but it is safe [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2020 a report titled “Wildlife-snaring crisis in Asian Forests” was published by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), estimating that over 12 million snares engulf Indochinese forests (Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam) alone, mostly in ‘protected’ areas. By contrast, it is difficult to know how many snares blanket Taiwan’s mountainous forests, but it is safe to assume that based on recent cases involving officially protected Formosan black bears (Ursus thibetanus formosanus), that the number is very high. According to local media, two young black bears were snared in the past few weeks alone in Hualien County in eastern Taiwan, and other cases were reported in Hualien, including the successful rehabilitation and release of one bear. In Taichung County in central Taiwan, another snaring case occurred in which the bear died.  In yet another case earlier this year in Pingtung County at the very south of the island, hunters were filmed driving around on their scooter with a dead bear on the seat, waving its limp paw around as if it was a cute teddy bear. Nine suspects have been indicted for poaching an additional four black bears over a three year period in Pingtung. Two years ago, a group of timber poachers snared, shot, skinned, and ate a black bear in Guanwu National Forest Recreation Area in Taiwan’s Central Mountain Range and posted their activity on social media; they were later arrested. Formosan black bear footprint found at low elevation in Taitung, with cigarette lighter for scale. Image courtesy of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/endangered-formosan-black-bears-caught-in-taiwanese-snaring-crisis-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/10/endangered-formosan-black-bears-caught-in-taiwanese-snaring-crisis-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273772</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cambodian conglomerate sparks conflict in Botum Sakor National Park</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/cambodian-conglomerate-sparks-conflict-in-botum-sakor-national-park/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/cambodian-conglomerate-sparks-conflict-in-botum-sakor-national-park/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jul 2023 03:53:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald FlynnMeng Kroypunlok]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/20022756/DJI_0617-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=271159</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Forest Trackers]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Cardamom Mountains, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Corruption, Crime, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Drivers Of Deforestation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Governance, Illegal Logging, Industrial Agriculture, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Reform, Land Rights, Land Use Change, National Parks, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Snares, Tropical Deforestation, Wildlife Rangers, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[*Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. BOTUM SAKOR, Cambodia — “We’ve filed complaints with four institutions now — the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Land Management, and the Ministry of National Defense — but only the interior ministry has responded,” said [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[*Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities. BOTUM SAKOR, Cambodia — “We’ve filed complaints with four institutions now — the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Land Management, and the Ministry of National Defense — but only the interior ministry has responded,” said Vichea*, a resident of Cambodia&#8217;s Thma Sa commune, who requested the name of his village not be published when interviewed in April 2022. “The local authorities tell [us] they will do something to help us but they don’t; anyone who stands up to protest these developments is accused of being an opposition activist.” More than a year later, in May 2023, reporters caught up with Vichea again in Botum Sakor National Park. Spanning 182,342 hectares (450,577 acres) along the Gulf of Thailand in southwest Cambodia, Botum Sakor was once the country&#8217;s largest national park. But more than half of the park was sold off to private developers between 1998 and 2017, mostly to investors with ties to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). As of July 2023, just 18% of the park remains protected. In 2008, the Cambodian government awarded Chinese developer Union Development Group, known locally as UDG, 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) within the park&#8217;s boundaries, kicking off a series of land disputes that became increasingly desperate as they dragged on for more than a decade. Despite the fallout, the government awarded UDG a further 9,100 hectares (22,500 acres) of the national park in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/cambodian-conglomerate-sparks-conflict-in-botum-sakor-national-park/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/cambodian-conglomerate-sparks-conflict-in-botum-sakor-national-park/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-271159</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study: Snares claim another local extinction as Cambodia loses its leopards</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/study-snares-claim-another-local-extinction-as-cambodia-loses-its-leopards/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/study-snares-claim-another-local-extinction-as-cambodia-loses-its-leopards/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 May 2023 08:46:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/29130740/leopard-in-cambodia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=269152</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cats, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Human-wildlife Conflict, Illegal Trade, Leopards, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Snares, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Years