2004-08-17

Posted at 01:12 UT by Tamara

Broadcast Cable Series: Tamara Lynn Scott
Cable 27 - Santa Cruz, California
Fridays at 5:30 p.m.
Program Schedule for September through December - Segments 82 -93

Friday, September 10th, 2004
SEGMENT 82:
California's Endangered Species:
Sharks - Myth and Mystery
Interviews at Monterey Bay Aquarium

Friday, September 17th, 2004
SEGMENT 83:
California's Endangered Species
Sharks - Myth and Mystery
Interviews at Monterey Bay Aquarium - Part Two

Friday, September 24th, 2004
SEGMENT 84:
Interviews with Winemakers
Beverly Bargetto

Friday, October 1st, 2004
SEGMENT 85:
Animation and Music at Pottery Planet and Orchid Demonstration

Friday, October 8th, 2004
SEGMENT 86:
Best Cuts from Endangered Species Interviews

Friday, October 15th, 2004
SEGMENT 87:
Best Cuts from "FREEDOM"

Friday, October 22nd, 2004
SEGMENT 88:
Best Cuts from Great Train Rides, and Endangered Bengal Tiger

Friday, October 29th, 2004
Segment 89:
Best Cuts from Series

Friday, November 5th 2004
SEGMENT 90:
California's Endangered Species
Seafood Watch Program and
Sharks - Myth and Mystery
and New Leaf Community Foods Participation

Friday, November 12th, 2004
SEGMENT 91:
Interviews with Winemakers
Pavona Winery - Richard Kararis

Friday, November 19th, 2004
SEGMENT 92:
Endangered Species of the World
Interviews at Mesker Park Zoo

Friday, November 26th, 2004
SEGMENT 93:
Interviews with Winemakers -
La Rochelle Winery - and
Beauregard

Friday, December 3rd
SEGMENT 90:
California's Endangered Species
Seafood Watch Program and
Sharks - Myth and Mystery
and New Leaf Community Foods Participation

Friday, December 10th 2004 July 23, Segment 82 - Sharks archives/2004_07_01_tamaralynnscottbroadcasts_archive.html 2004/07/segment-82-endangered-species-sharks.html atom.xml index.html archives/2004_07_01_tamaralynnscottbroadcasts_archive.html 2004/07/segment-82-endangered-species-sharks.html atom.xml index.html archives/2004_07_18_tamarals_archive.html 2004/07/segment-82-endangered-species-sharks.html archives/tamarals_archive.html index.html  

Broadcast Cable Series:
Tamara Lynn Scott
Segment 82: Endangered Species of the World
California's Endangered Species
Segment Run time: 29:48
Interviews at Monterey Bay Aquarium with Debbie Hutchinson and Karen Jefferies
Copyright 2004 Tamara Lynn Scott

Opening Musical Theme:

United

We are United together,
Every link entwined.
We are United together,
In each hope to find.
We are United together,
In our reasons why.

Be who you are.
Be who you are.
It’s all we are.
United.

We are a part,
The soul and the heart.
We are the try,
The secret of wise.
Here in our hearts.
Here in our minds.
Here in our lives,
The secret of time.

We are beginning
to open our eyes,
Only beginning
to see,
realize,
One World.

United together,
Every link entwined.
United together,
in each hope to rise.
United together,
in each dream that shines.

Be who you are.
Be who you are.
It’s all we are.

United.

Sharks: Myth and Mystery

Interview with Karen Jefferies

"This one coming up on the left is a Zebra Shark.
It has distinct stripes."

"Beautiful!
Are they very rare?"

"No. They're typical reef sharks."

"These are the Pacific Islands.
The Corals are endangered world-wide aren't they?"

"Yes. These are not live corals.
That's a Black tipped reef shark.
The other is a White tipped reef shark."

"Can they breed together?"

"No. They’re two different species.
She’s got a bit of a story.
Her name is Jig Saw.
She lived with a family in Pleasanton who bought her from a pet store when she was very young. in a 1800 gallon home tank, and she was outgrowing that."
"We get a lot of calls from people saying they have sharks that have grown really big, asking us to take them. This time we said yes, because we were doing this exhibit."
"We do not encourage people to have sharks as a pet."

"Because they over grow- like Tigers?"

"They're wild animals, and more importantly, they have very specific dietary and water quality needs, difficult to maintain in an aquarium like this, let alone at a home aquarium."
"She's very used to people. She lived with them for three years, and then we brought her over here. And we've got her healthy. She's doing well."

"When the feeders go in there, do the sharks nibble on their toes? Or do they leave them alone and wait for them to feed them shrimp or something?"

"These two sharks are known to , if they get bugged or something, they'll go after them, but they're not considered aggressive."

"Beautiful blue eyes on that Zebra shark! Why do they call it Zebra when it's got spots?"

"When it's young it has very distinct stripes."

"Interesting leopard kind of spots.
Are the patternings all unique?
Can you recognize the sharks by the patterning on its back, kind of like a tiger?"

"That's a good question. I don't know."

