ZenWildlife

A wildlife blog ending illegal wildlife trafficking through eductaion and awareness 

[zenwildlife]

Saving Summer.

This is the story of Summer - the fawn that made me cry and smile for the same reason. Summer broke my heart, gave me hope, a few emotional breakdowns, and a surreal learning experience all in the span of the four weeks I spent with her.

The Rescue

We received a call early in the morning from a flower and garden shop that they spotted a fawn behind their property - stuck in mud. When our team got there, mama deer was already there. She had cleaned her baby free of mud, but had been stuck for so long that she was completely depleted of nutrients. Her fawn could not even lift her head to suckle for milk - she looked lifeless. As they took her out of the mud, mama was huffing and puffing in efforts to scare us away. 

Taking a baby away from her mama. That was devastating. Having never done this before, all I could think was: I wish she would somehow understand that we are doing this to help her baby. All this mama deer knows is that humans are predators, something to run away from, and we are taking her baby away from her - right in front of her eyes.  

The First Day

The first day was touch and go. 

Summer was fevering, dehydrated and completely depleted of glucose. Our volunteer vet, Dr. Catherine Vick, sat with her in her lap all day to closely monitor her. We didn’t expect her make it through the day. 

This is where I felt most torn - here was this helpless fawn and I am excited to earn how to preform electrolyte injections and tube feeding. We gave her electrolyte and glucose injections every two hours and tube fed her every four hours. She slowly gained her energy back. Very slowly. However, she still wasn’t fighting us when we handled her and given Summer’s age, (approx. 1 month old) she would have a full understanding that humans are predators. She should have been freaking out at just the sight of us. 

The Roller Coaster Rehabilitation Process

As the days continued, Summer slowly became more resistant to being handled - a good sign. But something was off. She still wouldn’t (or couldn’t we later realized) suckle on the bottle nipple, and she had a slight head tilt. In a medical sense, a head is a symptom of a brain injury or damage. Lack of glucose available to the brain can result in temporary or permanent brain damage. 

So we continued treatment hoping that the brain injury could be reversed.

The next few days were emotional and frustrating. 

We put her in the fawn pen with the other fawns so she would be around the type of behaviours she should be expressing - being a fawn. But as we watched her, she walked in circles - another symptom of brain damage, fell down instead of lowering herself to lay down and she started to seize when under obvious distress.

These few days is where I grew frustrated with the concept of “letting nature take it’s course”. Why, with all the effort we’ve put into her treatment AND Summer’s effort to survive, is she not improving? 

When she seized, all we could do is hold her tight (sometimes the pressure against her body would bring her out of it), or just be near her to make sure she didn’t hurt herself or the other fawns in care. 

After four days of tube feeding her and attempting to bottle feed her, we started to worry. If she doesn’t stop seizing, can’t suckle for fawn formula, walk in a straight line or lay down properly - can she be released? Are we doing more harm than good?

One of Summer’s seizures caused her to hit her head on the ground and some soil managed to get into her eye. An eye infection. One step backwards.

But - a few more days of eye drops and her eye infection subsided. 

Then things turned around. And it went only uphill from there. She started to eat the grasses, branches, leaves and raspberries that were in the pen. We had to refill the branch buckets multiple times a day! Hooray!  She started to suckle for fawn formula, and she started to resist us - running away every time she saw us come in the pen. 

Exactly what we wanted! 

She was showing all the normal signs of being a normal fawn. 

Time for Summer to Go Home

Summer was showing more normal behaviours as we inched closer and closer to transfer day. She was finally ready to move onto phase two of rehabilitation - pre-release. 

Success. 

What To Do if You See a Fawn in the Wild. 

First things first: DO NOT TOUCH. Fawns do not have a scent yet. touching them will leave a scent that is traceable for predators. Mamas leave their fawns for up to 12 hours to avoid predation. They are always in watching distance of their babies, so she can always so what is happening near and around. 

