Chimpanzee: Habitats, Life Cycles, Food Chains, Threats

African Wildlife:
A photo safari

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Senate Approves Increased Funding for Wildlife Protection...

Environmental activists worldwide applauded the recent passage by the U.S. House of Representatives of two crucial bills that would help in wildlife conservation and protection such as the African elephant and Asian elephant.

The African Elephant and Asian Elephant Conservation Reauthorization Acts cleared the House June 13 and have been sent to the Senate for action. Support for the legislation was increased by $250,000 each, to $1 million for fiscal year 2002.

The legislation provides funding to programs that protect some of the world's most threatened species -- rhinos, elephants, tigers and neo-tropical migratory birds. Administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the programs not only protect flagship species facing urgent wildlife conservation needs, but also threatened habitats and ecosystems and the whole communities of other species within them.

“We are extremely encouraged by the actions of the House of Representatives today in passing this legislation and increasing the funding for these vital programs,” said Ginette Hemley, vice president for species conservation at World Wildlife Fund. “We believe that the (funding) increase is warranted because of the serious situation these species and their habitats face. We look forward to passage in the Senate next month so that continued progress for the long-term survival of these imperiled species can be made.”

For more information, go to www.worldwildlife.org.

Andy Summa is a freelance writer in Sugar Land, Texas.
 

Wildlife Refuge Troubles

The National Wildlife Refuge System was started as a federal program in 1903 under President Theodore Roosevelt. According to a recent study by the National Audubon Society (NAS), the program has a backlog of $1.6 billion worth of maintenance that needs to be done on the refuges, with serious ramifications for wildlife and their habitats.

The NAS reports significant damage to at least ten of the nation's 537 refuges, noting that the problems exhibit a desperate need for more funds. The damage includes destruction to tidal marshes from rodents, and large numbers of birds being killed from farm pesticide runoff.

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION GROUPS:

• African Wildlife Update
• Audubon Society
• Audubon Institute
• Animal Diversity Web
• BoycottMacys.com
• Defenders of Wildlife
• EarthTrust
  FAWNS
• Friends of Animals
• National Wildlife Federation
• ProjectWildlife
  US Fish & Wildlife Service
• Traffic (Protecting Wildlife from Trade)
• Wildlife Tracker

 SPECIFIC WILDLIFE GROUPS:

• The Dolphin Research Institute
• The Bat Conservation Trust
• Blue Ventures - become a marine conservation volunteer in exotic locations around the world!

• Animal Bytes
• Wildlife Conservation Magazine

SPECIAL INTEREST:

• Koko the Gorilla
• The Dolphin Dream Team
• Dailey Discovery
• KidsPlanet
• Seaturtle.org

AFRICA:

• The living Africa-Wildlife
• Wildnet Africa
• Wildlife Works