of law enforcement to tackle rampant snaring and poaching have failed to halt the loss of Cambodia’s last remaining Indochinese leopard population, according to a recent study. The researchers believe that while a few individual Indochinese leopards (Panthera pardus delacouri) may still linger in Cambodia’s forests, the country no longer has a viable population [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Years of law enforcement to tackle rampant snaring and poaching have failed to halt the loss of Cambodia’s last remaining Indochinese leopard population, according to a recent study. The researchers believe that while a few individual Indochinese leopards (Panthera pardus delacouri) may still linger in Cambodia’s forests, the country no longer has a viable population of the subspecies. “Given the current population status and myriad of threats, it is pretty certain that the Indochinese leopard now is functionally extinct in Cambodia,” study author Susana Rostro-Garcia, a scientist with the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and the NGO Panthera, told Mongabay in an email. “Regrettably, the population status and trajectory of the Critically Endangered Indochinese Leopard in the [Eastern Plains Landscape] suggest that population recovery in this priority site is unlikely to occur.” Researchers conducted seven camera-trap surveys in Cambodia’s Eastern Plains between 2009 and 2019, revealing that the leopard population declined by 82% during that time. A further survey in 2021 found no leopards. (Individual leopards were caught on camera in Cambodia&#8217;s eastern highlands in 2022.) The Indochinese leopard is critically endangered and its range has shrunk massively to as little as 2-6% of its former size. Cambodia’s population was considered a priority for conservation as one of the last viable, breeding populations, leaving remaining strongholds in Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar. Researchers say that rampant snaring — predominantly driven by demand for meat from species such as wild pigs and muntjac deer — is behind the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/study-snares-claim-another-local-extinction-as-cambodia-loses-its-leopards/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/study-snares-claim-another-local-extinction-as-cambodia-loses-its-leopards/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-269152</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Snares don’t discriminate: A problem for wild cats, both big and small</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/snares-dont-discriminate-a-problem-for-wild-cats-both-big-and-small/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/snares-dont-discriminate-a-problem-for-wild-cats-both-big-and-small/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2023 15:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sean Mowbray]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/05/04164130/clouded-leopard-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=268282</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Illegal Wildlife Trade]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Cats, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Human-wildlife Conflict, Illegal Trade, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Snares, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 2019, researchers declared the Indochinese tiger extinct in Laos as widespread snaring in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park picked off the last few individuals of Panthera tigris corbetti. Two years later, scientists found that smaller cat species, such as the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata), were also in decline in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 2019, researchers declared the Indochinese tiger extinct in Laos as widespread snaring in Nam Et-Phou Louey National Park picked off the last few individuals of Panthera tigris corbetti. Two years later, scientists found that smaller cat species, such as the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata), were also in decline in the park. It was thought that in the absence of larger predators, smaller cat populations would boom, but this wasn’t the reality on the ground. “We didn’t see that in the data. We saw their numbers going down too,” says Jan Kamler, with the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit. “I think, generally, snaring is the greatest threat to felids in Southeast Asia, more than habitat loss … in some places like Laos and Cambodia that still have habitat, it&#8217;s the snaring that has driven them out of these areas.” Other conservationists say that human-wildlife conflict, persecution and habitat degradation are likely more important factors, especially for the smaller cat species. Across the border in Vietnam, snaring has already wiped out many felid populations, according to researchers. Aside from a solitary sighting of a marbled cat in 2019 on the border with Laos, only leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis), which may be too small and light to trigger widely used foot snares, remain in the country. “Snaring has basically decimated the wild cat community [in Vietnam],” says Andrew Tilker, species conservation coordinator with Re:wild, an NGO. He says it has played a major role in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/snares-dont-discriminate-a-problem-for-wild-cats-both-big-and-small/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/snares-dont-discriminate-a-problem-for-wild-cats-both-big-and-small/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-268282</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mating season rings death knell for cheer pheasants in Nepal’s western Himalayas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/mating-season-rings-death-knell-for-cheer-pheasants-in-nepals-western-himalayas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/mating-season-rings-death-knell-for-cheer-pheasants-in-nepals-western-himalayas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Feb 2023 08:27:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/21080939/CHeer-Pheasant-_HB-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265793</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Food, Habitat