By volunteers, for volunteers. Focused on wildlife conservation.
Oceans2Earth Foundation represents our ideal for people to live in a sustainable world where we all take responsibility for our actions and actively take measures to improve the natural way of life for all of earth’s inhabitants.
Oceans2Earth strives to assist with local solutions to global problems.
O2E was founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 for the purpose of providing resources and financial assistance to animal welfare and conservation projects including elephant sanctuary land in Kenya, cat and dog rescue in Africa and community recycled product projects in Asia and Africa.
The O2E Foundation aims to facilitate people’s awareness of the impacts of animal tourism, trade and human intervention on the welfare, sustainability and general health of wildlife populations.
Wow! What a stunning sight. The sunset in the distance, the interesting black sand and all those beautiful turtles. There are so many of them. It's an incredible scenic picture to behold.
Our world is an amazing place. Images and memories like this one above need to a cherished and remembered. It won't always be like this. Yep - sorry but I'm putting a downer on the tranquility settling into your mind as you watch this picturesque moment.
Ready?
Woo there.....what's this? Family day? Picnic?
This is Costa Rica. Current Day.
Turtle egg poaching is a family affair.
A coming together to "harvest" the eggs and sell them off.
The rainforest is being felled for Palm Oil and other crops at an overwhelming rate with the remaining forest being degraded by drought and forest fires. Extinction of orangutans in the wild is likely in the next 10 years for Sumatran Orangutans and soon after for Bornean Orangutans.
Orangtuans are 97% genetically identical to humans. Orangutans are highly intelligent animals. Their intelligence is comparable to that of a five or six year old child. The blatant hunting and torture of these animals is absolutely abhorrent. Companies incentivise plantation owners and workers for productivity. Removing the "nusiance" orangutans is an ongoing and unobstructed activity. Government and corporate corruption know no bounds when the almighty dollar is at stake.
And what drives these shameful actions? Us.
We eat food and use products every day made from palm oil and its derivitives. The majority are unknowing - trusting that the world's corporations are "doing the right thing" by us. Some folks even subscribe to the "survival of the fittest" mentality. It's better us than them. I can't even continue with this thought; it gets me so frustrated and annoyed at the short-sightedness in the world.
Protecting the orangutan also protects the surrounding ecosystem and myriad of endangered and exotic species. Saving the orangutan saves the forest.
So sadly, the fight to save the orangutans goes on.
On 15th April 2012 we posted this video by Carlos Quiles. Saving Leuser, Tripa.
Recently, Australian Orangtuan Project Victorian State Representative Amber Partington visited Tripa. Here we share her story and her plea. Yes it's an Australian perspective but the message is global.
"On June 6th, I recently visited Sumatra, in particular an area called Tripa Peat Swamp Forest. Words cannot describe the devastion of what Jess and I witnessed.
Tripa Peat Swamp Forest
Three weeks prior, forest stood right where I am standing in this photo. Canals have gone in draining swamp, killing trees. Large hardwood trees, logged and sold. Rest of forest burnt. Palm Oil plantations planted where forest once stood. Local people kicked off land, threatened with their lives if they talk. All protected land under Indonesian law. MAJOR corruption = MAJOR problem.
As Australia (and other parts of the world) does NOT import Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO), [this has a direct effect], forest is destroyed, local people displaced and many animal lives lost. [Goodman Fielder is one of Australia's largest companies and the largest importer of Palm Oil. Their products including Meadow Lea margarine includes Palm Oil.]
Therefore we are asking Goodman Fielder to make a public commitment to use Certified Sustainable Palm Oil in their products by 2015.
It would mean the world to me if you could add your name to this important issue. Every name that is added builds momentum around the campaign. And hopefully, more likely for us to get the change we want to see. (Blog note: Hey! It worked for KFC changing to canola oil - we can do it!)
After you've signed the petition please also take a moment to share it with others."
Amber Partington Victorian State
Representative orangutan.org.au| facebook.com/australianorangutanproject |
twitter.com/ausorangutan
For you to appreciate these amazing great apes even more, here's a couple of videos.
1 - Shawn Thompson is a writer passionate about orangutans. His book The imtimate Ape is a must read. In preparation for his second book, Shawn heads back to the orangs. There's some funny bits in this and whilst it is a bit warm and fuzzy, it's a tear jerker for me!
2 - Ami (Borneo tour guide) and Jana join forces for this cute song celebrating not only orangs but the primates of Borneo. Stunning video footage shows those fun loving macques dive bombing into the river and gibbons leaping great distances, and a gorgeous orangutan stealing pen and paper and using them!
