Cathay
On the night of 26 April 2010 Cathay refused her food and we waited in anticipation for the arrival of her baby. The following morning she was wandering around the camp without a care in the world, eating grass. Although she was much thinner than the previous day there was no vociferous cry from a new-born cub demanding its mother’s return. During the day she was also fairly active and didn’t rest in any particular place for any length of time. A surreptitious search of the Breeding centre and the quarantine camp revealed absolutely nothing which led us to believe that she had delivered only one cub and that it had been stillborn. Eddie van Eck of Lory Park Zoo was consulted by phone, during which all Cathay’s actions of the previous evening and following morning as well as her current physical condition were compared to her condition in the previous few days. Eddie confirmed that she had possibly suffered a stillbirth.
A careful search of the camp during feeding time later in the day also failed to reveal any signs of any delivery ever having taken place. This in itself is not unusual. In the case of a stillbirth instinct causes the mother to eat the stillborn cub and the placenta and cover up any trace that the cub/s had been born.
A layman’s definition of a stillbirth is when a female gives birth to a cub which is dead at birth. The medical profession describes stillbirth as either ‘intra-uterine’ or ‘intra-partum’. An intra-uterine stillbirth means that the baby has died in the womb. An intra-partum stillbirth means that the baby dies during labour. One possible reason for the stillbirth could be that the umbilical cord became twisted cutting off blood flow and oxygen supply effectively suffocating the cub. Another possible explanation could be that the cub had somehow turned into such as position as to block its nose for a length of time. A third possibility could be that the placenta could have detached prematurely. It is impossible to predict a stillbirth or even to do anything to aid its birth. Owing to the fact that we were not witness to the actual event we cannot say with any measure of accuracy whether the cub was in actual fact born dead or whether it died shortly after birth.
Following a stillbirth the female should come back into oestrus soon but we have decided to let her recover first and then put her back with a male the next time she comes into season.
Madonna
Madonna and 327 last mated on Jan 24th 2010. Thirteen weeks passed since Madonna then and we speculated that she was pregrant, especially since we observed that she showed physical signs of pregnancy such as an enlarged belly. However she came back into oestrus again in the 14th week (after 91 days) and mated with 327 again. There could be two-explanations. The first explanation it she might have suffered a miscarriage. Second one could be that tiger pregnancy prediction is often based on whether or not the female comes back into oestrus after a certain period of time, and according to traditional literature if a mating is not successful the female should again come into oestrus in three to nine weeks. We have already proven this traditional observation to be inaccurate as it took Cathay ten weeks to come back into season again after mating. Therefore, it is also possible that Madonna was never pregnant, also because visual observation of tigress’ belly size is not totally reliable. On 2 May she and 327 mated again.
A miscarriage is the spontaneous abortion of an unborn cub. Causes of miscarriage are numerous. One such cause might be genetic abnormalities so severe that life is not sustainable in utero for example, failure for an embryo to form a functioning heart or brain due to genetic misfiring.
It is unfortunate that both tigresses failed to give birth especially since his first and only cub was lost to a predator in Dec 2009. But we are going to give 327 another chance at siring a litter.
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
Victory Does Not Come Easy in 100 Ha Camp!
Rambling Rose
A pair of brothers
Another pair of brothers
The Brothers in Hunter Palace
ITV news crew was so lucky. They were here to report on our story and while we were filming Hulooo brothers in the new 100 Ha camp late afternoon on March 25, 2010, we saw King Henry and Princess hunting across the open grassland, chasing the 15 blesbok. In no time however, we heard distress calls, which caught the attention of Hulooo brothers (that were being filmed), who took off immediately in the direction of the kill.
We drove quickly into 40 Ha and found King Henry and Princess in the riverine area, with King Henry playing with and subsequently protectively guarding his kill when we approached. Dr. Gary Koehler who was visiting remarked: "Li, I can see this will work!"
Next day was the first time we EVER drove inside a camp where 327 is around. As we knew, 327 loved humans and was very fond of playing with us when he first arrived at Laohu Valley.
I had to let him into the 3 Ha wilderness camp eventually after he refused to mate with the tigresses, and amazingly he became less and less interested in us humans. He stopped standing up trying to play with us and later even stopped coming to the fence to greet us. These were all very good signs. What amazed me even more was when I decided to let Cathay try again mating with him, he performed and became a father in December last year!