Loss, Hunting, Poaching, Trapping, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — One of the ways people living in the western Himalayas of India, Pakistan and Nepal know that the spring season has started is by listening to male cheer pheasants (Catreus wallichii) make their distinctive &#8220;chewewoo&#8221; mating calls that can be heard echoing through the forests in the morning. While the calls help attract [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — One of the ways people living in the western Himalayas of India, Pakistan and Nepal know that the spring season has started is by listening to male cheer pheasants (Catreus wallichii) make their distinctive &#8220;chewewoo&#8221; mating calls that can be heard echoing through the forests in the morning. While the calls help attract females and grow their population, they give away their location to hunters who kill them for their meat. This, coupled with various other anthropogenic factors, has had a telling effect on the birds’ population in Nepal’s western Himalayas, suggested a recent study looking at the species outside its stronghold protected areas in the country. “We saw that people are hunting cheer pheasants at a massive scale in far-western Nepal,” said Hari Basnet, lead author of the study published in the journal Ornithological Science. “We saw that the bird prefers to live in areas that people usually visit with shrubs for fodder and grass,” said Basnet. Cheer pheasants live in areas that people usually visit with shrubs for fodder and grass, which makes it easy for hunters who kill them for their meat. Image by Hari Basnet. As previous studies on the species had shown the bird lives mainly in the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve area of Nepal, the researchers didn’t know the extent of the population outside the region. “That’s why, as part of the study, we produced a radio awareness program in the far-west region in 2013 asking local people to report sightings of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/mating-season-rings-death-knell-for-cheer-pheasants-in-nepals-western-himalayas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/mating-season-rings-death-knell-for-cheer-pheasants-in-nepals-western-himalayas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265793</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Southeast Asia’s big cats like their prey rare — as in really elusive</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/southeast-asias-big-cats-like-their-prey-rare-as-in-really-elusive/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/southeast-asias-big-cats-like-their-prey-rare-as-in-really-elusive/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Sep 2022 06:10:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/09/06060323/1.-CL-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259979</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Laos, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Biodiversity, Carnivores, Cats, Conservation Technology, Endangered Species, Mammals, Poaching, Predators, Rainforests, Snares, Tigers, Ungulates, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tigers and clouded leopards are two of Southeast Asia’s most threatened and enigmatic big cat species. With the numbers of both in sharp decline across the region, leaving their remaining populations small and fragmented, it’s unsurprising that scientists know very little about basic things — such as what they eat. But now, a new study [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tigers and clouded leopards are two of Southeast Asia’s most threatened and enigmatic big cat species. With the numbers of both in sharp decline across the region, leaving their remaining populations small and fragmented, it’s unsurprising that scientists know very little about basic things — such as what they eat. But now, a new study that analyzed scat samples collected in a remote protected area in northern Laos provides new insights into their dietary preferences. As expected, wild pigs feature prominently on the menu for both tigers (Panthera tigris) and mainland clouded leopards (Neofelis nebulosa). However, both species appear to deliberately seek out a mysterious, goat-like ungulate called the serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) over all other prey, according to the findings published in Ecology and Evolution. The researchers say their study can help direct conservationists toward the most suitable prey species to target for recovery in their efforts to boost flagging big cat numbers across the region. “Management and enhancement of serow populations, along with other ungulate species, is likely to be important for the clouded leopard to persist and for tiger population recovery in some areas of Southeast Asia,” Akchousanh Rasphone, Laos conservation science director at the Wildlife Conservation Society and lead author of the study, told Mongabay. Mainland serow young and adult photographed in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand. Image by tontantravel via Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) DNA gives clues about cats long gone Once ranging widely across Asia, tigers and clouded leopards have seen their populations&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/southeast-asias-big-cats-like-their-prey-rare-as-in-really-elusive/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/09/southeast-asias-big-cats-like-their-prey-rare-as-in-really-elusive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259979</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Snares: Low-tech, low-profile killers of rare wildlife the world over</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/snares-low-tech-low-profile-killers-of-rare-wildlife-the-world-over/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/snares-low-tech-low-profile-killers-of-rare-wildlife-the-world-over/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2022 15:39:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Laurel Neme]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/17123708/16-leopard-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259315</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Democratic Republic Of Congo, Global, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Welfare, Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crime, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Great Apes, Habitat, Hunting, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Snares, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Millions of wild animals die or are maimed annually in snares, including elephants, tigers and gorillas. Snares are mostly used to source bushmeat for urban markets or to feed rural families. But bycatch is rife and solutions difficult.