Latest news
BBC Wildlife Fund celebration event
The BBC Wildlife Fund held an event to celebrate the success of its 2011 projects.
Find out more about this event.
Cuckoo tracking
We are pleased to see the BBC Wildlife Fund grant to purchase innovative tracking devices is already making a huge difference. We look forward to finding out more about where our cuckoos go when they leave Britain.
BBC Nature: Cuckoos tagged with GPS trackers.
2011 BBC Wildlife Fund Grants
The BBC Wildlife Fund is delighted to announce the projects funded from donations raised through the 2010 Wild Appeal and the Wild Night.
Mountain gorilla population going up
FFI has just reported the good news from the International Gorilla Conservation Project. Stuart Sheriff says 'The results of the most recent survey put the overall gorilla population at 480, up 28% from the last census in 2003. Those donating to the BBC Wildlife Fund can certainly claim some of the credit; the BBC Wildlife Fund grant has made a huge difference'
Hope for critically endangered Amur tigers and Amur leopards
It is estimated that only 450 Amur tigers and 35 Amur leopards remain in the wild. Poached for their luxurious pelts and body parts and used in Chinese tradition medicines, these wild cats are also threatened by habitat destruction and decline in pray. Sergei Berenznuk, Director of the Phoenix Fund says 'The funding from the BBC Wildlife Fund will undoubtedly make a difference by saving the rare and endangered tigers and leopards'
Finding out more about the elusive Bechstein's bat
With the Bechstein's bat surveys about to get underway it is thanks to donations the Bat Conservation Trust received through BBC Wildlife Fund that volunteers can now survey more woodlands and can find out more about the elusive Bechstein's bat, one of the UK's rarest mammals. The Bat Conservation Trust will survey an additional 20-30 woodland sites in May and June 2011.
Investigating the harbour seal
The harbour seal (also known as the common seal) has seen a dramatic fall in population size, with their numbers declining by over 50% since 2000. The east coast of England is considered an area of European importance for the regional population as the UK has 40 percent of the European population. With the help of funding from the BBC Wildlife Fund, ZSL is carrying out research to understand the range of the species in terms of its foraging, the seasonal use of the foraging area, and the extent to which the population is local or migratory; this research will be key in conserving the UK's harbour seals.
Creating corridors for the Horton Plains slender loris
Donations to the BBC Wildlife Fund are helping ZSL and their Sri Lankan partners to reconnect existing montane evergreen forest patches to create 'corridors' of habitat for the slender loris. This is critically endangered habitat within Sri Lanka, with less than 3000ha remaining. Such corridors will increase the population viability of the Horton Plains slender loris, and help to conserve this amazing creature.
Helping humans and elephants of Thailand to live together peacefully
ZSL have already managed to reduce crop-raiding in target areas by around 75% as a result of implementing crop-protection trials. They have also identified the human impacts on the conservation area that threaten elephants and their ecosystem and improved local attitudes towards elephants and their conservation area. A Salakpra Elephant Ecosystem Conservation Alliance (SEECA) has been created that helps villagers develop alternative livelihoods; work has also been undertaken to train villagers to set-up and manage native tree nurseries, and to restore forest habitat. The BBC Wildlife Fund is now helping ZSL to develop the work of SEECA and hopefully provide a model for human-elephant conflict resolution that can be adopted throughout Thailand.
Golden frogs in Madagascar
With support from BBC Wildlife Fund we will be able to work with local communities to protect the breeding grounds of the Golden mantella frog, principally by rooting out illegal gold miners poisoning the landscape.
Antiguan racer
With help from the BBC Wildlife Fund, the Antiguan Racer Conservation Project (ARCP) will conserve the Antiguan Racer – the world's rarest snake. Importantly, this forms a central component of the Offshore Islands Conservation Programme, whose vision is "Healthy, functioning coastal ecosystems that are sustainably managed for the conservation of native wildlife and for the benefit of local people".
Siamese crocodiles
Working with local communities, we have been able to with significantly improve livelihoods in four villages helping to manage crocodile sites. Cambodia's first Siamese crocodile breeding facility has recently been completed, as has a draft plan on forestry management. In addition, we managed to pilot the capture and translocation of a female crocodile, with four new rivers surveyed for further relocation activities. None of this would have been possible without the ongoing support of the BBC Wildlife Fund.
Iberian lynx
The Iberian lynx is the rarest of all cat species, with little more than 100 left in the wild. With help from the BBC Wildlife Fund we will work with local communities to secure lynx habitat and ensure they have enough food (their main prey is the rabbit, which was virtually eliminated over the past century through successive bouts of myxomatosis and haemorrhagic fever).
Orangutans
BBC Wildlife Fund has been supporting FFI for a number of years to help protect the orangutans of Borneo through providing the funds to help train local communities to both live in harmony with these graceful creatures and mount active patrols to protect them from poachers and illegal loggers. Without your help we would not have been able to secure their protection.
