IFAW's Animal Rescue Blog

IFAW Germany: A Visual Protest to Help Save Elephants

This post was filled by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's press officer in Germany, Andreas Dinkelmeyer.

Let's save the elephants! Early on Tuesday we left Hamburg for Berlin, the capital of Germany, in the high speed train. We had prepared an action to visualize how many elephants die per day. In the days to the action we prepared 416 elephant footprints, a huge banner and our petition elephant. In the very heart of Berlin, in front of Brandenburg Gate, we wanted to make the public and politicians aware of the plight of the elephants.

As soon as we had set up, people came up to us, asking what this was all about and eagerly signed our petition elephant, a wooden, live size elephant with our call to end ivory trade. Soon several MP’s also came to visit us and the Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the countries heavily affected by elephants poaching. Both, MP’s and Ambassador voiced their support for our action and for the elephants and agreed that the German government needs to arrive at a firm position against ivory trade for the next CITES conference in March 2010. The German government has a special responsibility as Germany played a key role during the last CITES Conference in The Hague, forging an agreement that four southern African countries could sell their ivory stockpiles. The stockpile sale ignited even more elephant poaching.

It made a quite impressive picture, the hundreds of footprints in front of Brandenburg Gate, a stones throw from the German parliament. We got many admiring remarks from Germans and tourists alike, commending our work to protect the elephants.

The only lasting solution is an end to all ivory trade, only then will these gentle giants of the savannas be able to live in peace.

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For more information on how you can help IFAW help elephants, please visit IFAW.org

IFAW Dubai: "Fernando" now "Gizmo" Finds Loving Home

This update from Dubai came in today, our pal "Fernando" has been reborn and is now living with a loving family...Thanks to all for the continued support. J.C. - IFAW

"I quickly snapped off some pix of our very spoiled much loved boy for you. They are not wonderful and I would have loved to have got some of him running around outside – but I hope these will suffice...

Gizmo our 2.8 legged dog lives with 1 cat, 1 dog, a chinchilla and sleeps in Brianna’s bed at night!

What a gift having him live with us!"

IFAW Russia: Orphan Bear Cubs Prepare for Winter - Soooo Cute

These photos of two orphaned Russian bear cubs were recently taken at the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Bear Rehabilitation Center. The notes below come from our staffer Lena Averianova.

The autumn comes to an end. Ostakh and Gena have grown, they are stronger, and we hope they have already forgotten how their story began.

Beautiful, free animals, just look at photos.

They are now walking in a open-air wooden enclosure, they show the skills and ability to find food and they skillfully climb up trees. Employees at the center sometimes feed the bears apples, for them this is a big delicacy.

These young bears already have the necessary weight and warm fur coats so they are ready to 'lie down' for the winter in a den prepared by IFAW staff.

Everything is well with Ostakh and Gena at the IFAW BRC and now we can wish them: “Kind winter dreams!"

IFAW Staffer Helps in an Unexpected Sea Turtle Rescue

When IFAW Russia's Lena Averianova left for vacation to Thailand, we never thought she would soon be reporting back with an animal rescue! It seems you can leave the job but the job never leaves you. Below is her experience with a one-armed endangered sea turtle that was rescued off a beach in the Island of Phuket.

I recently spent my vacation on Thailand's Phuket Island. As I was enjoying a walk along the Katong beach, I suddenly realized that people were all running to a spot a few meters from where I was. Realizing that something unexpected was happening, I decided to go and have a look. Much to my surprise, I found a big sea turtle there, surrounded by lifeguards that were busy digging out a pool for the turtle to rest in and water-down. It soon became evident that the turtle had been inadvertently pushed out of the ocean by the very big waves that were spread out on the entire coast. The turtle had been visibly struggling to get back but had a hard time because it only had one flipper. How and when the turtle lost its flipper remains a mystery to me but it seemed that she had been able to survive like that for quite a long time.

A lot of tourists surrounded the turtle but no one really understood how careful you have to be around these animals and they soon started taking out their cameras and approached to touch her. I immediately told everyone to step back and that we would need to help her in this time of need, not place extra stress on the animal. I contacted the rescue team and waited there, watering the turtle and feeling nervous for her during 10 minutes while help arrived to where we were. They were soon able to examine the turtle and we placed her in a special basin for transportation. I didn't leave her side until the car left, headed for a suitable holding location where she will be rehabilitated and then hopefully go back to her ocean home.