Second: If you think the fawn is in trouble, call your local rescue and rehabilitation centre or your local animal control - they will transfer the fawn to the appropriate place. You can find a contact list of your local rescue and rehab centres at:  http://www.ontariowildliferescue.ca/ 

[zenwildlife]

Can We Do Better at Fighting Wildlife Trafficking?

What threatens wildlife populations? 

We know that climate change has an effect on not just our ocean and atmospheric temperatures - but, our environmental surroundings as well, causing and increase in severity and frequency of natural disasters (Forest fires, flooding, hurricanes etc.). These events lead to habitat loss and threaten wildlife populations.

In a previous blog post I wrote called The Victims of Palm Oil touched on how human interference ( just in the palm oil industry) causes habitat destruction and poaching, which ultimately leads to wildlife trafficking and exploitation.

The reality is that over exploitation of wildlife is the driving cause of dramatic loss of biodiversity. 

In 1975 governments from all over the world created what we call today, CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). CITES is a regulation system on the international trade of threatened and endangered species. 

SO WHY IS IT STILL A GROWING PROBLEM?

Are anti-poaching policies that focus on the supply-side the most effective way to fight wildlife trafficking? 

As the demand for wildlife-derived products (elephant ivory, rhino horns, fur etc.) increases, it also increases poaching activities. In a response to the increase in poaching, governments created two proactive anti-poaching approaches that target the supply side of wildlife trade.

The first approach directs money into law enforcement by increasing the strength of the policies and regulations already in place and increasing investments into monitoring of illegal hunting/ trading of wildlife. This law enforcement emphasized approach increases the price of poaching and decreases the supply of poaching products. 

The second approach directs resources into local communities by increasing the security rights of land and land resources of the individual owner. As well as employing local communities to protect the land of endangered or threatened species that are at risk of poaching. The community approach decreases the benefit of poaching, decreases the supply of poaching and encourages a positive relationship between local communities and their government. 

These approaches are great proactive policies to fight poaching and wildlife trafficking on the supply side. But how effect are these approaches when wildlife trafficking is driven by “The Snob Effect”.

What is The Snob Effect?

The snob effect is when the demand is higher on a product because of the rarity factor. 

The more rare the product, the higher the value.

If the wildlife trade is driven by the snob effect, than is targeting the supply side really the most effective way to protect our threatened and endangered species? 

Targeting the demand side.

A key to fighting poaching and wildlife trafficking is to curb the consumer perception of the products they are buying through awareness and education. In today’s generation, consumers are influenced by societal values and trends, but they don’t necessarily see where their products actually come from and the consequences they carry. 

So, by curbing the consumer demand on wildlife trade, the price of poaching will be too high and the incentive for poaching will no longer need to exist. 

If governments join together to implement policies on BOTH the supply and demand side of the wildlife trade, the effectiveness of our fight will increase dramatically. 

Positive change is caused by education and awareness. This is my journey. Join me. 

#StopWildlifeTrafficking

Factual content in this article came from: Poachers and Snobs: Demand for rarity and the effects of anti-poaching policies. 26 May 2015. A Journal of the Society of Conservation Biology. Vol 9, 1. 65-69.

[zenwildlife]

My Experience Volunteering in Costa Rica at Proyecto Asis Wildlife Rescue. 

My experience in Costa Rica was full of learning how to be a better wildlife advocator, a better conservationist, exploring my passions, the environment around me and building relationships that I will keep forever. 

I booked my trip about a year ago through GreenHeart Travel, and based on my interests and intentions for my trip they paired me up with Proyecto Asis Wildlife Rescue. 

And I couldn’t have been happier. 

Costa Rica as a whole showed me how to be happy with the things I have and the people I love while pursuing my passions. It showed me that all the excess and the superficial objects around us all the time actually takes away from the value of the simple things. By doing the things we want the world to become, we become the change  we want in the world.  