"A beautiful shark! What do you feed them?"

"These are fed fish, probablly smelt. These are fish eaters."

"You have Dory, the finding nemo fish, the Tang.
The sharks don't eat them?"

"No. I think they are known to eat the bigger fish.
But as a typical aquarium, We overfeed our sharks so they're not hungry.
They're not hungry, so they won’t go after something.
We can't stop their instinctual behavior. If they decide they're going to go chomp somebody they're going to do it."

Freshwater stingrays sting only in defense. A stingray rests serenely on the bottom. Then surprise, a swimmer steps on her wing, Zing! The razor sharp spine at the base of her tail pierces his foot- injecting venom and causing intense pain. Next time that swimmer will be sure to shuffle his feet, so the ray will feel him coming and glide out of the way.

"Our species are from the Amazon. The Sharks and the Stingrays either come from other institutions, are grown here, or come from some collector from the local area.
This is the first time the Monterey Bay Aquarium has had this species on display.
Rays are cousins of sharks, They all belong to the Cartilaginous fish, instead of bones."

"Is that an advantage because they can squeeze into small places?"

"No. They can't squeeze into small spaces. They hunt differently, definitely bottom dwellers. They suck up things. Their gills are underneath. When they suck up gravel and things they have spiracles by their eyes that blow out the gravel ."

"Very striking color patterns.
What's that one called?"

"A Black spotted ray, one of the common names."

"And the one next to him?"

"An Oscillated ray. You see the one moving in the back, That's a Jaguar ray. The corner one is a spider web ray."

"They disguise themselves well. Can these rays interbreed?"

"No, They're all separate species."

"How do you increase their numbers?
Do you have to cooperate with other aquariums?"

"Yes, that, and we do hope to breed some on display. I don't know what the success is going on with these. Once this exhibit ends, in two or three years, we don't have a closing date, then we will send these on to other institutions. The local species we'll put back into the wild. Since these are tropical, they will go on to other aquariums so that other people can enjoy them."

"The other fish you have in there with them - is that a copacetic relationship? Do they like each other?"

"It's typical of this Amazon river habitat. They're cousins of the pyranna. Sharks and rays usually eat mollusks and snails, crustaceons, things they're finding in the gravel."

"Have you successfully bred any of the rays you have in here, or they just solo individuals?"

"I believe they're just solo. I haven't heard whether we've bred any of them yet."

"Are they group animals? Do they get lonely by themselves, or do they like to be alone, like cats?"

"I don't know."

Stingrays spawn spectacular stories. Families live, play and fish along the Amazon River, where stinrays thrive in warm, muddy waters. The powerful, painful stings of these respected animals inspire fantastic myths and legends, as they have for many centuries.

As night falls on the river, monkeys call and catfish croak. Light the kerosene lantern and crawl under your mosquito net. It's time for a bedtime story about mother Stingray, a fierce river spirit who protects her stingray kin.

The Pacific Northwest

"You can touch the bats with your fingers and investigate."

"Do they like massage?"

"Some of them seem to enjoy being touched."

Bat ray
Can you see how this fish got its name?

One village is changing its ways to protect sharks. They aren't making shark fin soup anymore.

When local sharks were being overfished, a group of West African fishermen created a no shark sighing zone to help shark populations recover. And instead of supporting the trade in shark fins, they now catch other fish that aren't in trouble.

"The best thing that you can do is be aware of seafood that they're eating. Whether or not it's sustainable."

"That's your Seafood Watch Program."

"Yes. That's also looking out for sharks.
About a 100 million sharks are killed world wide by the world fisheries every year, half of those are accidental bycatch by fishermen targeting other species. 50 million is a lot of sharks."

"So what's being done to help eliminate the by-catch problem internationally?"

Save sharks when you shop. You can help prevent overfishing of sharks by avoiding all shark products - from soup to cartilage pills.

"The thresher shark is sustainable, isn't it?"

"We advocate no sharks at all.
They're late to mature sexually, so they reproduce late in life. They only produce one pup a year. Most are taken out of the ocean before they even breed."

Bark Paintings from Northern Australia

"The Aborigines create these
Bark paintings by the aborigines of Australia, to honor the sharks and rays, who they believe helped create the formations of the earth. Who swam around getting back to water, creating mountains and valleys. So they honor the earth. They are very connected to that spiritualness of being one with the earth."

Creation Myths: Sharks and rays are sacred to the Yolngu people of northern Australia. They believe these animals represent ancestral spirits who helped create the world. Yolngu honor their shark ancestors in elaborate bark paintings that reveal stories from the time of creation.
Gaze at the images of sharks passed down for more than 40,000 years.

"These are based on totems or symbols that date back 40,000 years. The actual practice of bark painting is less historical than that. It still dates back thousands of years, but not as long as that, again Showing the reverence that these People have. They're already spiritually connected. This is an expression of that."

Tiger Shark : This figure symbolizes a mythical shark. This painting depicts the artists' ancestor whose spirit was transformed into a tiger shark. Look for the sharks U-shaped liver, painted as though the artist had x-ray vision. This X-ray style reminds us that this is a mythic creature and not a real shark.

