August 2007 Newsletter

Wildlife Alliance E-Newsletter

August 2007 Newsletter

August 10, 2007

WILDLIFE RAPID RESCUE TEAM What’s it like to join the fight against wildlife trafficking? The Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team in Cambodia is on the front lines every day – stopping buyers and sellers of endangered wildlife, and arresting the perpetrators of wildlife crimes. Wildlife Alliance’s Nick Sorenson joined them in June on a mission to bust an illegal wildlife restaurant outside Phnom Penh. The restaurant is just one of the innumerable businesses in Asia that profits from wildlife crimes, which occur daily and encompass everything from illegal logging to the sale of endangered wild animals as food or as part of traditional medical treatments. This undercover operation reveals the horrors and dangers of the illegal wildlife trade – and the bravery and dedication of the Wildlife Alliance staff and partners who are working to stop it. READ NICK’S STORY AND VIEW THE SLIDE SHOW FROM THE BUST – but be advised that you may find the text and images disturbing.

Stories from the Field
ASEAN-WEN: Working in Partnership to Stop Illegal Wildlife Trade - What would it take to assemble cops, park rangers, and wildlife specialists from ten countries– plus observers from United States government agencies, host government agencies, and non-profit wildlife groups – on an island in the Southern Philippines? Read about Wildlife Alliance's partnership with Asian governments to stop wildlife crime> Phoenix Fund’s Inspection Tiger ranger teams rescued four orphaned Amur tiger cubs from certain death in the frigid taiga of the Russian Far East. Each of these rescues represents a victory in the fight to save Siberia's tigers. Read the stories of each of these rescues and learn how you can help>

What's New at Wildlife Alliance
Connect to our latest field reports, international events, press releases and awareness campaigns. Current features: Info on “Sold Out” campaign ads in Bangkok’s international airport A multimedia slideshow and audio documentary on Black Market: Inside the Endangered Species Trade in Asia, a hard-hitting book by Ben Davies and photographer Patrick Brown Details on Planet in Peril, a series on global environmental issues to be launched this fall by CNN And the winner of the logo contest is..... Yayan Anugrawan of Indonesia! Congratulations! We will be using three of his animal icons to represent our acclaimed Cambodia mobile environmental education project, the Kouprey Express. His designs will appear on all of KE's promotional materials such as t-shirts, brochures, posters, and other outreach and educational material. For the time being, Wildlife Alliance is going to stick with a word treatment for its overall organizational branding. You can see this version on our website and newsletter. However, we may revisit this decision sometime in the future. We appreciate all the entrants to our logo competition during our transition from WildAid to Wildlife Alliance!

Rescue Corner
Following up with Chhouk the elephant, and his rehabilitation at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center - Those of you who saw the Anderson Cooper 360 broadcast on CNN saw Wildlife Alliance caring for Chhouk - an endangered Asian elephant, barely a year-and-a-half old. Chhouk had been trapped in a poacher's snare, and lost part of his foot due to his injuries. Wildlife Alliance specialists are caring for Chhouk's injuries and helping to bring him back to health. Read more and learn how you can help Asia's elephants> Back in April and May, we rescued hundreds of animals from Angkor Zoo, where they suffered from mistreatment and inappropriate conditions. We have some great news on the rescued leopard cats that we brought to the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center – the two cats have mated and have a healthy litter of kittens. Our staff cannot get close enough to get a precise number of newborns, but from what they can see, both the mother cat and kittens are doing well. Thank you to all our supporters during the Angkor Zoo rescue - please check back for updates! Leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis) are small wild cats native to South and Southeast Asia, slightly larger than an average domestic housecat. Their populations are feared to be declining due to persecution and degradation of their habitat and prey base. Despite their name, they are not closely related to true leopards - and although they are the size of your own pet cats, they are wild animals and tenacious predators!