Away I went from the Toronto Pearson International Airport to explore my passions and to embrace Costa Rica. 

Travelling alone for the first time was scary, but I tackled my fears with a smile and bursting excitement to see the world. 

One of the first pictures I took in Costa Rica. I couldn’t believe how much green there was, I had never seen so much of the colour green in my life. The beauty of a different world I had never seen before, left me speechless the whole ride from San Jose Airport to the small town of Javillos, San Carlos.  

When I first arrived, I didn’t expect to fall in love with every single animal and become so attach to their stories. I spent my lunch breaks walking around the trails to just sit in front of their enclosures to watch and talk to them. I wanted to get to know each one individually and attempt to understand them through both of our curiosity for each other.

The Ocelot (pictured above) was a sweet, curious and playful adolescent that took every chance she got to reach through the cage. So getting close to the cage was risky - this picture was taken a split second before she swatted my phone out of my hands!

This Toucan was found with it’s beak in even worse condition than you can see in this picture. It was rescued after someone had poured acid on it’s beak and left it to die. Luckily, he(or she) is now being fitted and prepped for a prosthetic beak so release back in the wild is possible! 

This is Jessica the Spider Monkey. She has a kind soul with a lot of love for pulling hair and eating papaya. Spider monkeys are currently endangered due to deforestation, loss of habitat and illegal wildlife trafficking (the black market). She was found in a hotel on display with a chain around her neck giving her minimal freedom to move. Hand holding is a comfort behaviour Jessica developed in response to being far too habituated to humans. Due to her lack of wild instincts and the period of time she spent in a hotel, she can not be released back home. Spider monkeys learn from their mothers by watching what they do as all others primates do. Jessica has been without her mother her whole life, so she does not know how to be a monkey in the wild.

One of the afternoon’s at Proyecto Asis we attended a Wildlife Trafficking lecture, and it absolutely blew my mind. I would say the lecture was the “big bang” to my passion of becoming a wildlife advocate against illegal and unethical wildlife trafficking. 

The most important point I took away from the Wildlife Trafficking lecture is that education and awareness is the key to positive change. So, I have made it my mission to use the tools at my disposal (social media- Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and blogging) as an education platform to make the changes I want to see in the world. 

Jessica’s story is one of the reasons why enrichment is so important. 

After Spanish lesson in the morning (optional), the afternoons were focused on enclosure and behaviour enrichment for the animals. The main goal of enrichment is to use natural or close to natural objects they would see or use in the wild, manipulate it to encourage natural behaviours of the specific animal we are focusing on. Our enrichment project for the animals was my favourite part of the day at Proyecto Asis because I got the opportunity to be apart of their rehabilitation process and their road to recovery. 

My favourite enrichment toy was for the spider monkeys - The Pineapple Top. We used the top of the pineapple (It was always thrown out so we were reusing it and reducing waste) and we tied string around the top (or bottom - which ever is correct), weaved the string through the chain and then hooked the chain to the top of the enclosure. 

They absolutely loved it each time we did it. They swung from it, torn it apart, ate it, play with it and threw it around. The simplicity of making even just one spider monkey happy - to be the reason they forgot they were in an enclosure and act like a spider monkey, was really special. 

The enrichment project is one of the ways Proyecto Asis helped me become a wildlife advocator.

The relationships that I developed in Costa Rica will stay with me forever. My love for my host family will always be with me. They accepted me for who I was, and even though we don’t speak the same language, we were always able to laugh in each other’s company, have fun as a family and communicate in different ways. 

They have taught me how simple life can be and how much happier you can be because of it. 

I will forever be grateful for their love and kindness. 

Jose Mario (Left), Carmen (2nd from Left), Me (Middle), Yendry ( 2nd from Right) and Alexis (Right). 

What’s a trip to Costa Rica without a little beach fun, right? 

Of course I couldn’t forget to REP LIFE in my OneSpecies attire. Our mission is to make wildlife conservation mainstream - and what better way to do that than to take it abroad ?! 