Shark at Wandawuy
This painting tells a story about Mana the shark.
During the time of creation, a mythical shark named Mana traveled miles inland from the sea, carving rivers and other features as he swam. He eventually came to rest near the artists' home in Wandawuy. The Black circle at the top of the painting symbolizes the underground realm where Manas' spirit rests. - Late 20th century

"Is that music that we're hearing related to your exhibit?"

"That is from the Pacific Northwest. The gallery that we just came through . It's part of the ceremonial dances. In honor of their connection."

The Serpent and the Shark at Naypinya
Snakes and sharks are sacred symbols. For native peoples of Australia, snakes symbolize the coming of the rainy monsoon season. This painting shows Wstitj, a mythical snake who sucks in sea water, rises into the sky and spits out thunder and lightning to create rain. The shark emphasizes the power and danger of the waters near Naypinya, one of the snake's sacred places.

"Hi, I’m Debbie Hutchenson, aquariumist here at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Today we're focusing on our new exhibit that we're opening on April 2nd: Sharks - Myth and Mystery My job here is to help make sure that the sharks are all healthy. We have 24 different species of sharks and rays on display in this exhibit."

"How many are we seeing in this tank?"

"There are three different sharks in this exhibit and some bony fish too. We have some tropical fish swimming in with our Sharks."

"The Pacific islands?"

"It's neat in this exhibit. One of them is the Pacific Islands. Then we also have fresh water rays We have some species from Australia, and other tropical areas too."

"Where do the Hammerheads live? Are they in the Pacific?"

"They are common around sea mouths, more in southern California.

In this exhibit we have opened the 4th largest tank in the aquarium Galapagos sharks and hammerheads You really get a great view of these animals. You can see their structures, their sensory organs, and everything else too."

"We're now standing in front of the three that are primarily from the Pacific Islands?"

"What's on display here are the Blacked tipped and White tipped reef sharks and Zebra shark."

"Are these populations being Captured and made into Shark Fin soup? Are they having a problem because everybody is catching them?"

"That's a very good question. There are about 350 different species of sharks, and 80 species of those are considered threatened or endangered. The problem is that Sharks produce fairly few young, and it also takes a long time before they reach sexual maturity. What's happening out in the oceans, is that we're fishing them out as bycatch. Before they are being able to reproduce young to carry on the generations. We're seeing a lot of shark populations starting to go down.
Over the last two years in certain populations about a 90% decline.
These we have on display here are common animals and are caught in bycatch a lot of times."

"How do we stop bycatch?
It's an international effort."

We have a seafood watch card. Use your money. If you want to help sharks out, Check out the seafood watch card."

"Look at the Seafood Watch Card, which you can download for free."

"Basically, on that Seafood Watch Card it gives suggestions for fisheries that don't impact other animals and take them out.
It tells you where to buy The animal. What kind of fish that's good to eat. Check out our website for that card."

"We did!
As far as the international problem of long liness where they're catching everything, and they're too long to get back to release the bycatch fish. What can be done to put international pressure on? Most of the American Fish lines are short lines now, aren't they."

"Yes. We're not allowed to use the long drift nets. There has been some acts passed to protect a couple hundred miles from shore. Studies are going on the tag fish to see what corridors they use to migrate, and actually trying to reduce fishing pressures in those areas. Corridors where fish pass through.. They do migrate. That's the problem with international waters, We can't really control what's going on."

"So What can we do to put pressure on the international fishing industry to eliminate these long lines? We can first of all -buy no fish from them. And we learn from The Seafood Watch Card where to buy. That's the first thing we can do. Use our money to speak!"

"Exactly!"

"Is anything happening? Are they hearing anything yet?"

"It's amazing to see how world-wide the Seafood Watch Card has gone. Even on the east coast now, These cards are getting out, People are Talking to people."

"I was telling them about your Seafood Watch Card."

"That's great! The more we can get the information out, the better."

"And you have a Chefs collaborative that chefs can tie into and know what fish to order.
So The main thing is to Use our finances to control the marketplace."

"Exactly. When you're buying fish at restaurants, let them know."

"Take some cards in with you and leave them."

"That puts pressure on them, and makes them realize that people are aware."

"Other than that, which is very important and strong. Your money speaks.
If people want to get political, and they want to go on-line to find out who's doing this stuff ?"

"My suggestion would be to research on the web. The Palagic fish foundationis really good too. They focus on conservation."

"Would there be anything that kids could do? Schools could get involved. You have little armies of kids coming through here every day, right?"

"That's going to be the coolest thing with this exhibit, having all kinds of school groups come through here."

"If you get the Kids could get involved. They can really stir it up, can't they?"

"Instilling values and gain an appreciation. that will carry on throughout their life."

"Do you check big restaurant chains To see where they're getting their fish?"

"Most of those questions go directly to our Seafood Watch Group. We have a whole team constantly researching. We update the seafood watch card a couple times a year. There's access to that on our website. We're really good about answering questions."