This video clearly demonstrates how much humans are encroaching upon wildlife habitat and how encounters are more and more common. The chorus repeats a bit but by the end of the 4 minutes I was singing along.
These videos and more can be found on our youtube channel right here
If these tasters haven't got you sold on these amazing creatures, perhaps a ONCE IN A LIFETIME TRIP will do it.
ONLY TWO SPOTS LEFT ON THE
LEIF COCKS SUMATRA TOUR
5th - 14th November 2012
See orangutans up close and personal the way they should be seen - in the jungles of Sumatra, and make a personal difference by directly contributing to the organisations helping to save the red ape from extinction.
Under the auspices of eco tourism group, Orangutan Odysseys, raising funds for the Australiam Orangutan Project, who in turn support the local NGO, the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, you will be guided through jungles, on an exclusive expedition led by two men who know orangutans and this location like few others in the whole wide world; Leif Cocks, one of Australia's foremost authorities on orangutans and the other guide, the most respected orangutan rescuer in Indonesia.
Just when it seemed safe to take a deep breath in Southeast
Asia, the smoky haze that envelops the region each year is wafting up from
Indonesian forests again.
Increasingly, though, experts aren’t just blaming
Indonesians, who in the past have been accused of recklessly burning forest
land on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan to make way for palm oil
plantations – a practice that produces the smoke that then drifts northward
over Singapore and Malaysia. Indonesian authorities have typically said they
are doing their best to police the problem, which is hard to do given the
country’s vast size and limited enforcement resources.
The question is whether other actors are fanning the flames,
says Anthony Tan, executive director of the Centre for Environment, Technology
& Development, Malaysia (CETDEM).
“The haze comes from Sumatra and Kalimanthan. Which
companies own the estates? Malaysian and Singaporean as well as local
plantation owners,” he said. As a result, “Malaysian and Singaporean companies
in Indonesia also have to bear the responsibility of open burning, of slashing
and burning, that is happening within their estate territories.”
Moreover, he added, “it is the respective governments’
responsibility to take them to task. Just because they operate in a foreign
country, they can’t wash their hands and say it does not affect us” when it
actually does.
The issue is flaring up again because the smoke, which tends
to appear at least once a year, is intensifying again.
According to Malaysia’s Department of Environment, satellite
images show the number of “hotspots” producing smoke in Sumatra increased to
122 on June 13 from 67 the day before. The image also showed haze drifting from
Riau in central Sumatra en route towards the west coast of peninsular Malaysia.
Satellite images released by the Asean Specialized Meteorological Centre on
June 18 June showed hotspots in Sumatra had risen further to 310 from 163 the
previous day.
The sun rises through a thick haze over the skyline of Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia on June 17.
Malaysia’s DOE also said that on the morning of June 15th,
air quality readings in three areas reached an unhealthy level of 131. Air
quality readings improved by Monday, June 18.
In Malaysia, at least, authorities agree that it’s not
entirely Indonesia’s fault, and they say they are doing what they can to help
alleviate the situation, including reducing burning within Malaysia’s own
borders. The DOE has imposed a temporary ban on open burning in Kuala Lumpur
and Selangor except for religious purposes and barbecues with a fine up to
RM500,000 or imprisonment of up to five years or both.
Still, “from the trend of hotspots monitored through
satellite imagery, it has always and clearly shown that most of the hotspots
originated from Indonesia and (then) the smoke plumes trespass the neighboring
countries,” a DOE official said in a written response.
That doesn’t necessarily address the issue of Malaysian
companies operating in Indonesia, though. According to Indonesia’s embassy in
Kuala Lumpur, as much as 25% of the palm oil plantations in the archipelago
nation are owned by Malaysian companies. This is largely because scarcity of
land in Malaysia has forced big plantation companies there to expand abroad.
Many of Malaysia’s biggest palm oil companies, including
Sime Darby Bhd., IOI Corp. Bhd. and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd., are members of
the Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is dedicated to making
palm oil production more environmentally-friendly, and which has a zero burning
policy. Its members must be certified by RSPO as responsible producers.
Moreover, many analysts say they doubt many of the biggest companies would want
to engage in burning because it could be too detrimental to their reputations.
But last year, the London based Environmental Investigation
Agency (EIA) and its Indonesian partner Telapak said they had documentary proof
that KLK subsidiary PT Menteng Jaya Sawit Perdana was burning land. KLK denied
the accusations. In a statement, plantation director Roy Lim said “KLK has long
abandoned using fire to clear land for new planting or replanting. Our policy
and practice is zero burning for such activities.”
