The first prosthetic leg replacement procedure for an Arabian Tahr has been carried out in Oman by an Omani veterinary team, the first such surgery successfully performed in the Arab World. The procedure is rarely attempted, particularly on a wild animal. 

According to a statement released by the Oman News Agency, the veterinary team of the General Directorate of Veterinary Services at the Royal Court Affairs carried out the procedure on a wounded Tahr after its hind leg was severely fractured, causing irreparable damage to its tissue and blood supply.

Following partial amputation, the animal was fitted with an artificial limb designed to be directly stabilised by remaining leg bone, which allowed for more efficient functionality over time, in the wild. 

Gentle herbivores, Tahrs live in small family groups of two or three animals. The species is diurnal, grazing in the early morning and late afternoon. Although it can survive long periods without drinking if good vegetation is available, in summer it will come down to drink every two or three days.

The Arabian Tahr is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) among its list of endangered animals. The entire world population of Arabian tahr – estimated at fewer than 5,000 animals – live in the mountains of northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates. While some populations may have increased through protection from hunting and poaching, overall it is likely that the species continues to decline.

Kudos to the dedicated doctors who have put their imprint on the survival of this species.

If you are a wild animal veterinarian you might like to know how the procedure was done. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, released a report on how it was done.

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Researchers from Duke University in the United States warned that planet Earth is on the brink of a mass extinction event comparable to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Professor Stuart Pimm, a biologist and lead author of the study which included input from scientists all across the globe, says that human activity has accelerated the rate at which species are going extinct by 1,000 times, and that failure to make a significant change could result in another mass extinction that would completely alter the planet that we know.

Pimm cites deforestation, global industrialization, pollution, habitat encroachment and the depletion of our ocean fisheries as being among the main causes of this extinction event, and says that we have only a decade or two to put in place new mechanisms that will allow existing species to regenerate.

“We can compare that to what we know from the fossil data and incidentally what we know from the DNA data because data on DNA, differences between species give us some idea of the timescale at which species are born and die,” Pimm told Reuters in a video interview.

Related: New study confirms that society is on the brink of total collapse

“And when we make those two comparisons we find that species are going extinct one thousand times faster than they should be.”

While the situation really is dire and we face a completely new planet by century’s end if we continue with business as usual, Pimm says it’s not impossible for us to improve the situation that we have created.

He told Reuters that we have the technology and the conservation know how to protect endangered species, and that education is essential to spread the importance of sustainability.

But if we don’t, he notes that it took five to 10 million years to recover from the last mass extinction, so while the planet may recover, it “won’t happen overnight.”

Dinosaur in the desert | Shutterstock

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Why would Pakistan allow exemptions from global conservation regulations? The bird meat is considered an aphrodisiac, which may explain why the men hunt.

Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud reportedly killed 1,977 of the nearly-extinct houbara bustards last January, violating his hunting permit by killing so many of the birds. The rest of his party killed an additional 123 of the creatures, raising the final death toll to a staggering 2,100.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources estimates the houbara bustards’ global population to be at 110,000, declining by around 20% annually.

The incident, described in a report dated February 2014, says that during the safari the prince hunted the birds for 15 days in reserved and protected areas, poached birds in other areas for six days and then “took rest” for two days.

The report was prepared by local divisional forest and wildlife department officer Jaffar Baloch, according to Dawn News.

Classified as a vulnerable species due to hunting and habitat degradation, the houbara bustard is globally protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Hunting these birds is banned in Pakistan, but the government issues special permits to Gulf states’ royals allowing them to hunting up to 100 birds in 10 days in the area allocated, excluding reserved and protected areas.

How much money changes hands to obtain special permits remains unspecified.

It’s not known whether the prince will face any punishment. But shouldn’t the Pakistani government be smacked too?

Image of slaughtered birds from Pakistan Defense

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A turtle that washed up on a beach in Israel was found with his two left flippers dangling hopelessly by his side – they had been severed by sharp fishing lines. The Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Michmoret named him Freedom and kept him for four years.

The center had no choice but to amputate Freedom’s necrotic fins, but when they did, he was no longer able to swim or breathe properly, according to NBC News.

“When he gets stressed, panicking for some reason, he gets into a spin as he can only use one side to paddle, his head tilts down to one side and he starts taking in water,” Yaniv Levy, the center’s director, told NBC.

“He stopped breathing once and we were lucky to resuscitate him.”