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On an early morning in January 2013, rangers patrolling Kahuzi-Biéga National Park, a 6,000-square-kilometer (2,300-square-mile) UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spotted a young female Grauer&#8217;s gorilla. Known to the rangers as Iragi, a name that means &#8220;lucky&#8221; in Congolese, she had a wire snare wrapped around her hand. Unable to move, she would have died where she stood without rescue. Snares can be deadly. In fact, that&#8217;s the point. Hunters and poachers around the world use rope, wire or brake cables to make these simple, low-tech, noose-like traps. And they set them in the forest to catch animals. While hunters mostly target antelope and other smaller game to eat or sell as bushmeat, the snares don&#8217;t care. They’re indiscriminate. They often maim or kill non-targeted animals: Elephants, lions, tigers, giraffes. Or a young, critically endangered Grauer’s gorilla like Iragi. Iragi, a female Grauer’s gorilla, with her infant son on May 26, 2022, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Quick-responding rangers and the Gorilla Doctors saved Iragi from near-certain death in a snare in 2013. Image © Gorilla Doctors. When rangers discovered Iragi&#8217;s situation, they alerted Gorilla Doctors, an NGO that provides veterinary care in Rwanda, Uganda and the DRC to gorillas that have become habituated to the presence of humans. Time was of the essence. Gorilla Doctors dispatched its DRC team immediately. &#8220;These are wild animals, so we prefer to be as hands-off as possible,&#8221; says Kirsten Gilardi, executive director and chief veterinary officer for&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/snares-low-tech-low-profile-killers-of-rare-wildlife-the-world-over/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259315</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare mammals caught on camera highlight value of Annamite Mountains</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/rare-mammals-caught-on-camera-highlight-value-of-annamite-mountains/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/rare-mammals-caught-on-camera-highlight-value-of-annamite-mountains/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Mar 2022 15:02:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hayat Indriyatno]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/03/31140313/camera-trap-surveys-pr-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=254337</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Laos, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Conservation Technology, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Mammals, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Snares, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Annamite Mountains are a series of jagged peaks and secluded valleys that run between Laos and Vietnam south to Cambodia’s northern plateau. Over the past three decades, researchers have described numerous new-to-science large mammals from the region, all of which occur nowhere else on the planet. However, biologists still lack basic knowledge about their [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Annamite Mountains are a series of jagged peaks and secluded valleys that run between Laos and Vietnam south to Cambodia’s northern plateau. Over the past three decades, researchers have described numerous new-to-science large mammals from the region, all of which occur nowhere else on the planet. However, biologists still lack basic knowledge about their ecology, behavior and distribution due to their extreme scarcity. Now, an international team of scientists has completed a painstaking camera-trap study that provides insights into two of these elusive mammals: the Annamite striped rabbit (Nesolagus timminsi), and the Annamite dark muntjac species complex, a group of closely related deer species indistinguishable in the field. The team published its results in Conservation Science and Practice. Camera trap photo of an Annamite striped rabbit in the Annamite Mountains. Photo courtesy of Leibniz-IZW / WWF-Viet Nam / Song Thanh National Park The study is the first landscape-scale overview of where these two animals live in Laos and Vietnam. It also provides crucial information to guide the development of effective conservation strategies to ensure their long-term survival, say the researchers. “The factors influencing species distribution in the Annamite Mountains are complex,” said Thanh Van Nguyen, a doctoral candidate at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany and lead author of the study. “Through this study, we could assess how these factors influenced the occurrence of [the two] species across several study sites, and thus improve our understanding.” Camera trap photo of an Annamite dark muntjac in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/rare-mammals-caught-on-camera-highlight-value-of-annamite-mountains/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/03/rare-mammals-caught-on-camera-highlight-value-of-annamite-mountains/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-254337</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In a sea of oil palms, even monitor lizards need islands of natural forest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/in-a-sea-of-oil-palms-even-monitor-lizards-need-islands-of-natural-forest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/in-a-sea-of-oil-palms-even-monitor-lizards-need-islands-of-natural-forest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Oct 