NoThere’s no better way to start the new year with a bit of good news for nature. Here are 6 stories with happy endings (up to this point in the story) featuring endangered animals. Six wonderful adventures told by the WWF, which is involved in the development of these events, and from which to start again. Because they give us hope: Protecting our ecosystems and species at risk must also be a priority throughout 2024 and for the years to come.
1. Tigers on the rise
While in 2010 there were only 3,200 tigers in the wild, as of July 2023 the Global Tiger Forum estimated a total of 5,574 tigers in the world, with a 74% increase compared to 13 years ago.
The biggest successes? In Bhutan, where the latest survey recorded a 27% increase in tiger populations. There are currently 131, 28 more than the last detection in 2015. Bhutan holds the world record for tiger sightings at the highest altitudes (above 4,400 metres). And this investigation confirms that these cats breed at different altitudes. Also in India the population is growing. According to the latest census, 3,167 tigers live in the country, 200 more than four years ago.
But the tigers are still there endangered due to poaching. Their skin and other parts of their bodies, used as ingredients in traditional oriental medicine, are resold for their weight in gold on the underground market. Habitat fragmentation also threatens tiger survival. This is why the commitment to its protection must continue, and will continue thanks also to the work of the WWF and the support of its supporters.
2. Nature returns to Australia, for the future of koalas
In Australia the commitment is for the “renaturalization” in northern New South Wales and south-east Queensland. The goal is to bring back vegetation to the areas affected by the fires to protect koala habitat. WWF-Australia has developed partnerships with universities, federal, state and territory agencies, indigenous and non-profit organizations to manage wildlife sanctuaries. Additionally, it is working to restore more than 85,000 acres of landscape and reduce threats to native wildlife. Over 1000 camera traps are monitoring the recovery of the animal species present in these regions with the help of artificial intelligence through the “Eyes on Recovery” project.
3. Elephants, count them to protect them
One of the latest research in Africa has provided an updated picture on distribution of elephants, estimating the presence of 227,900 individuals, distributed 58% in Botswana, 29% in Zimbabwe and the rest in Namibia, Angola and Zambia. The species travels very long distances in search of water and fodder, but also because of difficult coexistence with man, which exposes elephants to poaching and conflicts with local populations. 7 vehicles took to the skies, carrying out 95 flights in two months and patrolling an area of 310,865 square kilometres.
4. In Italy, a new habitat for the Italian deer and the lynx
The so-called Operation Cervo Italico of the WWF aims to create a second population of this endemic subspecies, present with only 300 individuals in the “Bosco della Mesola” State Nature Reserve, in the province of Ferrara. In the new area identified to accommodate this new population, in the Serre regional natural park in Calabria, at least 20 individuals will be released per yearfrom 2023 to 2025. The transferred individuals are and will be subjected to intense monitoring via satellite collars to verify their movements, survival and reproduction rates, and any causes of mortality.
The project ULyCA2 (part of a major transboundary conservation project, the LIFE Lynx) wants prevent the extinction of the lynx which is the rarest mammal in our country. Through genetic reinforcement and conservation measures, the objective is to create a nucleus of lynxes that will allow the reunification of the Alpine population with the Dinaric (Balkan) one. From March to June 2023, 5 lynxes were released in the Tarvisio forest, in the Italian Julian Alps, and are now monitored thanks to GPS transmitters.
Last October one of the lynxes was killed in a barbaric and cruel manner by a poacher in Austria. But it won’t be a criminal’s lead that will stop the future of the lynx in the Alps.
5. More and more sea turtle nests on the coasts of Italy
In the summer of 2023, hundreds of volunteers collaborated with WWF experts on sea turtle conservation activities, which the association has been carrying out for over 20 years. The activity took place in particular along the coasts of Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata, Puglia, Campania and Tuscany. More than 200 nests have been identified and made safe, of which 142 in Sicily, 50 in Calabria, 15 in the Ionian arc between Puglia and Basilicata and another 15 in Tuscany. An exceptional result (61 nests had been made safe in 2022).
Last summer, 20 awareness initiatives were aimed at tourists and residents, accompanied by release into the sea of sea turtles treated in specialized centers which the WWF manages together with other organizations in Basilicata in Policoro, in Puglia in Molfetta and Torre Guaceto and in Sicily in Favignana, and which together welcome, care for and release around 500 turtles every year.
6. The results of the Ri-Party-Amo project
In less than a year they were cleaned up over 20 million square meters of beaches, rivers, lakes and seabeds throughout Italy. This fantastic result was possible thanks to Ri-Party-Amo, the concrete and ambitious national environmental project, born from the collaboration between the Jova Beach Party, Intesa Sanpaolo and WWF Italia.
Through the “Let’s clean up Italy” theme, 340 local and national events were held, days dedicated to volunteering committed to making Italy more beautiful and free from waste. The more than 10 thousand Ri-Party-Amo volunteers were involved in 179 beach cleanups, 101 river cleanups, 17 lakes and 43 seabeds, thanks to the participation of WWF SUB, for a total of 90,266 kilos of plastic and waste collected.
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