Latest news with #translocation
The Guardian
13-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
More than half of koalas relocated to NSW forest died in failed government attempt at reintroduction
An attempt by the New South Wales government to reintroduce koalas to a forest in the state's far south has failed after more than half of the moved animals died, including two with signs of septicaemia, and the remaining marsupials were taken into care. The translocation and deaths of seven out of 13 koalas in April were not made public by the government, prompting questions about whether something went wrong with the project and calls from the NSW Greens for a review. The project was aiming to re-establish a koala population in an area of south-eastern NSW where the species is locally extinct. Translocation is part of NSW's koala strategy to try to improve the trajectory of the endangered species, at risk of extinction in the state. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A spokesperson for the NSW environment department told Guardian Australia 13 koalas were selected for translocation in April and moved from 'a high-density population' in the Upper Nepean state conservation area west of Wollongong to the South East Forest national park near Bega. They said three koalas died within a two-day period in early April, which led the department's project team to put the remaining 10 animals into a wildlife hospital. Four more koalas died. They said necropsy results from two of the first three koalas that died revealed chronic and acute infections of the lungs and liver, suggesting septicaemia – a bloodstream infection – 'as the likely cause of death'. The spokesperson said the remaining six koalas were healthy and returned to their original habitat in the Upper Nepean. They said the reintroduction project was immediately put on hold for research to try to establish what caused the deaths. The team was 'investigating a potential link between septicaemia in koalas and adverse weather conditions, as the mortalities occurred four to five days after a significant rainfall event,' they said. 'We believe prolonged wet weather can pose serious health risks to koalas, disrupting feeding behaviour, inhibiting thermoregulation, and weakening the immune system.' They said the project team, in collaboration with researchers and veterinarians, would continue investigating 'the potential impact of heavy rainfall, as well as factors such as diet, nutrition, and gut microbiome on the success of future translocations'. The state Greens environment spokesperson, Sue Higginson, said the incident was 'deeply distressing' and sent 'a very cynical message that the government is focused on [a] high risk and failed koala program effort' while habitat destruction for development and logging continued. 'This koala translocation experiment has been a catastrophic failure and raises serious questions about how it happened,' she said. 'The control settings around this translocation experiment must now be brought into question and reviewed because it would appear they were flawed. 'It is deeply concerning that the government allowed this program in the circumstances and given the outcomes, it's clear they shouldn't have.' Carolyn Hogg, a professor of biodiversity and conservation at the University of Sydney, said wildlife translocation could be complex and the deaths were 'a really unfortunate event'. 'We do know unexpected weather events may cause pathogens to unexpectedly appear,' she said. Hogg said for NSW koala populations under pressure from habitat fragmentation and isolation, translocation projects were a management tool that could improve gene flow and genetic diversity. Valentina Mella is a senior lecturer in animal behaviour and conservation at the University of Sydney. Speaking generally, she said there were important scientific questions that should be considered before translocating wildlife into a new area. 'When you move an animal into a habitat that is considered suitable for that species but that species is not actually present, you have to ask yourself why,' she said. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'You have to do a really thorough investigation of why the animal is absent.' In the case of koalas, she said one consideration should be if suitable food was available because they were specialist folivores – leaf eaters – that only ate particular types of leaves. The department said all of the animals underwent a veterinary assessment and were found to be healthy and chlamydia negative before the translocation. They said the project was developed in consultation with stakeholders, including traditional owners, researchers, conservation groups, landholders and government agencies. They said the koalas were closely monitored after their release using satellite and VHF (very high frequency) collars, 'in accordance with strict animal ethics and scientific licensing requirements'. 