"How have the shark populations been doing in the last year? Has there been any recovery, or is it still so critical you have to save a few babies here so that the species survives?"

"It's not that critical. We're trying to maintain populations out in the wild."

"That's right!"

"We're trying to keep healthy populations out in the wild.
It's hard if you're trying to reestablish a whole fish population. It's too late if you only have a few animals in an aquarium. The idea that we're really interested in is Marine Sanctuaries. Like here in the Monterey Bay."

"Where no fishing occurs?"

"Exactly. You're trying to build up a population there, and it ends up growing."

"You know where they're breeding. Where the most important sanctuaries would be.
So International sharing of information is important.
Are Sanctuaries difficult to set up, or easy?"

"I haven't heard of any, most recently."

"Can you buy Ocean real estate like you do land, so if someone wealthy out there says they want to help ?"

"That's a great question."

" Ocean Real estate moves around a lot.
Look at those beautiful Greenish light eyes!"

Tropical Ray tank

" These are our Cow nose Rays, and our Southern rays which hang out on the bottom. Cow nose are free swimming ,staying up in the water column."

"You've got a little space age dome over here , an observatory."

"Yes. It's one of the best views. Kids love it. People can have a photo opportunity. The rays come up and over."

"They have some aquariums where the whole gallery is a bubble."

"We wanted to give people a different interaction with the fish. These guys are extremely charismatic."

"You don't think of these guys when you think of sharks."

" No. But these are related."

"Cousins?"

"These are cartiligeneous, the same substance as your nose is made of. Cartilage, instead of bones. Some conservation on these two - A lot of people don't know is occasionally scallops will not be your shellfish. Sometimes Scallops will be sold and they are rays,part of the ray fins. Basically what they will do is take a cookie cutter a cut out a circle that looks like a scallop and sell them that way."

"How can you tell when people are doing that?"

"It has to do with the texture of the meat. With rays, the muscle texture goes a different way. Best thing is to ask at the restaurant to make sure that they are the shellfish."

"Is there a law now that makes everyone label where it came from, what specifically it is, and how it was caught? Isn’t there a push towards getting everything labeled so that everyone knows exactly how everything is caught?"

"There are still some discrepancies with that in trying to figure out all the legislation with that."

"It hasn't come into being yet."

"No."

"We can do things locally, voluntarily, couldn't we? We don't have to wait for the government to tell you to do something."

"Exactly! The thing is just to get the word out. The Seafood Watch Cards have helped significantly."

"Have you noticed any of your fish purveyors doing these kind of things voluntarily? Being ahead of the game."

"A lot of local fishermen have been going by our seafood watch card. Definitely in the Monterey Bay area we've had an impact. And it's been amazing to hear reports from the east coast and restaurants."

"It's starting to sink in. Everyone wants to help save their world."

"A lot of people don’t realize, just because they're not by the oceans, that we need healthy shark and fish populations."

"What would happen if the sharks suddenly disappeared? We wouldn't have their DNA anymore."

"A lot of sharks are key predators in the oceans and help take out a lot of the sick, weak and injured animals,and then fish populations would be out of wack."

" Then other fish populations might start starving if they get over numbered.They help keep the other populations in check."

"Exactly."

One World,
United

2004 July 21, Wednesday – International Environmental Festival 2004 Entrees –
Segment 22 – floridas Endangered Species
http://tamarals.blogspot.com/2003_01_26_tamarals_archive.html#88201295
2003-01-29
Posted at 05:57 UT by Tamara Lynn Scott
Tape 6 :Segment 22
Interviews of Tamara Lynn Scott: "Florida's Endangered Species"
Flamingo Gardens Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary
with
Michael P. Ruggieri: Director of Animal Care
December 31st, 2002
Davies, Florida
:20 seconds: Endangered Wood Storks : Recreate the Habitat of Drying lakes
"They are in South America too?"
"Yes, in South America,
You'll find them all along the Gulf coast.
Louisiana, Texas, Alabama."
"You were saying that the problem
in trying to breed them,
Is basically
you have to re-create the habitat
of the drying lakes."
"Right."
See Video under files at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridasEndangeredSpecies

Posted at 05:35 UT by Tamara Lynn Scott
Tape 6 :Segment 21
Interviews of Tamara Lynn Scott: "Florida's Endangered Species"
Flamingo Gardens Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary
with
Michael P. Ruggieri: Director of Animal Care
December 31st, 2002
Davies, Florida
1:19 minutes: You Can't Duplicate the Drying of the Everglades

"You can't duplicate the drying of the Everglades."

"No"

"We tried increasing the food,
We tried putting food out here all day long,
To let the birds know
You have all the food in the world,
If you want to raise your babies,
We'll give you everything you need.
But it really didn't seem to work,
I don't know whether or not,
You know, it may take more.
But our two pair that we have,
Every year they build a huge nest.
You'll actually see copulation going on,
You'll see the female sitting on that nest
for Days and days and days.
But they've never dropped the eggs.
They go through all the motions,
And we think that they're gonna
do it every year
But they've never dropped an egg."