In the past I would have never dreamed of driving into a camp with him, wary that he might stand up against the vehicle. However, now that he seems to be behaving more like a wild tiger, I decided to take the risk and see his reaction towards us humans. I took Dr. Gary Koehler inside the 7 Ha camp in the Rhino and 327 was right at the gate. However he showed no interests in either our vehicle or us people. We drove next to where he was lying, he even walked away. What a positive change!
I had some trouble though! 327 decided to "possess" me by spraying. He didn't do it just once! Twice he directed his spraying intentionally at me and his juice shot right inside my open Rhino, covering my full face and body. I felt however proud that he was marking me as part of his territory, against his rival TigerWoods, who lay on the other side of the fence observing him.
Eleven weeks passed since Cathay mated with 327 and she still has not come into oestrus (she is with 327 in the same camp for monitoring). According to our experience, this means she is pregnant! If that's true, we should be expecting her and 327's babies around 20 April. 10 weeks had also gone by since Madonna mated 327. If our past experience is any indication at all, Madonna is also pregnant and should deliver beginning May.
It rained all night and pot holes popped up on the dirt road leading to Tiger camps, and when we arrived in the 40 Ha camp in the early hours of March 26 2010, King Henry was lying in the grass, with a half eaten kill lying a few meters away- another blesbok lost its life overnight. Then one more blesbok was taken in each night of Mar 29th and March 31st.
Meanwhile, ten days into the 100 Ha camp, Hulooo brothers are still trying to find their feet. They weren't being fed for about 4 months while King Henry and Princess occupied the 40 Ha hunting camp so were becoming a bit reliant, like many spoiled teenagers do. From time to time, they would chase the blesbok but for the most part, they spent their time exploring and sniffing the new large area. Tigers are territorial, they must familiarise with every piece of rock and every blade of grass in their domain.
On March 31st, JenB and Coco turned to 2 years of age. Seeing that Hulooo brothers didn't have the will to hunt, I decided to first put them back into the 40 Ha camp, where they hunted only too well before, to get their drive back in familiar ground. I also wanted King Henry and Princess to go into 100 Ha, seeing they have been hunting for 4 months successfully in 40Ha.
It proved to be a challenge to swap the two groups of tigers. It took several days and some re-work on the iron gates linking the two camps before we finally succeeded in getting them swapped. Hulooo brothers were certainly busy, as they made 2 kills in the first night, and one can see their confidence was back as they no longer whined for food when we finally found them among the trees, just quietly enjoying our company.
King Henry and Princess were not idle either. We saw them busy stalking prey the second day inside the 100 Ha camp. 4 days into 100 Ha they were still not successful. King Henry came to the Gate when he saw us Monday April 5th, but left with the look of disappointment when he realised no food were forthcoming from his human carers. He ate grass while he walked away in the thunderstorm as if protesting. He also tried to call his sister-the first roars we ever heard from him. We were just going to give them another day to see if they would catch anything before we fed them. It would not be good to starve them too much that they loose the strength to hunt.
The next morning April 6th, we first tallied the number of blesbok in 40 Ha -three blesbok missing. Good hunting weather certainly aided Hulooo brothers who were getting too good. And in 100 Ha, it was much harder to count the blesbok. We counted numerous times and would not believe that the actual number had indeed dropped to 42 from 43, though we were all praying for that. Well, we could no longer deny the fact any more- King Henry and Princess had actually made their first kill in the 100 Ha camp overnight! These young ones also took advantage of the bad weather and their victory made history.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
CEO of the Wild Foundation Vance Martin comments on Save China's Tigers Rewilding and Reintroduction Project
Vance Martin is CEO of the Wild Foundation, and he comments on Save China's Tigers Rewilding and Reintroduction Project
Tigers in Africa seems a fanciful thought…but they are there! Though they do not roam completely free in the wilderness, the South China Tiger can be found in carefully managed, large wildland areas in South Africa, the subject of an ambitious effort to rescue it from extinction. The 33,000ha (82,000 acre) LaohuValley Reserve is the centerpiece of Save China’s Tigers experimental bid to breed the South China Tiger and eventually return it to its natural habitat.
This effort has generated significant controversy, so I went there in January to better understand what it is doing and to determine its role in the broad spectrum of conservation work occurring around the globe. I found a valid initiative, doing good work, and fighting two battles simultaneously: one to save a tiger (arguably a sub-species), and (as if that were not enough) another to defend itself against the (sometimes) seemingly endless internal sniping of the nature conservation world. Who needs enemies when fellow conservationists often serve that function?!