2021 12:14:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Carolyncowan]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/11095540/ML_02-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248047</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, Sabah, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforests, Reptiles, Rivers, Trapping, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Tropics, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Kinabatangan River rises in the beating heart of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, where ancient primary forest cloaks the slopes of steep-sided mountains. As it meanders east toward the Sulu Sea, the river traverses floodplains overrun by vast monocultures. Regimented rows of oil palms claw at the thin weft of natural forest that lines the Kinabatangan’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Kinabatangan River rises in the beating heart of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, where ancient primary forest cloaks the slopes of steep-sided mountains. As it meanders east toward the Sulu Sea, the river traverses floodplains overrun by vast monocultures. Regimented rows of oil palms claw at the thin weft of natural forest that lines the Kinabatangan’s course. This fragile lifeline is home to some of the region’s most spectacular species, including Bornean elephants (Elephas maximus borneensis), orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and proboscis monkeys (Nasalis larvatus). Now, scientists have found that the forested river corridor, designated in 2005 as the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, is also vital for the somewhat less glamorous Asian water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator). As both predators and scavengers, Asian water monitor lizards are known to flourish in human-impacted landscapes, including oil palm plantations, where they thrive on an abundance of leftovers and rodent prey. Prior research has even shown that they fare better in plantations than natural habitats. However, this doesn’t appear to be the case in the fragmented wastes of the Kinabatangan floodplain. According to the findings of a new study, led by scientists from Cardiff University, U.K., in collaboration with the Sabah Wildlife Department, the Kinabatangan lizards are heavily dependent on patches of natural forest near oil palm plantations for key resources, such as breeding habitat and shelter. The researchers, who published their results in PLOS One, found far greater numbers of lizards in natural forest patches near oil palm plantations than in the plantations themselves. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/in-a-sea-of-oil-palms-even-monitor-lizards-need-islands-of-natural-forest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248047</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Uganda, safeguarding chimpanzees against the scourge of snaring</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/in-uganda-safeguarding-chimpanzees-against-the-scourge-of-snaring/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/in-uganda-safeguarding-chimpanzees-against-the-scourge-of-snaring/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Oct 2020 08:47:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Dudley]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/10/20084153/chimp-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=235936</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Great Apes, Human-wildlife Conflict, Hunting, Mammals, Poaching, Protected Areas, Snares, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KANYAWARA, Uganda — As they hack their way with pangas through the dense and prickly undergrowth, a palpable sense of tension grips the camo-clad patrol party navigating the rainforest of Kibale National Park. An hour and a half into their hike, they hastily change course and flee to higher ground, keeping upwind of the forest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KANYAWARA, Uganda — As they hack their way with pangas through the dense and prickly undergrowth, a palpable sense of tension grips the camo-clad patrol party navigating the rainforest of Kibale National Park. An hour and a half into their hike, they hastily change course and flee to higher ground, keeping upwind of the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) bull glimpsed by the team leader. More than once, they come to a halt as patrol members sink knee-deep into black soil that has been liquified by unseasonal summer downpours. These hazards are just an ordinary part of the job for members of the Kibale Snare Removal Program (KSRP) team. Despite the setbacks, they steadily traverse the forest. By mid-afternoon, after eight hours on foot, the team encounters what it has been searching for. Tucked in the vegetation just within the park’s boundary lie two wire snares­: crude but lethally effective devices used to catch bushmeat for consumption by people from neighboring communities. After carefully recording the traps’ GPS coordinates into a mobile device, the team hacks apart the wooden posts anchoring the snares and seizes the wires to be melted down. The patrol — a joint endeavor between rangers from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and staff from the KSRP, an arm of the Kibale Chimpanzee Project (KCP) — vividly illustrates one of the key challenges facing conservation in Kibale: protecting chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) from falling prey to snares set for other animals. A 2000 study estimated that 15,000 snares are&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/in-uganda-safeguarding-chimpanzees-against-the-scourge-of-snaring/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-235936</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Mountain gorilla census reveals further increase in numbers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/mountain-gorilla-census-reveals-further-increase-in-numbers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/mountain-gorilla-census-reveals-further-increase-in-numbers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Dec 2019 