"And you say that most the populations
are heading to the North of Florida
where their landscape is still untouched?"

"Yeh, a lot of them have moved up the state."

"And you were saying there was a program
to set some of that landscape aside
so there's a space for them?"

"Yes.
Especially when they get
the Kissimmee River back to normal.
that will create
all these small wetlands areas,
and if we ever have a dry season,
Some of those ponds will start to dry up.
And The fish will get concentrated
And may trigger them to breed."

See Video Cuts at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridasEndangeredSpecies
2003-01-28

Posted at 05:50 UT by Tamara Lynn Scott
Tape 6 :Segment 21
Interviews of Tamara Lynn Scott: "Florida's Endangered Species"
Flamingo Gardens Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary
with
Michael P. Ruggieri: Director of Animal Care
December 31st, 2002
Davies, Florida
1:04 minutes: Barometers of the Wetlands .

"In the wild they have to know
they have at least 400 pounds of fish
within a 3 month period,
in order for them to sustain life,
and for them to raise an offspring.
So if the everglades don't dry out naturally
and all these fish that are in the everglades
get consentrated in small ponds,
where it makes it easy fishing for these birds.
they will not breed"

"So no one's been able
to get them to breed successfully
in captivity as far as you know?"

"No. I don't think anybody has,
Now where these birds came from,
When they first got it,
It did drop an egg,'

"They had captured them in the wild,
and it was already impregnated."

"Right.

They artificially incubated it.
The baby did hatch out..
but it died 5 days later,
it was born with some kind of disease."

"So the only way to save these birds
Is to keep their habitat."

"Oh Yes! Definitely!
Keep Their Habitat!
The Wood Stork is also called the
Barometer of the wetlands.
They're the indicator on how well your welands are doing.
If you have wood storks in your wet lands,
They're surviving.
If they leave it,
Thats telling you
there's something wrong."

"So they're like the canaries of the mines,
for the everglades."

"Right. "

See Yahoo Group Site for Video Cuts and Photos

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridasEndangeredSpecies

Posted at 05:42 UT by Tamara Lynn Scott
Tape 6 Segment 22
Interviews of Tamara Lynn Scott:"Florida's Endangered Species"
Flamingo Gardens Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary
with
Michael P. Ruggieri Director of Animal Care
December 31st, 2002
Davies, Florida
1:19 minutes" What About the Gopher Tortoises?"

"There is going to be some problems.
Where years ago they drained some of the Everglades.
You have areas of land out there
that's been dry for 20 years,
Now that land is going to be back underwater.
And My biggest concern is
what are they going to do with these animals?
What about the Gopher Tortoises?"
I hope they remove some of these animals
before they open up the dams,
And flood these areas."

" Maybe they can do it gradually,
so the animals will have a chance to run away."

" Exactly.
Exactly."

"People around the world are watching this scenario..
Are there any other similar senarios in other lands.
Where they have the same problems
and could use the same solutions?"

"Well there's problems all over this world
Some of our river systems are so polluted
with factories along side of them.
There are quite a few animals
that are endangered around the United States,
due to just poor water quality,
the water is so poor to drink."

"Now which department is handling that. down here
is it Fish and Game?"

"It would be Water Management.
It would be the Army Corp of Engineers."

"Do You Think They're Doing a Good Job?
Do You Think They're Doing All They Can Do? "

" Well---"

See Yahoo Group Site for Video Cuts and Photos

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridasEndangeredSpecies

Posted at 05:36 UT by Tamara Lynn Scott
Tape 6 :Segment 21
Interviews of Tamara Lynn Scott: "Florida's Endangered Species"
Flamingo Gardens Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary
with
Michael P. Ruggieri: Director of Animal Care
December 31st, 2002
Davies, Florida
48 seconds: Flamingo Roundup:Double Clutch

"Whenever Zoos want Flamingo's
they get permits to collect them out of the wild.
Well the wild flock here in Florida
is the Hialeah Racetrack.
So they use to go down there
when they had the babies,
The babies couldn't fly yet.
They'd go out there
and herd up all the babies,
And then take how many babies
they have for the permit.
Well this year we decided
let's take the eggs,
Cause if we take the eggs,
Then They'll probably double clutch.
They'll go ahead and lay another egg
cause they lost their first egg.

"That's Clever!"

"That way They can produce that population
without having the impact of collecting them."

"And are these eggs shared
with places all over the world?"