Related: Eco-crusader frees trapped turtle in Oman

Freedom, whose Hebrew name is Hofesh, lived like this for four years before an industrial design student came around looking for a meaningful design project to complete for his thesis.

Shlomi Gez’s work was cut out for him since the turtle needed prosthetic limbs that he could use to swim, but these are not easy to strap to a hard shell.

The Bezalel Academy student did some research, contacted a Texas rescue center that is rehabilitating a turtle with a similar condition, and eventually settled on a couple of angled fins that attach to Freedom’s shell.

Inspired by the tail of a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor jet, they are made with an “advanced plastic” and have restored the turtle’s ability to move without assistance.

Freedom will never return to the Mediterranean Sea, where Levy estimates only 10-20 Chelonia mydas breeding females have survived reckless overfishing, pollution and oil spills and other human and environmental threats, but he will become a breeder – just as soon as his new girlfriend Tzurit is ready.

Photos via the Israel Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center

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Many discoveries relevant to conservation of threatened species are emerging from commercial fish markets in Yemen, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.

Informal networking is significantly improving the biological knowledge bank, with fisherman often reaching out to academics when unusual creatures appear in their nets. Rima Jabado, a PhD student at United Arab Emirates University, was contacted by a fisherman who caught an unfamiliar shark, resulting in the first scientific record of a sand tiger shark in UAE waters.

It’s not unusual to find legally protected species such as whale sharks for sale in markets. Shark fishing is prohibited by law in Saudi Arabia, yet large numbers of sharks are sold openly at local markets.

How the shark came back to life

Jabado told Scientific American, “There is clear need for better enforcement of current legislation.”

Fish market surveys are increasingly being used to supplement traditional field sampling as they capitalize on industry resources that can magnify the breadth and scope of a research team’s study.

Julia Spaet, a researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, says that “the resources dedicated by a fleet of fishermen will always outmatch any scientific efforts to assess abundances. The fishing industry is more efficient at finding sharks where there are not many left.”

The surveys are tricky. Researchers have to identify, count, measure and document the “species of interest” before fishermen move the catch to market.  They often buy the fish outright to step around time constraints (of getting freshly caught fish to vendors) and uncooperative fishermen.

Let’s go back to that resurrected shark.  In 1902, naturalist Wilhelm Hein discovered the fish in Yemen and brought a specimen back to Austria.  It sat unnoticed in the Vienna Museum for decades; so we can assume the facility was relatively cat-free.  In 1985, well past its sell-by date, naturalists identified it as the first (and only known) specimen of Carcharhinus Leiodon, or smooth-tooth black-tip shark.

“Some suspected it might be extinct or not a valid species,” said Alec Moore, from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group’s Indian Ocean group, since scientists had never found others.

During a 2008 Shark Conservation Society research expedition, Moore spotted among the many species of whaler shark in a Kuwait fish market one that looked similar, but different, to other species. Turned out to be another smooth-tooth black-tip, caught more than 3,000 kilometers from where Hein’s fish was found; the first of its kind seen by scientists in over a century.

In 2013, Marine & Freshwater Research reported that recent studies in fish markets throughout the region have located 47 additional smooth-tooth black-tip sharks, greatly increasing what scientists know about this species. Better understanding of how large the sharks grow, number of offspring, and data on habitat enables development of an effective species conservation and management plan.

Moore offers this tip to land-based shark hunters, “Always go to the fish market with a camera, especially in tropical countries where there is little data—there is always the chance that you could find something new.”

Image of Julie Spaet and shark from Julie Spaet and KAUST

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHl05cAnRiw[/youtube]

The gazelles apparently escaped from a reserve in the center of Saudi Arabia, according to Gulf News, and a group of at least four men hunted them down over a period of several days with rifles and desert vehicles.

In one image the gazelles, an endangered species that is protected throughout the Arabian peninsula, are seen fleeing for the nearby valleys to escape their would-be predators.

Once the men killed the animals, they proceeded to either string them up from trees or stuff them whole into cooler boxes and small spaces inside their vehicle.

Like a group of Kuwaiti poachers that killed a wolf last year, these men then photographed the carnage, and posted a film in which they are seen bragging about their conquests in Arabic.

It is illegal to hunt gazelles in Saudi Arabia, and locals are calling on authorities to dole out harsh punishments for the crime. The men’s faces are clearly visible in the short video clip, which appears to have been recorded on a phone.