Meeting new people from around the world will always be scary and fun in the same moment. Jen was another volunteer that I clicked with - she was adventurous, open minded and full of laughter.  

Spontaneous tattoos are always fun - Pura Vida. (I am on the left and Jen is on the right.)

Pura Vida is translated to “Pure Life”, you can hear it in Costa Rica from just about everyone you meet. They use it as a way to say “Hi, how are you”, “That’s cool” or a way to express love for life.

I found it easy to mediate while in Costa Rica just because I didn’t feel the need to close my eyes. All I had to do was walk to to edge of the road and look around at nature and listen to the sounds surrounding me. 

Views like this is another way Coast Rica taught me how to be happy with the simple things. 

Xander (Left), Jen (2nd left), Me, Isabella (Right).

Meeting people from around the world is refreshing and eye opening.

If anyone is thinking about volunteering abroad, I highly suggest it! The different relationships I now have that stretch from different corners of our globe, offer me a better understanding of the world around me. The life skills and life passion I have discovered here,  will stay with me for the rest of my life. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience in Costa Rica and do not be afraid to leave a reply or ask me questions! 

Pura Vida, My Friends! 

[zenwildlife]

The Victims of Palm Oil.

~ Please be advised: this article contains graphic content and images ~

The palm oil industry is quickly and destructively driving the abundant biodiversity in the Sumatra and Borneo Islands toward extinction. 

There are many victims of palm oil plantations. The orangutan has become the face of the fight against palm oil, however, they’re only one of many victims; including Elephants, the Gibbons Monkey and the forest itself.  

So what is palm oil and how does it negatively effect our planet and the species that live in the islands? 

Palm oil is a vegetable oil derived from the middle layer of the fruit that grows on palms. The issues that surround palm oil are: 

Large scale deforestation 

Loss of critical habitat for endangered species

Soil erosion 

Air, soil and water pollution 

and major contributions to Global Warming.   

Palm oil plantations clear 2 million hectares of forest every single year. 

That is the equivalent to 6 football fields disappearing per minute!*

Even though it is against the law, palm oil plantations will set forest fires intentionally for the propose of spreading as fast as possible. All life that habited these areas have been killed. 99.99% of all life in these areas are wiped out. 

When the soil is left uncovered, it caused the topsoil to wear away and results in soil erosion - a negative environmental consequence of clearing. 

Before setting fire to the forest, poachers and plantation workers will set out to find Orangutans, abuse and/or kill the mothers and capture the babies to sell in the illegal wildlife trafficking market. A lot of the time, the adults are not killed quickly and they are beaten unconscious and they die a slow painful death from their injuries and/or starvation. 

This Oranugtan was beaten so badly that he had unrepairable internal injuries. He had been shot 18 times and kicked, punched and beaten with a hard object so brutally, that the muscle and tissues in the exposed wounds started to rot. He died in surgery after multiple attempts to save his life.

Chanee Kalaweit is the founder of the Kalaweit Project, which is a rescue and rehabilitation centre on the Borneo Island. 

Chanee talks about his view on wildlife rehabilitation with the Gibbons monkey that suffer in the hands of the palm oil industry. 

“They didn’t chose to be in captivity, they didn’t chose to be caught by poachers. It is our duty as human beings to use these animals in captivity as wildlife ambassadors to give us the means to help those still in the trees.” 

Chanee encourages the rest of the world to use the tools we already have: 

National parks and reserves and ensuring they are truly protected on the ground. 

“If we do not create a strong defence and offence against the palm oil industry, it will spread to other countries and clear 100% of our forest” - Chanee Kalaweit. 

Palm oil plantations create a war zone for endangered species and all other life caught in between because the owners can do as they please. Just like these elephants in the photograph above, animals are caught between two plantations and are shot at and killed just for being there. 

The wildlife simply just don’t have enough room to survive - and that is a problem. 