"All over the United States.
I don't know about all over the world."
See Yahoo Group Site for Video Cuts and Photos

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridasEndangeredSpecies

Posted at 00:01 UT by Tamara Lynn Scott
Tape 6: Segment 21
Interviews of Tamara Lynn Scott;"Florida's Endangered Species"
Flamingo Gardens Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary
Michael P. Ruggieri Director of Animal Care
December 31st, 2002
Davies, Florida
1:09 minutes Reflooding the Everglades

"The Kissimmee River use to twist and turn
for miles and miles.
And what they did, is
they made it one big straight canal.
So they dug it down like 40 - 50 even 60 feet deep.
So all along side the river
there's a 35 foot high wall of dirt,
And that dirt has to go somewhere
So they have to put that dirt back into the canals."
"Well When they put it back into the canal,
Whats gonna happen is
the land will start to flood around it,
creating these big wetlands areas.
That's what happened years ago.
There were so many farmers in that area,
and small towns,
And these towns during a hurricane
would be 4 to 5 feet underwater.
So they built this canal
to try to drain off the land quicker
so they wouldn't have these floods.
So now they have to buy back all this land
that they're going to start flooding."

"So They know what the solution is.
It's a matter of getting it into place now."

"Right."

"And so they think it's about a 30 year program?"

"Yes, it's about a 30 year program
they said we'll take up."

See Video Cuts on-line at

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridasEndangeredSpecies

2003-01-27

Posted at 23:04 UT by Tamara Lynn Scott
Tape 6: Segment 21
Interviews of Tamara Lynn Scott
at Flamingo Gardens:Everglades Wildlife Sanctuary
with Michael P.Ruggieri - Director of Animal Care
December 31st, 2002
Davies, Florida
43 seconds: We Can Conquer Our Own Ills.

" They don't want to go in there and destroy that whole canal
system, and find out they did something wrong.
So right now they're on the testing program of it.".

"And the whole world is watching to see what's happening."

"Oh yes. Oh Yes.
I mean this is very important.
This is our Drinking Water"

"It's our life chain.."

"Right."
"If the everglades is ever gone...
Plus the Everglades is
the largest swamp and environmental area,
It's the largest in the United States.
It's known worldwide.
You know."

"There are species here that are nowhere else."

"And its like we have to prove
We have to prove as a nation,
as a civilization
that we can Fix whatever we ( mess up )"

"That we can Conquer our own ills."

"Exactly. Exactly."

See Yahoogroup Site for Video cuts:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridasEndangeredSpecies

2004 July 21, Wednesday – Mesker Park

Broadcast Cable Series: Tamara Lynn Scott
Segment 92: Endangered Species of the World

Interviews at Mesker Park Zoo,
Evansville, Indiana
with General Curator - David Ruhter
June, 2004

"Hi , I'm David Ruhter, general curator at the Mesker Park Zoo.

And we're in Evansville, Indiana.

Evansville, Indiana, that's correct.

And we're standing in front of the Oldest Hippo in Captivity.

This is Donna, yes. - she's 53 years old. The way that we know that she is the Oldest Hippo in Captivity We keep Registrations on almost all the animals in Zoos. The International Species Inventory system.

Was she born in Zoo Life?

She was a wild caught Hippo.
She was caught as a very young Hippo,
She's produced eight offspring.
Donna has quite a fanclub,
Many admire Donna and she has her own website.

If people want to find out about your zoo, What's the website?

Meskerparkzoo.com
You can also type in Donna the Hippo and you'll pick up a couple of hits on that
A lot of animals in captivity longevity can be extended by over 30 to 40%

Nobody is attacking them. You take care of their diseases.

Their diets are better.
There’s a lot less stress in the zoos than having to fend off crockodiles.

How long would she live if she were in the wild?

Normally 35 to 45 years would be quite old for a hippo.
This would be the Equivalent of 125 for a human.

So she's getting to be a senior citizen?

Very, very much so.

Now when she starts to be getting a senior citizen,
do her teeth start falling out?

Not so much the teeth,
but we do watch her.
She does have arthritis.
We moniter the water temperature to make sure it's warm
She has pain relievers.

Aspirin?

Yes, ( Abudizolphin?)
And we do keep her weight down.
Even though she's a Hippo.
We do keep her on a pretty restricted diet.

What's her favorite food?

She likes just about anything.
Shes a chow hound.
She prefers vegetables, carrots, apples, bananas,Watermelon,

She eats healthy.

Very Very Healthy!

And Being in the water probablly helps to relieve her arthritis.

Right. As long as she's floating, the arthritis isn't very much of a problem. But when she has to walk from one pool to the next….

Then she kindof hurts a little.

Yes. Then we have to moniter that.

So She's your most famous resident.

She's probably our most famous resident.

GORDY - THE BLACK RHINO

This is Geordy the Rhino
Geordy is One of the Great Indian Rhinos,
Northern India and Nepal.
There are approxiamately 2300 in the wild.
Which is a substantial increase over
What there were even twenty or thirty years ago.
They're one of the only,
of the five Rhino Species.
They're probably the most secure
Black Rhinos have about Twelve Thousand
individuals in the wild,
But most of their areas are not well protected.
The Indian Rhinos with 2300 Live primarily on two reserves,
Which are reasonabally well protected,
and the people take good care of them.
When you figure 23 hundred people,
We'll probablly have more than that in the Zoo this weekend.
That's not very many Rhinos at all.
For a world population.

Who took Geordies Horn off?

He wore it off himself.
And that's not at all uncommon for a Rhino to wear that off

Till it's flat like that?