Such violence toward wildlife is relatively common throughout the Middle East region. One commentator from Belgium, responding to the Gulf News story, blames these kinds of senseless killing sprees on what has become a rather idle culture.

“People are bored stiff in this country and that is why they do things like this. Many hate animals. Youngsters have no respect for animals. Read the Quran please about the love of animals,” the anonymous reader wrote from Belgium.

Indeed, there are many tenets in Islam that acknowledge the interconnectivity of all life and the importance of environmental stewardship. So this is certainly not a religious issue.

But it should be a legal issue. Past transgressions have gone largely ignored, so poachers don’t fear negative consequences for their behavior. Let’s hope this time will be different.

:: Gulf News

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Listed as vulnerable by the International Union of Conservation (IUCN), these marine turtles can weigh anywhere from 300 to 1,000 pounds, but their populations have steadily decreased as a result of development, pollution, and other habitat disruptions. Enter the Environment Society of Oman’s fourth annual Masirah festival.

There are 15,000 Loggerhead turtle nests scattered around Oman, which lies on the Indian Ocean, but Masirah Island, a 649 square kilometer stretch of land located off the east coast of Oman, has one of the highest concentrations of turtles.

Albeit relatively sparsely populated with just 12,000 people living in roughly 12 villages, the turtles require protection to ensure their habitat stays clean and their nests remain undisturbed.

Every year for the last four, ESO has held the Masirah Festival to make children in particular more aware of the endangered species’ plight and to get them excited about keeping their environment as unspoiled as possible.

And since Omanis love football as much as most in the Middle East, the festival includes a friendly series of football matches.

This year, the oil company BP is sponsoring the festival. A fixture in the Sultanate since 2007, the oil giant signed a contract with the leadership to liberate a particularly difficult to reach gas field with reserves located 4-5 kilometers below the ground.

“We are delighted to support ESO for this unique project to help preserve wildlife in Oman,” Daniel Blanchard, general manager, BP Oman told Muscat Daily.

“Being environmentally aware is important in our own operations and it is important for the community. We believe that efforts put into educating the community on environment will reflect two-fold in future generations.”

All scoffing aside (after all, this is the same company responsible for the Deepwater Horizon crises in the Gulf of Mexico), they are sponsoring a deeply valuable project that includes lectures for students and schools and a massive beach clean up campaign.

“We hope to instill environmental awareness and values in youths and members of the community to ensure that the Masirah Island nesting area is protected as one of the two largest nesting areas for Loggerhead turtles in the world,” ESO’s community outreach manager Omar al Riyami told the paper.

Meanwhile, the Omani boys and girls aren’t the only turtle heroes and heroines. Check out this wonderful video of an eco-crusader who frees a trapped turtle while kayaking in the remote area between Masirah and Shuwaymiah.

All images via Environment Society of Oman’s Facebook page

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The Life of Pi is a novel by Yann Martel, first published in 2001. It told the story of a boy whose family is shipwrecked while moving their private zoo’s animals from French India to Canada. It was thought to be unfilmable. In Ang Lee’s film adaptation, Piscine Molitor (aka Pi) , played by the delightful young Suraj Sharma, is the only human survivor of the shipwreck. No, I haven’t given the story away. The Life of Pi is open in Turkey, Jordan and other cinemas throughout the Mideast. It faces stiff competition from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and Les Misérables, but if you’re looking for a beautiful movie with a thought-provoking environmental connection, consider the Life of Pi.

“We’re dying Richard Parker. I’m sorry.” A tearful Pi says this to a surviving castaway aboard his lifeboat. His companion is a Bengal tiger who was dubbed Richard Parker after a name mix up between a tiger its hunter. Like the novel it was based on, The Life of Pi takes us on a philosophical adventure. It explores the nature of reality, truth, religion and storytelling. Like the book it also contains some fascinating ecological metaphors. We can imagine his lifeboat as Noah’s ark or as a microcosm of our world. As a boy, Pi studied many religions and several of these hold that humans are stewards over our planet.

From Genesis 1:26:

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, to be like us. Let them be masters over the fish in the ocean, the birds that fly, the livestock, everything that crawls on the earth, and over the earth itself!

This is exactly what Pi must do if he is to survive. But as an ethical vegetarian who shares a small boat with a top predator, he finds that this is not a simple task. His strategy mirrors that of human civilization, at first he distances himself from the beast. He builds a ramshackle raft and ties a long rope between it and the more seaworthy boat occupied by the tiger, keeping nature at a distance.