I encourage you to go to the SCT website to see details. They’re making progress. I’ll just briefly give my response to some of the “sniping” I’ve heard from other groups and conservationists.
1. Tigers don’t belong in Africa. Why start a breeding facility there, almost halfway around the world from their home range? – The historically-proven and commonsense strategy to save a very small remnant population is to create geographically-separated gene pools, or small groups of the survivors, in order to protect them from potential threats such as disease, human pressure, etc. If they breed successfully, and there are adequate wild reserves in their homeland, hopefully they can be returned.
This is exactly the model established by Ian Player, WILD’s founder, when he saved the white rhino from extinction by exporting it to Europe and the US. It recovered from being virtually the most endangered rhinoceros species in the 1960’s to today being the most viable.
2. Why spend all that money on a species that is almost finished? It’s better to direct the funds to other programs trying to protect the tiger species still in the wild. Conservationists are always squabbling over the “conservation funding pie” — and tigers are the most political and financially-oriented of all such squabbles. Save China’s Tigers have done something admirable and unusual—they created a new financial vehicle to raise the vast majority of the $20 million they have spent thus far. They increased the conservation funding pie, not decreased or redirected it.
SCT’s founder and main spokesperson, Li Quan, is not a scientist or “professional conservationist,” and she needs to leave this work to the big, established groups. This is the silliest of all the criticisms I’ve heard. Firstly, the “big established groups” are trying to do their best, but the tiger populations continue to crash. More help is needed. Second, Li Quan is a dedicated volunteer and entrepreneur, committing her spirit, income, and energy to save a species (and, if I am any judge of character, she will likely do even more in the years to come). That’s what we need — more personal responsibility, commitment, thinking outside the box, and action. Third, SCT is more than Li Quan, obviously. They are well-advised scientifically and on conservation management.
This silly criticism reminds me of what many PhD scientists said amongst themselves 25 years ago when Laurie Marker (at that time a self-trained cheetah keeper in a drive-through safari park in southern Oregon) decided she would keep the main cheetah breeding book (“the stud book”). Today Dr Marker runs the most successful field project in the world to save a species, and is a formidable conservation pioneer who continues to think outside the box and get results.
3. Why work with the Chinese government? – Surely the Chinese government is not perfect on conservation—but please name a government that is? Nevertheless, the Chinese are trying, and have even garnered good recent reviews from Traffic on their call for better protection of the wild tiger and its habitat, and the decision by World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) to ban use of tiger bones and all wildlife parts. SCT has forged an agreement from the Chinese government to create several new wilderness reserves for the tiger, initially two totaling 30,000 ha (75,000 acres), and eventually with more areas set aside as part of a large, long-term strategy. This of course combines with the 33,000 ha (82,000 acres) they bought and manage privately in South Africa. Saving wild habitat is REAL conservation.
The work of SCT is emblematic of a larger issue. The condition of our wild world is far less than good. The reality is that human impacts and actions over many decades now force us sometimes into the choice between taking no action for wild nature (in this case the South China Tiger), or taking an experimental, less-than-perfect choice.
My colleague, brother, and Bengal tiger advocate Bittu Sahgal, of Sanctuary Asia, put it very succinctly to me the other day: “China needs to ensure that an inviolate forest of at least 500 sq km is set aside for the return of these near-extinct tigers. Re-wilding tigers is at best difficult, and maybe not possible. We actually don’t know. These days, we are forced by the impact of human society into a position where we have no choice but to proceed. No action is not a choice.”
http://www.wild.org/blog/tigers-in-africa/
*Vance Martin has been President of The WILD Foundation for 26 years, in charge of the program and financial development for this US-based conservation NGO that was established by Dr Ian Player in 1974. He has also served on the board of directors of numerous other organizations including Cheetah Conservation Fund; Wilderness Foundation (Africa and UK); Conservation and Preservation Charities of America; etc. He is founder and Co-Chair of the Wilderness Specialist Group of the World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN), and the International Director for the World Wilderness Congress since 1981.
Tigers in Africa seems a fanciful thought…but they are there! Though they do not roam completely free in the wilderness, the South China Tiger can be found in carefully managed, large wildland areas in South Africa, the subject of an ambitious effort to rescue it from extinction. The 33,000ha (82,000 acre) LaohuValley Reserve is the centerpiece of Save China’s Tigers experimental bid to breed the South China Tiger and eventually return it to its natural habitat.
