Susana Martin Logbook

As the world´s population grows, more and more wild animals are being forced out of their traditional habitats. Some endangered species are being killed for food or because they compete with humans for territory or food supplies, while others are valued for their fur or uses in medical research. This type of killing has completely wiped out some species of wild animals and is threatening many others. Fortunately, animal rescue organisations are working hard to preserve endangered animals such as elephants, jaguars and chimpanzees.

In Thailand, the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand (WARF) is working to stop human-elephant conflicts in Prachuab Kiri Khan province. Much of the forest in this area has been cleared by farmers and is now used for planting crops, wich has destroyed the elephants´natural habitat and caused a continuing food shortage for them. Elephant herds have begun to come out of the forest and feed on the farmers´ crops, so the farmers often shoot or poison the animals. The Elephant Feeding Project aims to create an ecosystem that will allow animals and people to live together in peace. WARF gradually restores the forest areas, while teaching people who must give up farming other ways to earn a living.

In Central and South America, ecological groups are attempting to increase the number of jaguarse, the largest cats found in the Western hemisphere. Adult males can be uo to 2.3 metres long and weigh up to 250 kilograms. There are still jaguars in the area near the Amazon River; however, the population eleswhere in South America is very small and the jaguar disappeared completely in the United States during the 1940s. At one time, the jaguar´s skin was considered very valuable, but today laws preventing the trapping or shooting of jaguars have reduced the demand for the skins. Many animals are still killed, however, because these predators often turn to cattle and other farm animals for food when their natural habitat disappears.

In the Bossou Hills of Guinea, West Africa, a Japanese scientist is working to save the area´s rapidly shrinking chimpanzee population. The local population has been cut off from other groups because much of the forest connecting the Bossou Hills area with other forest regions has been cut down. Tesuro Matsuzawa is working to replant groups of trees in the open fields to connect the forest areas once again. However, it may be several yearse before the world knows whether or not his plan will work.