'The koalas were observed regularly changing trees, foraging, and producing scat of normal quality. All of these are healthy behaviours we would hope to see post translocation,' they said. They said two other recent translocation projects had taken place in the state. The first relocated koalas from the Upper Nepean State Conservation Area to a predator-free fenced area in Yiraaldiya National Park in western Sydney. All the koalas were alive and healthy, the department said. A second had commenced in the Northern Rivers region, where there is competition for limited food trees. To try to improve the welfare of koalas in the area, nine animals were translocated to nearby Bungawalbin National Park. The department said three of the koalas had since died, with likely causes being tree fall or predation. The remaining koalas appeared healthy. 'There are many examples of successful koala translocations in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and Narrandera in NSW,' they said. 'Koala translocations are not a substitute for protecting koala habitat where healthy populations currently exist; both conservation actions have their role.' The NSW environment minister Penny Sharpe was unavailable for comment. Do you know more? Email
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Country diary: The utter shock of seeing wildfire devastation up close
The forest's understorey is wonderful just now, dotted with cow-wheat and northern bedstraw, speedwells and tormentil. It's also the time of year to search for my favourite – the twinflower, with its tiny Y-shaped stems that hold two tiny flowers of the palest pink. In the UK, it's found only in such pinewoods, though there are great initiatives to expand their colonies through translocation. I'm late for my usual pilgrimage after going on holiday, but my first attempt to find them, at the end of June, was quickly thwarted. A change in the wind direction had brought acrid smoke from wildfires that were burning 20 miles or so to the north. The evening was so dark that it felt like there was an eclipse, before a shower of rain cleared the air. Once the fires were extinguished and the road across Dava Moor had reopened, we drove over to a favourite nursery and were stunned by the devastation. From the roadside to distant hilltops and far beyond, everything was charred black. We could see where the fire had jumped the road, where the flames had licked up the side of bigger trees, singeing and burning the branches and leaves, leaving the barest of crowns at the top; how the moorland, trees and bushes had been engulfed, leaves and needles burnt to a crisp. The hillsides – normally covered in yellow blooms of broom and gorse by now – were reduced to scorched, twisted branches. There were no skylarks soaring, no stonechats calling from the tops of whin bushes. Days later, the smell of burning lingered and puffs of smoke still drifted upwards. A smaller, closer fire in Abernethy Forest in 2023 made us realise how lucky we were for it to have been caught so early, but the extent of this one is truly shocking, described by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as potentially one of the biggest outdoor fires Scotland has ever had. The cause remains unknown, but we've been all too aware of how dry it has been this year and how the climate is changing. 'Extreme wildfire risk' warnings have been a constant presence for months. How fragile these ecosystems are; how careful and vigilant we must be. Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian's Country Diary, 2018-2024 is published by Guardian Faber; order at and get a 15% discount
CNN
29-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Gorillas once caught by wildlife traffickers are set free in historic reintroduction
Last October, four female eastern lowland gorillas were airlifted from their home in Kasuhgo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and released 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast in Virunga National Park. Less than a year later, they have all successfully integrated into a group of wild gorillas, in what is being hailed as the largest translocation of the subspecies ever. Conservationists hope that its success will not only prevent the local extinction of an isolated population, but provide essential knowledge needed to protect the critically endangered apes in the future. The females – named Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala, and aged between 10 and 21 years old – were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade as babies and taken to the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (GRACE) where they were rehabilitated over a long period of time, learning to forage and socialize as they would in the wild. Deemed ready for release, last fall they were flown to Mount Tshiaberimu – or 'Mountain of the Spirits' – a 1,700-meter (5,577-foot) peak in the northern region of the national park, where they were kept in a fenced enclosure before being released into the wild. The gorilla monitoring team, who expected the transition to take anywhere between several months to several years, were astounded when, in less than two months, they appeared ready to leave the enclosure. 'It happened much quicker than we all anticipated,' says Katie Fawcett, executive and science director for GRACE Gorillas, the NGO leading the rewilding process alongside Virunga National Park and local communities. This was partly down to the allure of a handsome wild silverback called Mwasa, who approached the fence of the enclosure day after day, beating his arms on the ground and grunting to catch the females' attention. It worked: they responded to his calls and even chose to abandon their indoor dens to sleep closer to him along the fence line. Watching on carefully, the monitoring team decided that it was the natural time to let the females join him. 