Yes.
He has a tendancy to like to rub it.
That nose is sensitve,
And if he enjoys it.
In the Wild that's how they shape the horn.
Even in the Wild, you'll see a wide variety of configurations for that horn.
In the wild they tend to wear off.

Is He Endangered?

Very Much So!
Due to poachers of his horn,
And loss of habitat.

How can we help protect the Rhino?

The Rhino, right now, is primarily hunted for its horn.
In the misperception that it's an aphrodisiac.
Some cultures still rely on Rhino Horn, and Tiger Parts.

Which Cultures? China?

Yes.

They take the Tigers just for their whiskers!

Yes. Until we change the culture,

The Mind!
Education is how we do that.

You'll notice that little bump up between his ears?
Rhinos have the ability, or rather the oddity,
Of being able to grow horns anytime their skin is disturbed.
That little extension there came from a scrape that he had on his forehead.
And Horns start growing out of that.
That's an anomaly that occurs in the skin
That helps perpetuate horn growth.

Can Rhinos be imported and live in countries where they're not going to be poached upon? Like This country, for example?

Yes. Actually, There are efforts to import A number of different Rhinos animals to Australia.

Like the Buffalo can come back?

Yes.
The Indian Rhinos are being brought into captive situations.
As Numbers in Parks and Preserves reach capacity for the park,
Then they're being taken out.

So There's hope for this species, because they can be bred in captivity.

Yes. The Indian Rhino has potential for surviving.
Unlike The Black Rhino, the Sumatro Rhino, and probably the Wooley Rhino
All are going to have real difficulties surviving the next twenty or thirty years.

And what's the difference between them?
Why are they going to have a problem?

The Sumatro Rhino has fewer than a hundred of those in the wild.
And they have not done well in captivity at all.

It's Kind of like the Wood Stork of Florida.
They're tied into the drying of the everglades,
So they can't get them to breed. In captivity.

Yes. It's been a very difficult process.
And when the numbers get that low…

They can't find each other any more.
They start getting diseased.
Are you collecting DNA samples?
Is that one way of potentially keeping the species ?

San Diego Zoo maintines DNA on a lot of different animals.
Many Zoos, including our own, have subsamples of DNA

Can the different Rhino species be interbred?

No.
Each one is unique..
Just like Tigers are different from Lions.
And Lions are different from Leopards.
Rhinos are all very unique.

So the poor species that only have a hundred or so individuals,
Is if they can be found in the wild, and brought into captivity?

Or convert their native preserves into very safe sanctuaries for them, well guarded.

Now is there a fund, so that if people want to help preserve the Rhinos they can contribute towards buying up that real estate?

Yes. The International Rhino Foundation.
Website: Rhinos-IRF
They're probably one of the most active groups.
They help maintain guards in certain areas of Indonesia
They help support the annual census in both Asia and Africa.

Just buy up real estate, hire some guards, and that will help.

Anything to help protect the animal.

BACTRIAN CAMELS

Bactrian Camels were domesticated for useful purposes as early as 4,000 years ago. Over time they've served as pack animals, provided milk and meat and wool for clothing and shelter.

Bactrian Camels once roamed a vast area of Asia, but today the only truly wild camels live in the remote Gobi Desert of Mongolia.

Camels survive in harsh conditions, With temperatures ranging from 15 degrees Farenheit to 120 degrees Farenheit. They live in herds of 6 - 20 animals led by a mature male Or bull.

This is our Bactrian Camel.
Bactrians are entirely different animals,
Because Bactrians have two humps.
As in Bactrians have two bumps.
Andromidaries have one hump.
You can remember the difference between
Bactrians and Andromidary Camels.
Bactrians are from Asia.
As opposed to the Andromidary,
Which is more of an African - Middle East Species.
Bactrians, unlike the Andromidary,
Is not at all secure
Fewer than a thousand of these animals are left in the wild,
In china and Mongolia,
With numbers expected to decrease by 30%
over the next 30 years..
Development in the area, hunting,
Agricultural development. Pipelines and Industrial.
So This animal could drop down to 250 animals over the next 30 years.
They have bred in captivity,
That young one is a year and a half old.
Her name is Renae.
Renae was born here,
Bactrian Camels are not the most prolific
breeders in captivity.
And so We're trying to maintain a
sustaining captive population
And if the numbers in the wild become too low,

Artificial Insemination.

Or send captive animals back to Mongolian and china to reintroduce them

How many of these are being bred in captivity?

In America, there's only about 8 to 10 a year.
Which is not very many.
There's nowhere near the numbers being lost in the wild.
But if the numbers in the wild decrease,
The breeding in Zoos can be escalated fairly quickly.

Are you able to do cloning, or anything else that scientists could do to help?

That's not been done with Camels at this point.
Another thing that can be done with these guys is Domestication of the wild camel..
We're trying to keep them wild,
Not influenced through selective breeding,

As long as you can keep the species alive!

