From the Sometimes There's Good News Department.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/21/florida-sparrow-scientists

#Conservation #Recovery #CaptiveBreeding

While feral domesticated cats are a big problem in a lot of places (including NYC) and need vigorous #TNVR / #TNR or relocation, #WildFelines need to be protected!

In #Brazil, #conservationists try to save one of the world’s most #endangered #cats

by Sarah Brown on 13 June 2024

via @mongabay

"- #Muñoa’s #Pampas cat, a small wild feline, is endemic to the Pampas grasslands that sprawl over southern Brazil, #Uruguay and northeastern #Argentina.

"- With fewer than 100 individuals left in the wild, experts call Muñoa’s pampas cat one of the most endangered felines in the world and warn it go extinct within 10 years as its natural habitat is cleared for #cropland.

- #Conservation plans to save the species include switching from #monocultures to extensive ranching that preserves the natural #grasslands, creating a #captivebreeding program, and developing a trinational conservation agreement.

"- Recent #floods in the Brazilian state of #RioGrandeDoSul, where many Muñoa’s Pampas cat sightings have been recorded, have currently halted all local #conservation efforts, putting the future of this feline at risk."

Read more:
https://news.mongabay.com/2024/06/in-brazil-conservationists-try-to-save-one-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-cats/

#EndangeredSpecies #SouthAmerica #ConservationEfforts #Biodiversity

Bellinger River snapping turtles backup

"Conservationists release largest group of zoo-bred Bellinger River snapping turtles after virus wipe-out. The snapping turtles occupy a 60km stretch of the Bellinger River."

"Nearly 100 captive-bred Bellinger River snapping turtles have been released into the wild, the biggest number yet for the breeding program after a virus nearly wiped them out in 2015."

"Nearly 90 per cent of the population was wiped out in 2015 due to a mysterious virus... Monitoring remains crucial to prevent the virus from spreading through the species again.Nearly a decade after a virus nearly wiped out a population of turtles unique to northern New South Wales, researchers say its origins remain a mystery as a project to repopulate the species hits a major milestone."

"Before the disease outbreak, there were estimated to be up to 4,500 of the freshwater turtles living in Bellinger catchment and today about 200 remain — largely as a result of release efforts."

"It's one of the rarest freshwater turtle species in Australia...Turtles have a really important role in our ecosystem as food scavengers."
>>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-09/bellinger-river-snapping-turtle-conservation-release-zoo-bred/103681974
#BellingerRiverSnappingTurtle #turtles #bellinger #pollution #mystery #Bellingen #CaptiveBreeding #biodiversity #habitat #CitizenScience #cattle

"Virome characterization of game animals in China reveals a spectrum of emerging pathogens"

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• 1,941 game animals from five mammalian orders were surveyed for viruses
• 102 mammalian-infecting viruses were discovered, 21 posing a potential risk to humans
• Civets carried a relatively higher number of potentially “high-risk” viruses
• Human-infecting viruses were also identified in game animals
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These data highlight the importance of game animals as potential drivers of disease emergence.
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CONTENT WARNING for these links:

❗contains pictures of animals in captivity👁️

➡️https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867422001945

This sector, which is the likely origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, is worth many many many billions of $. It has a huge black market, of course, so it's harder to measure.

(CW)

➡️https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-020-00677-0

➡️https://theconversation.com/wildlife-trade-poses-health-threats-to-humans-but-chinese-wildlife-farms-are-profiting-173204

➡️https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/25/coronavirus-closures-reveal-vast-scale-of-chinas-secretive-wildlife-farm-industry

➡️https://news.mongabay.com/2013/02/pity-the-pangolin-little-known-mammal-most-common-victim-of-the-wildlife-trade/

#zoonoses #zoonosis #animal #farming #trapping #fur #caged #captivebreeding #furfarm #wildanimal #wildlife #domestication #influenza #pandemic #China

The #GalápagosNationalPark Directorate, in collaboration with the organization #GalápagosConservancy, released the 86 #hatchlings, aged between 5 & 6 years, of the #Chelonoidis #hoodensis #species that is #endemic to #EspañolaIsland in the #Galápagos .
The #animals come from the #CaptiveBreeding center of #SantaCruzIsland - located in the center of the #archipelago

https://www.laprensalatina.com/86-captive-bred-galapagos-tortoises-released-into-native-habitat/amp/

#GoodNews #nature #wildlife #tortoises #SeaCreatures #MarineBiology #ecology #biodiversity #ProtectTheWild