Whatever the case, Indonesian officials say it’s hard to
police an industry that covers so much terrain and they suspect some other
producers might be burning land, or buying land from farmers who burn the trees
themselves.
“Of course we don’t know who does it,” said Suryana
Sastradiredja, an Information, Social and Cultural Affairs Minister-Counselor
at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur. But it’s hardly surprising some land
owners would want to set fires, he says. After all, “burning is the traditional
method – the cheapest way to open new land.”
After winding its way through the courts for five years, a taxpayer lawsuit against the Los Angeles Zoo regarding its controversial $42 million elephant exhibit has finally gone to trial. The lawsuit, filed by attorney David Casselman, seeks to stop the display of elephants in a small, inadequate exhibit that does not meet their needs. The zoo currently holds a male elephant Billy, and females Tina and Jewel, on little more than two acres of useable space.
Billy - one of three elephants in captivity at LA Zoo
Filed in 2007, the suit alleges ongoing illegal, damaging and wasteful actions by the zoo, including construction of an exhibit that does not provide the large space and natural conditions elephants need for health and well-being. The plaintiffs charge that inadequate conditions perpetuate captivity-caused foot and joint diseases that kill elephants prematurely, and that the risk of abusive handling practices still exists.
Witnesses in the trial include world-renowned elephant researcher Dr. Joyce Poole, wildlife veterinarians Dr. Mel Richardson and Dr. Phil Ensley, Emory University neuroscientist Dr. Lori Marino, Born Free Foundation CEO Will Travers, and The Elephant Sanctuary CEO Rob Atkinson. IDA Elephant Campaign Director Catherine Doyle, who has been fighting for the elephants at the Los Angeles Zoo since 2003, was also called to testify.
Tina & Jewel at LA Zoo. With little more more than 2 acres,
LA Zoo does not provide a usable, natural space for the elephants
The trial is attracting media attention and is sure to open the eyes of the public to the outdated practice of confining elephants in unnatural zoo exhibits that lead to terrible suffering and premature death. A win in the lawsuit would set a precedent that could send shockwaves through the zoo industry. The trial is expected to last through the week.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
In Defence of Animals (IDA) has been fighting for elephants confined in inadequate
zoo displays that cause them to suffer and die prematurely as well as those who are chained and beaten in circuses. They have a Hall of Shame for zoos exploiting elephants in the USA. Sadly there are many.You can support IDA's Elephant Protection Fund here
With the unfortunate predicament and sad necessity for captive animals comes our responsibility to provide them with the most natural way of life possible. Even progressive zoos are acknowledging that a concrete box is no place for an animal.
At the RSPCA Scientific Conference 2007 research presentation ‘How much space does an elephant need? The impact of confinement on animal welfare’ by John L. Barnett, Animal Welfare Science Centre, Primary Industries Research Victoria, Australia the following statement was made;
“Nevertheless, impacts of confinement can include behavioural changes/stereotypes (Lawrence and Terlouw, 1993), rebound behaviours (Cronin et al., 2003), behaviours indicative of frustration (Ekstrand and Keeling, 1994) and changes in time budgets (Kobelt et al., 2006) and acute and chronic
stress and associated physiological changes in immune function, health, metabolism,
nitrogen balance and growth and reproduction.”
We completely abhor the captivity of animals however often rescues cannot be rehabilitated and returned to the wild. That should not forfeit their lives however they deserve the best care we can give them. Enrichment is imperative. We have witnessed many ingenious gadgets and activities that help to give those captives a chance to use their bodies and brains. And so it seems technology has taken hold even in this. Read on…..
Providing enrichment for the orangs
Orangutans across the world may soon join the ranks of millions of humans as proud owners of new iPads. As strange as that may sound, a conservation group is testing its "Apps for Apes" program, allowing orangutans to communicate with each other remotely via the iPad's video chat technology.
Orangutan Outreach founder Richard Zimmerman says has iPads have already been donated to zoos in Milwaukee, Atlanta and Florida. A board member of the Houston Zoo also recently donated an iPad. More of the tablets will soon be sent to the Memphis Zoo, the Center for Great Apes in Florida and to the Toronto Zoo. Orangutans are considered to be amongst the most intelligent of primates, making them a good case study for the interactive technology.
"It's not a gimmick," Zimmerman told Yahoo News in a phone interview Tuesday. "If they don't want to do it, they won't. There are actual measurable benefits."
Zimmerman said that orangutans in zoos and other primate facilities usually receive all the food and love they need. However, during winter months they are forced to spend long periods of time indoors, which is counter to their natural habitat. And living indoors for extended periods of time can result in boredom and stunt social growth among other primates.