'We really pride ourselves on every decision being gorilla led,' Fawcett tells CNN. 'After three days of attention directed at the magnificent Mwasa … the decision was made: 'let's go for it.' The fence was cut so they could come out.' Since then, to the team's surprise and delight, the four females have quickly settled into life in the wild, adjusting to the colder climate on the mountain's steep hills and a new diet of bamboo shoots and other native plants. Related article Meet the conservationist saving gorillas in Uganda's 'impenetrable forest' While rangers continue to monitor the gorillas' health, collecting non-invasive biological samples and conducting visual assessments, so far the gorillas have shown no clinical signs of stress – in fact, they are looking 'amazing,' says Fawcett, with thick, shiny coats and full bellies. The biggest excitement came in the new year, when Mwasa was spotted mating with Ndjingala, a 16-year-old female, for the first time. Since then, the other three have also been seen mating with him, according to Fawcett. As gorillas have a similar gestation period to humans, the team are eagerly counting down the days to September, but she says they are cautiously optimistic: 'It's probably going to take some time as the female gorillas were on contraception while they were in the sanctuary at GRACE.' A birth would be a huge ray of hope for the whole species. The eastern lowland gorilla, or Grauer's gorilla, is found in the lowland tropical rainforest of eastern DRC and is the largest of the four gorilla subspecies – all of which are endangered. While there have been successful translocations of western lowland gorillas in the past, eastern gorilla releases have had a very poor survival rate, with individuals dying or disappearing within weeks of release, or being so young that they have been unable to survive without a lactating mother. 'What's different about this reintroduction project is not only that it is the largest and we're putting in four females into this group, but also that the decision was made early on not to just throw a baby back into the group, but to rehabilitate it over a long period of time and make sure the gorilla has the social skills and critical survival skills,' says Fawcett. '(We were) trying to mimic that natural behavior of having adult females join a wild group.' The project was also intended to provide a critical genetic boost to the small and isolated population of eight gorillas living on Mount Tshiaberimu. Previous scientific modelling found this population to be non-viable, with some estimating that it would go extinct between 20 and 50 years, unless new females were introduced. 'The tiny gorilla population was doomed but could now be saved by this intervention,' Liz Williamson, a professor at the University of Stirling in the UK specializing in the conservation, ecology and behavior of gorillas, who was not part of the project, said in an email. She added that the situation facing Grauer's gorillas across eastern DRC is 'dire,' but the translocation could bring multiple conservation benefits. Related article Rhinos went extinct in Uganda 40 years ago. Now, a private ranch is home to almost 50 Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park and a Belgian prince, commended the initiative in a press release: 'This is a huge milestone in efforts to bolster the eastern lowland gorilla population and we are delighted that the gorillas are successfully adapting to the wild.' However, there are huge challenges working within Virunga National Park, which has been the center of armed conflict for decades. Over 200 rangers have been killed in the park since it was created in 1925, and the recent resurgence of the M23 rebel group has escalated matters, with attacks on rangers becoming increasingly common. Mount Tshiaberimu is located within the troubled region. 'Working in this area is not easy,' says Jackson Kabuyaya Mbeke, DRC director for GRACE Gorillas. 'The main thing strategically is to put the community in the middle of everything we do: we recruit caregivers, we recruit educators who are trained at GRACE … and they feel that responsibility of taking care of wildlife.' Brought up in the area himself, he recalls when gorillas were widespread and as a child, he would listen to them calling or beating their chests. 'We grew up in the same habitat, sharing the same resource,' he says. 'Gorillas are our identity, our totem, they are an important source of pride in this area.' Related article The world's smallest elephants are facing extinction. One woman has a plan to save them Yet, as human populations grow, pressures on gorilla habitat are inevitable, with forest being cleared for agriculture and firewood. During times of conflict, with communities in extreme need, these threats are heightened as some resort to hunting gorillas for their meat. The reintroduction is a huge breakthrough, but it is only the start. 'The real key for gorilla conservation success in this region is forest protection,' says Fawcett. 'We're super excited by this result and how it can help to inform these critically endangered populations, but we need to stop populations reaching that point.'