This effort has generated significant controversy, so I went there in January to better understand what it is doing and to determine its role in the broad spectrum of conservation work occurring around the globe. I found a valid initiative, doing good work, and fighting two battles simultaneously: one to save a tiger (arguably a sub-species), and (as if that were not enough) another to defend itself against the (sometimes) seemingly endless internal sniping of the nature conservation world. Who needs enemies when fellow conservationists often serve that function?!
I encourage you to go to the SCT website to see details. They’re making progress. I’ll just briefly give my response to some of the “sniping” I’ve heard from other groups and conservationists.
1. Tigers don’t belong in Africa. Why start a breeding facility there, almost halfway around the world from their home range? – The historically-proven and commonsense strategy to save a very small remnant population is to create geographically-separated gene pools, or small groups of the survivors, in order to protect them from potential threats such as disease, human pressure, etc. If they breed successfully, and there are adequate wild reserves in their homeland, hopefully they can be returned.
This is exactly the model established by Ian Player, WILD’s founder, when he saved the white rhino from extinction by exporting it to Europe and the US. It recovered from being virtually the most endangered rhinoceros species in the 1960’s to today being the most viable.
2. Why spend all that money on a species that is almost finished? It’s better to direct the funds to other programs trying to protect the tiger species still in the wild. Conservationists are always squabbling over the “conservation funding pie” — and tigers are the most political and financially-oriented of all such squabbles. Save China’s Tigers have done something admirable and unusual—they created a new financial vehicle to raise the vast majority of the $20 million they have spent thus far. They increased the conservation funding pie, not decreased or redirected it.
SCT’s founder and main spokesperson, Li Quan, is not a scientist or “professional conservationist,” and she needs to leave this work to the big, established groups. This is the silliest of all the criticisms I’ve heard. Firstly, the “big established groups” are trying to do their best, but the tiger populations continue to crash. More help is needed. Second, Li Quan is a dedicated volunteer and entrepreneur, committing her spirit, income, and energy to save a species (and, if I am any judge of character, she will likely do even more in the years to come). That’s what we need — more personal responsibility, commitment, thinking outside the box, and action. Third, SCT is more than Li Quan, obviously. They are well-advised scientifically and on conservation management.
This silly criticism reminds me of what many PhD scientists said amongst themselves 25 years ago when Laurie Marker (at that time a self-trained cheetah keeper in a drive-through safari park in southern Oregon) decided she would keep the main cheetah breeding book (“the stud book”). Today Dr Marker runs the most successful field project in the world to save a species, and is a formidable conservation pioneer who continues to think outside the box and get results.
3. Why work with the Chinese government? – Surely the Chinese government is not perfect on conservation—but please name a government that is? Nevertheless, the Chinese are trying, and have even garnered good recent reviews from Traffic on their call for better protection of the wild tiger and its habitat, and the decision by World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) to ban use of tiger bones and all wildlife parts. SCT has forged an agreement from the Chinese government to create several new wilderness reserves for the tiger, initially two totaling 30,000 ha (75,000 acres), and eventually with more areas set aside as part of a large, long-term strategy. This of course combines with the 33,000 ha (82,000 acres) they bought and manage privately in South Africa. Saving wild habitat is REAL conservation.
The work of SCT is emblematic of a larger issue. The condition of our wild world is far less than good. The reality is that human impacts and actions over many decades now force us sometimes into the choice between taking no action for wild nature (in this case the South China Tiger), or taking an experimental, less-than-perfect choice.
My colleague, brother, and Bengal tiger advocate Bittu Sahgal, of Sanctuary Asia, put it very succinctly to me the other day: “China needs to ensure that an inviolate forest of at least 500 sq km is set aside for the return of these near-extinct tigers. Re-wilding tigers is at best difficult, and maybe not possible. We actually don’t know. These days, we are forced by the impact of human society into a position where we have no choice but to proceed. No action is not a choice.”
http://www.wild.org/blog/tigers-in-africa/
*Vance Martin has been President of The WILD Foundation for 26 years, in charge of the program and financial development for this US-based conservation NGO that was established by Dr Ian Player in 1974. He has also served on the board of directors of numerous other organizations including Cheetah Conservation Fund; Wilderness Foundation (Africa and UK); Conservation and Preservation Charities of America; etc. He is founder and Co-Chair of the Wilderness Specialist Group of the World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN), and the International Director for the World Wilderness Congress since 1981.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)