"They need stimulation, especially indoors," Zimmerman tells Yahoo News. "The zoo keepers can see the benefit from this sort of enrichment. We're doing this as enrichment as opposed to research. But researchers are getting involved, that's just not our jurisdiction."
Scientists and layman alike have long speculated on ways to better indoctrinate primates and other animals with human technology. Dolphins have already demonstrated an ability to interact with iPad technology with researchers using it as a language interaction device between dolphins and humans. There are even several iPad games made specifically for cats.
But even more interesting possibilities present themselves once a number of zoos have their orangutans acclimated to using the iPads. Zimmerman said he hopes they will be able to use Skype or the iPad's FaceTime feature to communicate remotely with orangutans at other zoos during "play dates." Zimmerman said he recently visited Jahe, an orangutan at the Memphis Zoo who used to live at the Toronto Zoo. When Zimmerman showed Jahe a photo on his iPhone of some of her relatives still living in Toronto, she appeared to recognize them.
"Given an opportunity to demonstrate that intelligence, it's pretty amazing," Zimmerman tells Yahoo News.
The biggest obstacle for now is coming up with the funding to purchase more iPads. Orangutan Outreach refuses to use its funds on the tablets, saying its priorities must be toward conservation and helping to rescue orangutans that are victims of violence in the wild.
Zimmerman said so far he has been unable to reach Apple directly about any possible donations for the project. "I could get them to the zoos tomorrow," Zimmerman said, if Apple were to make such a donation. "Our Plan B has been to hopefully get their attention through this effort."
When the tire swing or the rope hammock no longer entice, what’s a bored orangutan to do? Reach for the iPad, because there’s an app for that ape.
The Toronto Zoo is at “the top of the list’’ to get a donated iPad from Orangutan Outreach, a conservation group spearheading an Apps for Apes program.
Founder and director Richard Zimmerman said he has been watching the Milwaukee Zoo’s iPad program involving its three orangutans, which started last year, and is extending Apps for Apes to other zoos.
“It’s incredibly exciting,’’ he said.
In Milwaukee, a keeper holds an iPad through a mesh screen while the primates have fun manipulating a painting app with their fingers.
Zimmerman, whose charitable group raises funds for orphaned and rescued orangutans in their native Malaysia and Indonesia, and promotes awareness of orangutan conservation issues, said the painting program stimulates the primates, who get bored in captivity.
“Orangutans like to paint and they’re capable of using this digital device,” he said, adding “there’s no paint to eat.’’
Zimmerman has been in touch with the Toronto Zoo about sending an iPad once more devices are donated. “We wish it could go faster.’’
(Funds donated to Orangutan Outreach only go to its overseas programs.)
A Toronto Zoo spokeswoman said it’s trying to get donated iPads for the orangutan enrichment initiative. Staff have been working with York University animal behaviour expert Suzanne MacDonald to line up suitable primate-friendly apps.
“They have performed a couple of trials with iPhones, and there is response from the orangutans,’’ said the zoo’s Katie Gray.
Zimmerman is about to send an iPad to the Centre for Great Apes in Florida, and has already sent them to Atlanta. The Memphis Zoo is on his list but he doesn’t have one yet.
Once a number of zoos have iPads, Zimmerman hopes orangutans can get to “know each other’’ via a video chat app. He has no doubt orangutans can recognize other orangutans when they see their images.
At the Memphis Zoo recently, he visited an orangutan named Jahe, who used to live at the Toronto Zoo with her mother, Puppe, and brother, Budi.
Zimmerman showed Jahe, who’s about 12 years old, a photo of Puppe and Bude on his iPhone.
Jahe “was very close to her mother and her brother, they had a very strong relationship. She recognized them,’’ said Zimmerman. “Unscientifically speaking, they show recognition the same as we do — their eyes light up. She really demonstrated recognition.’’
Orangutan Outreach's mission is to protect orangutans in their native habitat while providing care for orphaned and displaced orangutans until they can be returned to their natural environment. We seek to raise and promote public awareness of orangutan conservation issues by collaborating with partner organizations around the world.
Richard Zimmerman is the Founding Director of Orangutan Outreach, a New York-based non-profit organisation whose mission is to save the critically endangered orangutans and protect their rainforest home.
The organization quickly began to thrive thanks to an affiliation with the Animal Planet series Orangutan Island. With little more than his Mac, his iPhone and his will to save orangutans by working with like-minded groups and individuals around the world, Richard has raised over a million dollars for orangutan conservation and made a real difference in the lives of orangutans. He has expanded Orangutan Outreach to work with an increasing number of partners and is now working with the UK-base International Animal Rescue (IAR) to build a new state-of-the-art orangutan rescue and rehabilitation center in Ketapang, West Kalimantan.
