Category: Mediterranean News

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Police intervene to help Badem

Orphaned Mediterranean monk seal Badem, released from  summer captivity in November by her carers, SAD-AFAG, was soon sighted around the Datça Peninsula, according to various Turkish press reports. Although SAD-AFAG has stressed, and stressed again, the importance of avoiding contact with the rescued seal in order to help Badem lose her attachment to humans, curious onlookers continue to disturb and harass the animal.

In the latest case, police intervened to cordon off a boat on which Badem was resting, so that she could catch a few hours’ sleep.

Full Story and Gallery: Fok Badem polis yardımıyla dinlenebildi! CNN Türk.

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JUST PUBLISHED: Monachus Guardian December 2010

Just published: the December 2010 issue of The Monachus Guardian, the biannual journal focusing on the Mediterranean, Hawaiian and Caribbean monk seals.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CURRENT ISSUE:

Guest Editorial: Growing up with monk seals in Madeira, by Gil Pereira.

International News: IUCN let down…

Hawaiian News: Updates from Papahānaumokuākea and the Main Hawaiian Islands…

Mediterranean News: Greece: Lazarus dies in rehab… Mauritania: New productivity record… Turkey: Monk seal pup rescued in Aydıncık, Mersin…

Cover Story: Cave habitats used by Mediterranean monk seals in Sardinia, by Luigi Bundone.

In Focus I: Mediterranean monk seal mortality in 2010 in Greece, by Marianna Psaradellis, Vangelis Paravas and Alexandros A. Karamanlidis.

In Focus II: Three monk seal encounters in the Northern Gulf of Evia, Greece, by Giovanni Bearzi and Silvia Bonizzoni.

Perspectives: A new healthcare facility for Hawaiian monk seals in Kona, Hawaii, by Jeff Boehm.

Letters to the Editor: including Genetic scepticism – just how important is genetic research to the conservation of the Mediterranean monk seal?

Recent Publications

The current and back issues of The Monachus Guardian are also available from the Monk Seal Library.

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International petition calls for IUCN action on Mediterranean monk seals

A Care2 petition is attempting to raise a target of 1,000 signatures to present to IUCN, the World Conservation Union on behalf of the critically-endangered Mediterranean monk seal.

The petition urges the international organisation to take action to save the species.

An IUCN General Assembly Resolution in 2008 called upon its Secretary General and Pinniped Specialist Group to mount an international effort on behalf of Europe’s most endangered marine mammal — so far to little tangible effect.

Sign the Petition

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Hotshots of the endangered Desertas seals by Nuno Sá

Media Watch, Madeira News Blog, 17 November 2010

Wonderful photographs of the most endangered seal on the planet The Mediterranean Monk Seal by Nuno Sá off The Desertas Islands archipelago part of the Portuguese region of Madeira where there is a small but growing colony of the seals.

‘Wild Wonders of Europe’ website reports:

“Nuno was privileged to capture the courtship and mating behaviour of this extremely rare marine mammal.”

Wild Wonders of Europe Gallery

Full Story [Madeira News Blog]

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LifeWeb partnership gives multi-million dollar boost to protected areas

United Nations Environment Programme, Press Release, 28 October 2010

Spain-UNEP LifeWeb Partnership to Raise Incomes and Improve Conservation in Protected Areas in Asia, Africa and Latin America

Nagoya, Japan,  28 October 2010. More than fifteen protected areas, including one managing monk seals off Mauritania and another in Sumatra that is home to orangutans, tigers and elephants, are to receive a US$6.8 million conservation boost.

Today, at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, the government of Spain and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced a new partnership for protected areas under the LifeWeb initiative.

Continue reading “LifeWeb partnership gives multi-million dollar boost to protected areas”

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Lazarus dies in rehab

Orphaned monk seal pup ‘Lazarus’, rescued during stormy weather off the Aegean island of Evia earlier this month, has died during rehabilitation, Greek NGO MOm has announced.

Despite intensive care at the organisation’s rehabilitation unit on Alonnisos, the pup did not respond to treatment. As has been the case with other exceptionally young monk seals brought into rehabilitation at the MOm unit, Lazarus (estimated to be around 10 days old when found) continued to lose weight despite regular, round-the-clock feedings.

Body temperature and glucose levels also remained unstable.

The pup, reports MOm, died on Monday 25 October, following a seizure. A necropsy will be performed in Athens in an effort to determine the precise cause of death.

MOm has appealed to the public to join efforts to save the critically-endangered Mediterranean monk seal, its survival threatened by habitat destruction, direct killing and overfishing.