10:55:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/17100942/5-Silverback-mtn-gorilla-Uganda-Skyler-Bishop-for-Gorilla-Doctors-copy.81e608fc73b14b42bf767c74f3f63fd3-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225452</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Great Apes]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Atlantic Forest, Democratic Republic Of Congo, East Africa, and Uganda]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Chimpanzees, Community-based Conservation, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Diseases, Elephants, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Gorillas, Great Apes, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Human-wildlife Conflict, Mammals, Mountains, NGOs, Parks, Poaching, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Saving Species From Extinction, Snares, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The outlook for eastern Africa&#8217;s mountain gorillas is growing brighter, as a recent census released on Dec. 16 shows that the subspecies’ numbers have risen since 2011. Scientists believe there are now at least 1,063 mountain gorillas living in the wild. Tara Stoinski, the CEO and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The outlook for eastern Africa&#8217;s mountain gorillas is growing brighter, as a recent census released on Dec. 16 shows that the subspecies’ numbers have risen since 2011. Scientists believe there are now at least 1,063 mountain gorillas living in the wild. Tara Stoinski, the CEO and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, said the results  of the latest census were &#8220;incredible, given what&#8217;s happening to other wildlife populations, and given the high level of threats that they face.&#8221; &#8220;It&#8217;s a real testament to the level of conservation action that&#8217;s happening for these populations,&#8221; Stoinski told Mongabay. A team participates in a training for the census. Image by Winnie Eckardt/Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. In the 1980s, the known population of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) in the Virunga Mountains had dwindled to just 240 individuals, as lost habitat, hunting, disease and other threats had exacted a costly toll. By late 2018, though, more than three decades of &#8220;extreme conservation&#8221; involving the day-to-day protection of gorilla families appeared to be having an impact: A 2016 survey of the gorillas living in the Virungas revealed an increase to 604 animals. At the time, scientists pegged the total number of individuals at more than 1,000, and the IUCN changed the ape’s status on the Red List from critically endangered to endangered. But a census of the other mountain gorilla population, found further north in the Bwindi-Sarambwe ecosystem, hadn’t taken place since 2011, when researchers figured it held 400 gorillas. A silverback&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/mountain-gorilla-census-reveals-further-increase-in-numbers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-225452</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Time is running out for Southeast Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/time-is-running-out-for-southeast-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/time-is-running-out-for-southeast-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2019 09:49:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/25021359/Iman-dalam-kenangan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225119</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Asian Rhinos and Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Elephants, Endangered Species, Ex-situ Conservation, Extinction, Hunting, Mammals, Mass Extinction, Megafauna, Over-hunting, Pet Trade, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Rhinos, Snares, Sumatran Rhino, Tigers, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Nov. 23, the last Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia died. Named Iman, she’d lived in captivity in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo for just over five years. Iman was not only the last rhino in Malaysia, but one of the last of the Bornean subspecies of the Sumatran rhino (D. s. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Nov. 23, the last Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) in Malaysia died. Named Iman, she’d lived in captivity in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo for just over five years. Iman was not only the last rhino in Malaysia, but one of the last of the Bornean subspecies of the Sumatran rhino (D. s. harrissoni). But Iman’s passing isn’t just another tragedy, and lost opportunity, for her species. It’s also another signal for something bigger: that the heart of our mass extinction crisis lies in Southeast Asia. The region is undergoing a wildlife decline that’s really unparalleled anywhere else of comparable size. Recently, scientists have declared that tigers are extinct in Laos, after already vanishing from Vietnam and Cambodia. The Indochinese and Malayan populations of the tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) and the Sumatran subspecies (P. t. sondaica), are all on their last stand. The same is true of the Indochinese leopard (Panthera pardus delacouri). Meanwhile, the last photograph of a saola (Pseudoryx nghetinhensis), or Asian unicorn, on camera trap was taken six years ago. There is now a project hoping to catch and breed them in captivity. But whether conservationists will find any alive anywhere is an open question — officially a couple of hundred are believed to survive — and whether they will find enough to form a captive-breeding population is an even bigger question. The list goes on: all the big four of Sumatra – elephants, tigers, orangutans, and rhinos – are Critically Endangered. The Tapanuli orangutan&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/time-is-running-out-for-southeast-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/time-is-running-out-for-southeast-asia/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-225119</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Illegal hunting a greater threat to wildlife than forest