Later Pi makes fun of survival guides by inventing his own which details, “What to do if  you are a castaway alone on a lifeboat with an adult Bengal tiger. Step one…”  He considers methods of taming the beast much as a circus trainer might. I don’t want to give too much away but the complex symbiotic relationship between man and nature is a recurring theme in both movie and book. Sustainability is expressed most clearly when it is a matter of survival.

There are some disturbing scenes for animal lovers and children. Most involve animals preying on other animals. Pi’s father uses a goat to teach his son a lesson about the true predator behind the seemingly soulful eyes of a tiger. Much of the blood and gore is off-screen and suggested rather than simulated. This makes The Life of Pi much more watchable than so many films whose directors believe special effects should appeal to the prurient interests of our violent civilization.

Ang Lee seemed to focus much of his special effects budget on creating realistic computer generated (CGI) animal to spare real animals from the horrors of Hollywood. It is mysterious why The Life of Pi didn’t get an official “No animals were harmed” label. Was it that Ang Lee did not feel the need to hire animal rights watchdogs for simulated animals? At least this film doesn’t seem to have triggered the animal cruelty controversy of The Hobbit whose filming location was associated with up to 27 animals deaths. The Life of Pi is proof that it is possible to make a movie about a Bengal tiger without disturbing any of the 1850 remaining in the world.

Ang Lee couldn’t film everything in Yann Martel’s novel but David Magee well-crafted screenplay didn’t leave any gaping holes. Nor did it sprawl out and dilute the book as The Hobbit seems to have. This movie did add something that only the film-making art form can provide. The Life of Pi is a visually beautiful movie that requires neither 3D nor 48 FPS high frame rate (HFR) to enjoy.

This movie’s CGI has finally bridged the so-called uncanny valley which made the simulated life in Jurassic park and Polar Express disturbingly surreal. If real animals were used in this movie it isn’t possible to discern them from their simulations. There are scenes where artistic license was used and the artist chose beauty, poetry and magic over absolute realism or ‘truth’ but if you’ve read the book you’ll understand that that too is what it’s all about.

I have seen pods of dolphins but I wouldn’t have believed they ever reached the numbers portrayed here until I saw the disturbing true-life documentary, The Cove. I have seen luminescent undersea life and can’t prove that they wouldn’t appear as bright in the middle of the lonesome Pacific. Would gazing into the eye of a starving tiger reveal the mysteries of  the world’s religions? I don’t think any of us can say.

Pi promises that his story will make you believe in God. I can’t promise that, but it may reveal the truth that even in this world of science and technology, satellite navigation, and 24-hour digital news, we don’t know everything. Admitting that is a good start. And if you haven’t already read the book, you should. The movie Life of Pi was excellent but the book was even better.

Image of Bengal tiger via shutterstock

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When they arrived, rangers working for the Egyptian Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs were towing the 500kg female dugong to shore and Professor Adel Sehem gave them permission to do further analysis in order to determine the cause of death. While it is too soon to know for sure, activists suspect that the increased development and tourism traffic in Hurghada might be partially responsible.

HEPCA says that the dugong showed no signs of external trauma and that it was freshly dead when they arrived.

A biopsy of the lungs and kidneys will hopefully give more clues about why she died, and it will be the first time that a DNA fingerprint can be extracted of a dugong swimming in Egyptian Red Sea waters, according to the group.

Listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, dugongs have been hunted for centuries for their meat and oil. Although they traverse 48 countries and 140,000 km of coastline, the population has dropped precipitously in recent years.

Dugongs are herbivorous mammals that typically stay close to the coastline so they can feed on seagrasses and other marine plants. These habitats are typically threatened by over-fishing, hunting and development. The port in Lamu, a Swahili outpost in Kenya, is one such development that threatens their fragile population.

That dugongs live for up to 70 years and are slow to reproduce makes it more challenging for their numbers to recover.

Once the biopsy of the Red Sea Dugong is completed, HEPCA hopes to be able to report their findings to the public. In the meantime, they are mourning this tragic loss.

“It’s a sad day to lose such a beautiful animal,” they posted on Facebook. “The harassment that these animals are exposed to by the endless over pressure of the snorkeling and diving boats has to stop,” they added.

“Although the examinations are not finished yet to determine the reason of the death of this dugong , the pressure on sea grass beds where these beautiful animals feed such as Abu Dabbab , Marsa Umbarak and Magawish and the continuous harassment has gone beyond tolerance. This crime has to stop.”

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