We must learn how to coexist, rather than drive species to extinction. 

Every 1 metric tonne of palm oil produced results in 2.5 metric tonnes of liquid waste that runs off into rivers. So the amount of waste produced is 150% more of the actual product being consumed by the paying costumer. 

Did you know: 20% of the total annual amount of green house gases comes from palm oil plantations

So the next time you are buying groceries, keep an eye on the ingredient list. When you purchase items with palm oil, you are feeding the industry more power to drive us into extinction. 

*All photographs and factual information was retrieved from the documentary “The Victims of Palm Oil” on Curio.ca and WWF global.*

[zenwildlife]

And then there were 77.... 

Today is a sad day. it was just announced by Orca Conservancy that one more of the Endangered Southern resident Killer whales has been missing and has officially been listed as deceased. 

The death of the 45-year -old female (K13) has now brought their population down to a total of 77.

Let’s take that in. 

77

The Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) population is divided in three recognized pods (J, K and L) that ranges through both Canada and United States west coast waters (Parsons et. al, 2009). The SRKW has a very defined matrilineal social structure within each pod. This means they are clusters of adult females and their offspring related to a common female ancestor. Both sexes display extreme restriction dispersal and they consistently return and remain to the same feeding areas (Parsons et. al, 2009). this is very important when it comes to commercial salmon fishing and expanding the Atlantic Salmon Net Pens (Fish Farms). As I started before, the Southern Resident Killer Whale are restriction dispersal social pods and stay in the same areas for feeding. Ninety- five percent (95%) of their diet consist of salmon, with chinook salmon making up approximately three quarters (3/4) of their total diet (Centre for Whale Research). When we are taking all their main food source - salmon - what are they to do?

The ongoing decline of the SRKW population is sue to lack of food supply and pollutants from boat traffic, causing nutrition stress and pregnancy failure. (Centre for Conservation Biology, University of Washington). Since 2007, an upward of 69% of Souther Resident Killer Whale pregnancies failed due to the stress of low nutrition and extreme low abundance of salmon. 

Sometimes I wonder if there is even a single endangered species that hasn’t been put in the position they face if it weren’t for human interference and ignorance. Why, do we as humans seem to thin that this earth and the abundant of different species present on this planet are here for us to solely take advantage of.

Together as one, we need to stand up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Ways that you can help:

#1: Stop the consumption of Salmon - if we stop the demand, there will be no need for supply. 

#2: Demand that all leases for the existing Atlantic Salmon Net Pens (fish farms) are not renewed. 

#3: Be plastic conscious, say NO to one-use and non-recyclable plastics.

#4: Support CETUS and their projects to protect the Southern Resident Killer Whale and other organizations like them. 

[zenwildlife]

The future of wildlife is in our hands. 

I recently returned from a volunteer trip in Costa Rica at Proyecto Asis Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation. This image is of me holding Jessica (the spider monkey)’s hand. Please read her story to find out why she can not be released back into the wild. 

Jessica is a spider monkey. 🐒She has a kind soul with much love for pulling hair and Papaya. Spider monkeys are currently endangered due to deforestation, loss of habitat and illegal wildlife trafficking (the black market). She was found in a hotel on display with a chain around her neck giving her minimal freedom to move. 

Hand holding is a comfort behaviour Jessica developed in response to being far too habituated to humans. Due to her lack of wild instincts and the period of time she spent in a hotel, she can not be released back home. Spider monkeys learn from their mothers by watching what they do, as all others primates do. If Jessica has been without her mother all her life, does she know how to be a monkey? ---- the answer is no. . Can a human teach a monkey how to climb a tree like a monkey? Teach a monkey how to get foods and avoid predators like a monkey? Can a human teach a monkey how to be a monkey? ----- the answer is no. 

Spider monkeys are NOT pets, and they are NOT for entertainment. They are for the wild and human interference is the cause of their endangerment.