degradation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/illegal-hunting-a-greater-threat-to-wildlife-than-forest-degradation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/illegal-hunting-a-greater-threat-to-wildlife-than-forest-degradation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Dec 2019 07:16:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Nanditha Chandraprakash]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/09071428/IMG_0571_Stumping.70d1e8482b6e429aaa4d56eb4bad5a2f-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=225177</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Evolving Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Laos, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Forestry, Forests, Hunting, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Logging, Over-hunting, Poaching, Rainforests, Saving Rainforests, Snares, Solutions, Threats To Rainforests, Timber, Traditional People, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The world has long associated plummeting populations of Southeast Asian wildlife with news of forest degradation and poignant images of deforested lands. Recent studies, however, bring to light another human practice that’s been driving the decline of wildlife numbers in these ecosystems. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) in Berlin, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The world has long associated plummeting populations of Southeast Asian wildlife with news of forest degradation and poignant images of deforested lands. Recent studies, however, bring to light another human practice that’s been driving the decline of wildlife numbers in these ecosystems. Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) in Berlin, in cooperation with WWF-Vietnam, WWF-Laos and the forestry department of the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, carried out a study showing that illegal hunting may be a bigger threat to mammals and ground-dwelling birds than forest degradation. The research, published Oct. 30 in the journal Communications Biology, compares camera-trapping records from logged forests in Malaysian Borneo with a protected eco-region in the Annamite Mountains of Vietnam and Laos where illegal hunting is rampant. The results show a more precipitous loss of species and wildlife populations in the Annamites than in Borneo. Researchers chose the two rainforest study sites as they have similar habitats. Their recent history, however, has a few noteworthy differences. While widespread logging has degraded many forests in Borneo, the island has faced less hunting. By contrast, the Annamites have experienced exceedingly high illegal hunting, but its forests are structurally more intact. A forest ranger removes a snare in central Vietnam. Hunters are increasingly using easy-to-construct snares to hunt mammals and ground-dwelling birds in the Annamite Mountains in Vietnam and Laos. Image by Andrew Tilker. Both forest degradation and hunting threaten wildlife, but the latter has reached extreme heights in recent years.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/illegal-hunting-a-greater-threat-to-wildlife-than-forest-degradation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/illegal-hunting-a-greater-threat-to-wildlife-than-forest-degradation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-225177</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists rediscover mammalian oddity in remote Vietnam</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/scientists-rediscover-mammalian-oddity-in-remote-vietnam/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/scientists-rediscover-mammalian-oddity-in-remote-vietnam/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2019 11:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/11/11120442/Chevrotains-768x467.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=224270</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Bushmeat, Camera Trapping, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Hunting, In-situ Conservation, Indigenous Peoples, Mammals, Over-hunting, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Rediscovered Species, Snares, Strange, Tropical Forests, Ungulates, Wildlife, Wildlife consumption, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[VIETNAM, July 2019 – I’m chasing a ghost, I think not for the first time, as night falls and I gather up my gear in a hotel in a village in southern Vietnam. I pack my camera, a bottle of water, and a poncho; outside the window I can see a light rain. I’m here to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[VIETNAM, July 2019 – I’m chasing a ghost, I think not for the first time, as night falls and I gather up my gear in a hotel in a village in southern Vietnam. I pack my camera, a bottle of water, and a poncho; outside the window I can see a light rain. I’m here to report on the silver-backed chevrotain (Tragulus versicolor), a so-called mouse-deer that’s been missing in action (at least from science) for nearly 30 years. My phone goes off. It’s a WhatsApp message from Anh The Nguyen, my wildlife guide on this venture. It’s time: the chevrotain is nocturnal, meaning our best chance to see one is at night. To help us, Nguyen has hired two local hunters from the Raglai ethnic group. They know the territory and they know the animal. We take two motorbikes from the village to the forest, but barely make it a few blocks before taking shelter under an aluminum overhang as the rain, drowsy until now, becomes a full-blown tropical downpour. It thunks against the metal and the night sky growls with thunder. Long forgotten by scientists, two years ago, the silver-backed chevrotain, also known as the Vietnam mouse-deer, gained prominence as one of the “25 Most Wanted” in the Search for Lost Species Initiative by Global Wildlife Conservation (GWC). A silver-backed chevroatin. Illustration by Eric Losh. “That’s when we first put together a plan of action,” said Andrew Tilker, the Asian species officer for GWC, who described a 2017 meeting&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/11/scientists-rediscover-mammalian-oddity-in-remote-vietnam/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-224270</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Laos lost its tigers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/how-laos-lost-its-tigers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/how-laos-lost-its-tigers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Oct 2019 11:12:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/10/26195010/02Tiger.long_.