I've worked in IFAW's Russian office for nearly 8 years now and during that time I've helped many different animals. I was so happily surprised that even when far from my office and country I was again needed to help an animal in distress. I again understood that I'm really doing the work I'm supposed to do. It was also heartwarming to meet people that dedicate their lives to rescuing animals and know that I will find them all over the world.

For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's work around the world, please visit http://www.ifaw.org

IFAW Canada: Northern Dogs - Mano Makes a Major Commitment

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Jan Hannah, working from remote Cree communities, in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.

Tuesday: I was in Quebec City enjoying the first snowstorm of the season when I received an email from a southern Ontario firefighter who was teaching a rope rescue course in one of the communities that IFAW’s Northern Dogs services. In his email he said, “I've only been up here a couple of days but I have noticed there are quite a few dogs around and most are pretty skinny… but very friendly. One large, red coloured lab looks like he has mange -- he’s missing much of his chest and under belly fur and his skin looks quite scarred and flakey. He certainly doesn't look like he'll make it through the winter.” His message went on to say that he had seen IFAW’s work on the web and a) wondered if IFAW was still working in the community, b) would appreciate any help that IFAW could give him regarding this particular dog, and c) that he thought what IFAW was doing was great and would love to get involved in some way on his return!

IFAW-rehabilitated Clouded Leopards go wild in India!

IFAW-WTI’s Shibani Chaudhury just spent a day out in the forest with two endangered clouded leopards undergoing rehabilitation in Northeast, India. This is her report from the field:

In 3 seconds they shot down to the forest floor, from their enclosure held on a platform 12 feet high, and before you could blink they had bounded up a tree and disappeared high into the canopy!

Two self propelled bolts of lightning the two clouded leopard cubs being rehabilitated by IFAW-WTI in collaboration with the Assam Forest Department and the Bodo Territorial Council were all set to walk, or rather shoot across the forest to their new, larger enclosure a little distance away.

Rescued in March this year by the Assam Forest Department, the cubs were hand raised at the IFAW-WTI Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) station in Kokrajhar and moved to their rehab site in Kochugaon, western Assam on the 24th of September.

Weak and utterly vulnerable when they first arrived, the two little cubs were meticulously nurtured by the team for about 5 months at the Kokrajhar centre before being shifted to the rehabilitation site.

The journey into the forest was an arduous one. 26 rough kms off the highway – the forest road, post the monsoon, was a challenging slush and slide track; negotiated only because of the high powered trucks provided by the Eco Task force of the SSB, a wing of the Indian Army. The area being prone to political unrest, security was also provided by the SSB for the transfer of the cubs to the forest.

Initially they were walked in harnesses by their keeper in the forest. Within the first two weeks the cubs were quite at home in the forest dashing up and down trees. Gradually they were eased out of their harnesses during the walks and allowed to explore their surroundings independently.

More orphaned bear cubs head for the wild in India

 

Three orphaned Asiatic black bear cubs are being walked inside Pakke Tiger Reserve located in India’s Northeast state of Arunachal Pradesh. Achieving acclimatization is an essential step towards full rehabilitation and release back to the wild.

The rehabilitation is being carried out by the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department and IFAW-WTI (International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India). In two similar attempts in 2006 and 2007 respectively, seven black bear cubs were rehabilitated in Pakke. Additionally, last year, three orphaned bear cubs were released in Manas National Park in Assam, following prolonged acclimatization.

“Pakke Tiger Reserve spreads over 800 sq km and has many sites suitable to rehabilitate Asiatic black bear cubs. In the first two attempts, the bears were rehabilitated in Upper Dikarai and Khari Pong. The current release site near Doigurung anti-poaching camp, as with the earlier sites, was selected following a study on the suitability for the cubs in terms of habitat, food availability, security etc,” said Dr NVK Ashraf, Director, Wild Rescue Programme, WTI.

Currently, near Doigurung in Pakke, the three cubs are taken for daily walks accompanied by a human foster ‘mother’. The walks provide these orphaned cubs an opportunity to acquaint themselves to the natural environment, and to instinctively learn skills necessary for independent survival.