CNN
29-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Gorillas once caught by wildlife traffickers are set free in historic reintroduction
Last October, four female eastern lowland gorillas were airlifted from their home in Kasuhgo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and released 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast in Virunga National Park. Less than a year later, they have all successfully integrated into a group of wild gorillas, in what is being hailed as the largest translocation of the subspecies ever. Conservationists hope that its success will not only prevent the local extinction of an isolated population, but provide essential knowledge needed to protect the critically endangered apes in the future. The females – named Isangi, Lulingu, Mapendo and Ndjingala, and aged between 10 and 21 years old – were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade as babies and taken to the Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Center (GRACE) where they were rehabilitated over a long period of time, learning to forage and socialize as they would in the wild. Deemed ready for release, last fall they were flown to Mount Tshiaberimu – or 'Mountain of the Spirits' – a 1,700-meter (5,577-foot) peak in the northern region of the national park, where they were kept in a fenced enclosure before being released into the wild. The gorilla monitoring team, who expected the transition to take anywhere between several months to several years, were astounded when, in less than two months, they appeared ready to leave the enclosure. 'It happened much quicker than we all anticipated,' says Katie Fawcett, executive and science director for GRACE Gorillas, the NGO leading the rewilding process alongside Virunga National Park and local communities. This was partly down to the allure of a handsome wild silverback called Mwasa, who approached the fence of the enclosure day after day, beating his arms on the ground and grunting to catch the females' attention. It worked: they responded to his calls and even chose to abandon their indoor dens to sleep closer to him along the fence line. Watching on carefully, the monitoring team decided that it was the natural time to let the females join him. 'We really pride ourselves on every decision being gorilla led,' Fawcett tells CNN. 'After three days of attention directed at the magnificent Mwasa … the decision was made: 'let's go for it.' The fence was cut so they could come out.' Since then, to the team's surprise and delight, the four females have quickly settled into life in the wild, adjusting to the colder climate on the mountain's steep hills and a new diet of bamboo shoots and other native plants. Related article Meet the conservationist saving gorillas in Uganda's 'impenetrable forest' While rangers continue to monitor the gorillas' health, collecting non-invasive biological samples and conducting visual assessments, so far the gorillas have shown no clinical signs of stress – in fact, they are looking 'amazing,' says Fawcett, with thick, shiny coats and full bellies. The biggest excitement came in the new year, when Mwasa was spotted mating with Ndjingala, a 16-year-old female, for the first time. Since then, the other three have also been seen mating with him, according to Fawcett. As gorillas have a similar gestation period to humans, the team are eagerly counting down the days to September, but she says they are cautiously optimistic: 'It's probably going to take some time as the female gorillas were on contraception while they were in the sanctuary at GRACE.' A birth would be a huge ray of hope for the whole species. The eastern lowland gorilla, or Grauer's gorilla, is found in the lowland tropical rainforest of eastern DRC and is the largest of the four gorilla subspecies – all of which are endangered. While there have been successful translocations of western lowland gorillas in the past, eastern gorilla releases have had a very poor survival rate, with individuals dying or disappearing within weeks of release, or being so young that they have been unable to survive without a lactating mother. 'What's different about this reintroduction project is not only that it is the largest and we're putting in four females into this group, but also that the decision was made early on not to just throw a baby back into the group, but to rehabilitate it over a long period of time and make sure the gorilla has the social skills and critical survival skills,' says Fawcett. '(We were) trying to mimic that natural behavior of having adult females join a wild group.' The project was also intended to provide a critical genetic boost to the small and isolated population of eight gorillas living on Mount Tshiaberimu. Previous scientific modelling found this population to be non-viable, with some estimating that it would go extinct between 20 and 50 years, unless new females were introduced. 'The tiny gorilla population was doomed but could now be saved by this intervention,' Liz Williamson, a professor at the University of Stirling in the UK specializing in the conservation, ecology and behavior of gorillas, who was not part of the project, said in an email. She added that the situation facing Grauer's gorillas across eastern DRC is 'dire,' but the translocation could bring multiple conservation benefits. Related article Rhinos went extinct in Uganda 40 years ago. Now, a private ranch is home to almost 50 Emmanuel de Merode, director of Virunga National Park and a Belgian prince, commended the initiative in a press release: 'This is a huge milestone in efforts to bolster the eastern lowland gorilla population and we are delighted that the gorillas are successfully adapting to the wild.' However, there are huge challenges working within Virunga National Park, which has been the center of armed conflict for decades. Over 200 rangers have been killed in the park since it was created in 1925, and the recent resurgence of the M23 rebel group has escalated matters, with attacks on rangers becoming increasingly common. Mount Tshiaberimu is located within the troubled region. 