As close to the wild nature native as possible.
Anytime you put an animal into
They become more tolerant of stress and disturbances,
That changes the ones that breed,
and you want to minimize that as much as possible.
We do Tracking the pedigrees on the animals,
And making sure that no one parentage becomes too predominant in the population,
but that we keep the captive population as diverse genetically as possible.
It's just the opposite of what you do for domestic dogs,
Where you're selecting for trait or characteristics.
We want a very generic animal that
represents..the total population.

If you inbreed you start weakening the species don't you?

You change it.
Yes, sometimes you can strengthen it,
Sometimes you can weaken it.
But You change it..
We don't want to change the species..in a captive situation
We’re Trying to maintain it in a wild nature as much as we can.

She seems to be happy munching on the clover and green grass.

Renae has a pretty easy life here.

She deserves it. We're relying on her to bring the species back!

She's a fun animal, and she's very interactive.

How old is she now?

She's about a year and a half.

And how old does she need to be to start having young?

We will not let her breed until she's 4.

Until she's strong enough.

In a captive situation, start breeding them at the age of two and a half to three years, and it's too early.

Like a teenage mom..

Yes. We'll wait till she's four or five
and fully developed
before we put the demands of motherhood on her.

So there's hope for this species too?

Hopefully, yes.

And can they be created in little herds in this country?
Rather than sending them all back to Mongolia?

There are small groups in this country in zoo situations.
But the animal really needs to be able to survive in the wild.
In order to be..

To be who they really are!

To achieve what they're supposed to.
So the idea would be to hopefully keep them in Mongolia.

So the Can people adopt these, or sponsor in some way?
Is that on your website, anything they can do to help?

Not yet.

But it's going to be up there soon. So keep posting!

BARASINGHA - Cervus duvauceli - also called SWAMP DEER - ( also Marsh Deer of South America )

Lives In open forests and grasslands of India and Nepal.

"Barasingha deer were nearly driven extinct by trophy hunters during the colonial era. They are still endangered today as a result of trophy hunting and habitat loss. Few zoos breed or exhibit barasingha because of the male's aggressiveness and dangerous weaponry. They shed the large antlers ever year after breeding season. Mesker Park Zoo is one of the few North American zoos with a breeding herd."

These are BARASINGHA , from the wetlands and tropical forests of Pakistan and India.
Their Numbers have decreased not so much from hunting pressure nowdays, as they did in the past, but from loss of habitat.
Their homes happen to be in the most fertile agricultural areas.near some of They're also near some of the coastlines which are most rapidly being developed for homes and residential areas.
So these animals are basically loosing out from loss of habitat.

I bet they're eaten, aren't they?

They're used for food.
Because of their status as one of the prey for tigers,
They are being protected ,
in reserves that are being set up for tigers.
Are perfect habitat for Barasingha.
Which area a primary food source for tigers.

They look like deer.

Well they are a deer.
They are a species of deer.
So as we save the tiger,
we save other species that are in that area as well.
And the Barasingha is a good example of
We save the Barasingha.
Where we save one primary animal.
Others will benefit from.
Pandas are another one, as you set up
preserves.
A Panda requires a great deal of area,
To gather its food, other species benefit
from those preserves.
In Africa, you have Gorillas, and Rhinos
That when you set up appropriate preserves,
Other species benefit as well.

These can be bred in captivity.
So there's hope for them too then.

Actually, these are very prolific in captivity.
We actually have these guys on birth control.

Because you only have so much space here?

And we want to manage who breeds,
And how many we produce, so
Rather than expanding the numbers as
quickly as we can,
In a very selective manner,
We have not been trying to breed these,
Perhaps in another three or four years
We have a very healthy group right now.
We just want to do a replacement program
on producing just enough offspring
to replace the ones we loose.

If there are people here, like farmers, who have enough land,
Do you take on private people who say..we'll have fifty of them here.

In this area, because
In some areas like in texas..
The phica deer were put on ranches, and
got loose into the wild
and started driving out some of the
whitetail and mule deer.
Unless you've got an area that you know
they cannot escape from,
In a habitat where they might be able to
survive,

So it would have to be a good fenced in area.

In California, introduced species are
becoming a major problem.
Displacing the natives.

Someplaces in Europe you see whole, big Reindeer farms, raised for meat.

Yep.
A lot of people take pets, like iguana and piranhas,
and other animals like that, and turn them loose,
thinking that they're doing the animal a kindness,
when in fact, the animal may not be able to survive well,
as well as its driving out other species that are local.

Well good, So there's hope for this one. They're doing alright.
How many numbers, would you say
Are left of these in the world?

I'm not sure. There are several thousand of the Barasingha left,
restricted to very few preserves where
they're actually replacing sustainable populations.

Segment Interview time: 18:41 2004 June 28, Monday: Do You Believe in Miracles?
SEGMENT 91:
Interviews with Winemakers
Pavona Winery - Richard Kararis

Friday, December 17th
SEGMENT 92
Endangered Species of the World
Interviews at Mesker Park Zoo

Friday, December 24th
SEGMENT 93:
Interviews with Winemakers
La Rochelle and Beauregard