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=223822</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Saving Life on Earth: Words on the Wild]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, China, East Asia, Laos, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Big Cats, Cats, Endangered Species, Hunting, Leopards, Mammals, National Parks, Poaching, Predators, Protected Areas, Saving Species From Extinction, Snares, Solutions, Tigers, Top Predators, Wildlife, Wildlife Trade, and Wildlife Trafficking]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The last tiger in Lao PDR likely died in terrible anguish. Its foot caught in a snare, the animal probably died of dehydration. Or maybe, in a desperate bid to free itself from a snare crafted from a simple and cheap motorbike cable, it tore off a leg and died from the blood loss. Perhaps [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The last tiger in Lao PDR likely died in terrible anguish. Its foot caught in a snare, the animal probably died of dehydration. Or maybe, in a desperate bid to free itself from a snare crafted from a simple and cheap motorbike cable, it tore off a leg and died from the blood loss. Perhaps the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti), a distinct subspecies, was able to free itself from the snare, only to have the wound fester and kill it in the end. Or, and this isn’t impossible either, the last tiger of Lao PDR (or Laos) was simply shot to death by poachers who then butchered its body and sold its parts in the illegal trafficking trade to feed a seemingly insatiable demand for tiger bits and bones for sham medicine or status symbols. However it died, it probably wasn’t peaceful. A new paper in Global Conservation and Ecology finds that the last tigers of Laos vanished shortly after 2013 from Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area. And the scientists believe it was most likely a surge in snaring that did them in, despite large-scale investments in the park, relative to the region. With the loss of tigers in Laos’s largest protected area, the tiger is most likely extinct in Laos, as it probably is in both Cambodia and Vietnam. That’s an area significantly larger than Texas in Southeast Asia that’s now bereft of its proper top predator. One of the first tigers photographed during a baseline survey.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/10/how-laos-lost-its-tigers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-223822</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>“Part of something bigger”: the social movement around New Zealand’s Predator-Free 2050 goal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/part-of-something-bigger-the-social-movement-around-new-zealands-predator-free-2050-goal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/part-of-something-bigger-the-social-movement-around-new-zealands-predator-free-2050-goal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jun 2019 20:07:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Evans]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/06/20183753/Kiwi_bird_in_Christchurch_New_Zealand_Allie_Caulfield-via-Wikimedia-Commons-CC-2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=219686</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[New Zealand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Birds, Citizen Science, Community Forests, Conservation Technology, Culture, Endangered Species, Invasive Species, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Technology, Trapping, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Whāingaroa/Raglan on New Zealand’s (NZ’s) west coast, trapping for introduced mammals that prey on endangered native birds is something of a competitive sport. Karioi Project, a local conservation NGO named after the bushclad volcano that backs the small surf town and houses a significant population of endemic oi (grey-faced petrels, Pterodroma gouldi), has established [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Whāingaroa/Raglan on New Zealand’s (NZ’s) west coast, trapping for introduced mammals that prey on endangered native birds is something of a competitive sport. Karioi Project, a local conservation NGO named after the bushclad volcano that backs the small surf town and houses a significant population of endemic oi (grey-faced petrels, Pterodroma gouldi), has established a ‘trap library’ where locals can borrow traps to deploy at home, free of charge. The organization also runs a popular annual event called the Great Raglan Rat Hunt, during which participants are supported to trap intensively on their properties for a weekend and then compete for prizes for the heaviest rat and biggest haul. The grey-faced petral (Pterodroma gouldi) breeds only in the north of North Island, New Zealand, with colonies primarily on offshore predator-free islands. Several small remnant populations do exist on the mainland, where birds breed successfully in areas where invasive mammalian predators including rats, cats, and stoats are controlled. Image by Sabine&#8217;s Sunbird via Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 3.0. Trapping for invasive mammalian pests has been part of rural life in NZ for a long time. The country ‘most invaded’ by introduced species in the world, NZ has some of the bird life least-prepared to cope with it —an impressive array of endemic birds, many of whom are flightless and can’t escape easily from introduced predators. The most damaging of these pests for endemic biodiversity is the Australian brushtail possum [Trichosurus vulpecula], which was introduced to NZ for the fur trade in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/06/part-of-something-bigger-the-social-movement-around-new-zealands-predator-free-2050-goal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-219686</doi>				</item>
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