'Working in this area is not easy,' says Jackson Kabuyaya Mbeke, DRC director for GRACE Gorillas. 'The main thing strategically is to put the community in the middle of everything we do: we recruit caregivers, we recruit educators who are trained at GRACE … and they feel that responsibility of taking care of wildlife.' Brought up in the area himself, he recalls when gorillas were widespread and as a child, he would listen to them calling or beating their chests. 'We grew up in the same habitat, sharing the same resource,' he says. 'Gorillas are our identity, our totem, they are an important source of pride in this area.' Related article The world's smallest elephants are facing extinction. One woman has a plan to save them Yet, as human populations grow, pressures on gorilla habitat are inevitable, with forest being cleared for agriculture and firewood. During times of conflict, with communities in extreme need, these threats are heightened as some resort to hunting gorillas for their meat. The reintroduction is a huge breakthrough, but it is only the start. 'The real key for gorilla conservation success in this region is forest protection,' says Fawcett. 'We're super excited by this result and how it can help to inform these critically endangered populations, but we need to stop populations reaching that point.'
Russia Today
22-05-2025
- General
- Russia Today
South Africa moves dozens of elephants in conservation milestone
A significant conservation effort has been under way at the Addo Elephant National Park near Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, where 42 elephants were successfully translocated to the newly secured Kabouga section. This move, which is part of the South African National Parks (SANParks) initiative, aims to expand the elephants' range and restore ecological balance in one of the country's most iconic conservation areas. According to the park's Conservation Manager Anban Padayakee, the translocation, conducted between May 12 and 15, was meticulously planned and executed by a team of conservationists, wildlife veterinarians, and logistics specialists. Padayakee said each step was done with attention to animal welfare and ecological integrity. 'The reality of our achievement has not yet set in… it's still such an unbelievable achievement. We were so careful that we had experts from all different fields to make sure the mission was successful. 'The experience was not limited to this operation; we can apply it in the future,' Padayakee said. He said the team moved the animals that consisted of five family groups, with the oldest female elephant aged 52 and the youngest, a male, aged between three to four months old and named after the area they were translocated to. 'That gives you the idea of how complicated it was because we needed to keep the animals stress-free, and the veterinarians did exactly that,' Padayakee said. Park Manager, Roland Januarie, emphasised the importance of this effort saying he had only joined the park a week ago and had found the process of translocating these animals in the middle as it had started last year. 'Addo has a proud record of elephant conservation and maintains a healthy and secure population of one of Africa's most iconic animal species,' Januarie said. Elephants are widely recognised as ecosystem engineers, playing a crucial role in shaping their environments and supporting biodiversity. By expanding their range and establishing new habitats, the translocation stands to contribute to long-term biodiversity health and the reactivation of natural ecosystem functions across the region. The Global Humane Conservation Fund of Africa, an initiative of Global Humane Society, provided critical support for the project. Regional Director for Africa, Taryn Gillson, the organisation was proud to support this critical restoration project and help ensure these elephants have the space they need to thrive. 'This is an extraordinary milestone for conservation in Africa. This not only marks the expansion of the elephants' range but also the restoration of ecological processes in a landscape where elephants have been absent for generations,' Gillson said. The translocation is part of a broader conservation vision to repair degraded ecosystems through species-led restoration. By reintroducing elephants to the Kabouga section, SANParks aims to restore ecological balance and promote biodiversity. The newly relocated elephants will be carefully monitored as they settle into their new environment, marking a hopeful step forward for conservation efforts in the Eastern Cape. 'As a leading conservation authority, SANParks is committed to inclusive conservation and advancing policies that support sustainable development and biodiversity conservation,' said Januarie SANParks manages 21 national parks, including three world heritage sites and 10 marine protected areas covering over four million hectares on land and almost 370,000 hectares at sea. First published by IOL