WHAT YOU CAN DO?
If you'd like to make a direct donation to Orangutan Outreach, you can do so here. Toronto Zoo orangutans may get iPad.
At O2E we generally don't support breeding programs. It's such a controversial topic. We have seen projects that breed for bushmeat or commercial trade. We have also seenprograms that breed with all good intention only to find they have no resources or habitat to release into. Subsequently these animals live in captivity their entire lives, requiring constant care and attention. Some may say, 'well at least they are not extinct'. Is that good enough? To my mind, it's kind of like a living museum....or dare I say...a zoo, albeit without the kids and ice cream.
This article makes me think a little harder about the subject.
In April 2011, three young cats from the world’s most endangered species have been released into the wild in Spain from a captive breeding program at the La Olivilla breeding centre in Juan .
The Iberian lynx, once widespread across Spain and Portugal, were down to just 150 by 2005 — there were 4,000 in 1960. Scientists were forced to take drastic action and captured many from the wild population and put them in a captive breeding program.
Miguel Simon, director of the Lynx LIFE project, said:
“The situation was really dramatic: there were only two populations left in the wild. In order to preserve this species, we had to create a captive population in case the wild population became extinct.”
The Lynx LIFE team admits that radical intervention like this is a last resort. But if it works, these cats could be the first of many to roam free once again.
If the lynx went extinct it would be the first cat extinction (that we know of) since that of the saber-toothed cat at the end of the ice age.
"The cat’s decline was down to habitat loss, poisoning, road casualties, feral dogs and poaching. Its habitat loss is due mainly to infrastructure improvement, urban and resort development and tree monocultivation, which serves to break the lynx’s distribution area. It has also suffered the loss of its main food source: rabbits, which were wiped out by disease.
That breeding program has proved successful and there are now around 100 cats bred at the centre.
Concurrently, work to protect the habitat in Jaen and the Donana National Park in Andalucia,over the past decade has commenced and the wild population is now believed to be up to 300.
Dr Simon said: "The Iberian lynx is a key species in the Mediterranean ecosystem. It is a top predator, and if we preserve this species, we are preserving the whole ecosystem."
"It is our heritage, and we have to preserve it for future generations."
The Spanish Environment Ministry, Fundación CBD Hábitat and Ecologistas en Acción, supports the work of Lynx LIFE and together they have implemented a range of important projects including lynx supplementary feeding, habitat improvement, rabbit repopulations and awareness campaigns with the local human population.
The three lynx were released in early April into a protected area in Sierra Morena, a hilly, forested region, packed with shade for the cats to sleep in when the sun becomes unbearably hot — and it has plenty of rabbits.
Radio collars will help researchers monitor the released lynx
The cats received a careful pre-release check-up to ensure they are in good health then they were fitted with radio collars, allowing the conservationists to track their every move.
As the cats were released, they were a little confused at first, unsure of their new surroundings.
But after tentatively taking a few steps, they bound into the wild, ready to explore their new home.
Dr Lopez said: "Just a few years ago, everything seemed so difficult, and now we are approaching the successful conservation of the species."
A total of 15 releases have taken place this year, and if new wild populations begin to establish, more and more of the captive cats will be introduced to the wild.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
When you are looking to support an animal program, do your research. Do they have a breeding program? What happens to the captive bred population?
Information by Paul Canning and BBC News
Paul Canning is a long-standing LGBT and human rights activist and the Editor of LGBT Asylum News. He contributes to a number of other publications, including Care 2 Make A Difference.
Previously abused, mistreated and discarded, these animals have found care, love and sanctuary at the Wildlife Friends Foundation of Thailand (www.wfft.org).
In retaliation for the allegations by WFFT Foundation and other Wildlife Rescue organisations, the Department of National Parks (DNP) raided the WFFT Rescue Centre with 70 armed men and removed 103 animals from the Centre. This was without legal cause. They kidnapped the first 13 animals from the Centre on the 15th and 16th February, 2012 and took them away under armed guard.
For more than 8 days the DNP camped outside the Centre in an attempt to intimidate and harass the staff and international volunteers trapped inside before taking the other 90.
They are now MISSING – where are they?
They are suffering for a second time in their lives now.
Somewhere away from home.
Without care and medical treatment.
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT
SEND ALL YOUR GOOD THOUGHTS OUT TO ALL THOSE STILL MISSING FROM HOME
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