Protecting Vulnerable Wildlife

Signature Programs that help Protect Vulnerable Wildlife

Updates From the Field

Global Discovery Expeditions Expands to Vietnam

For more than a decade, Greater Good Charities’ Madrean Discovery Expeditions has been surveying the Madrean Archipelago, which stretches from New Mexico and Arizona into Mexico. The Sky Islands, as they’re also called, host a wide range of plant and animal life, including more than half of the birds in North America. So far, more than 23 Sky Island sites have been surveyed and more than 60,000 database records have been produced. The program plans to continue surveying the area, with another 34 distinct mountain groups remaining, but now, it’s also broadening its scope with global survey work.

In 2023, Global Discovery Expeditions, the rebranded Madrean Discovery Expeditions, is heading outside of its prior Southwest focus area.The first expedition will be to Vietnam, specifically the Sao La Nature Reserve, which is located on a northern flank of mountains within the Annamite chain and is considered a Key Biodiversity Area. The trip has been organized in partnership with Vietnamese conservation organization Wildlife at Risk, with whom Greater Good Charities has worked to help trafficked pangolins.

World Wildlife Fund says Vietnam is home to 16% of the world’s plant and animal species and features a wide range of landscapes, from mountain ranges and tropical rainforests to mangroves and coasts. These landscapes have also been identified as being part of the Global 200 ecoregions, the world’s most biologically important areas to conserve for future generations.

Rescuing and Rehabilitating Trafficked Pangolins

Over the past several years, Greater Good Charities hasteamed up with Vietnamese conservation organization Wildlife At Risk to build enclosures for pangolins rescued from trafficking. The enclosures – equipped with items like large tubes with holes to hunt ants and domes to simulate underground dirt nests – serve as both a safe spot for the animals to recover and to help scientists study the species’ eating and breeding habits.

Wildlife At Risk Director Khoi Nguyen says, “Our facility where we save and conserve endangered species is also a ‘practical workshop’ for any students of biology to study more. We, at this stage, just record any observation of the species for a report as secondary data for any research in the future, including on zoonotic diseases due to trading, or animal behavior during breeding seasons, which in turn can help with management decisions, or even open a case to reintroduce and/or rehabilitate a local extinction of pangolins in a certain area.”

This project also recently had a bit of a happy addition: A new pangopup! The baby pangolin was born in February 2023. When they first arrive on the scene, the pangopups have soft, white scales that will harden after a few days. They also get around by riding on their mothers’ tails while clinging to their scales.

This latest addition – as well as another born since this partnership began – has big implications for the project and may ultimately help with biodiversity and the environment.

Providing Food and Shelter for Red Pandas

The red panda population has fallen by an estimated 40% over the past 20 years. Among the biggest threats to this endangered species are habitat loss and degradation. With your help, we’ve been able to take some steps to address the issue.

Greater Good Charitiesrecently teamed up withthe nonprofit Red Panda Network (RPN) to plant native trees that provide the red panda with shelter and food. This partnership has also allowed for the purchase of land for restoration in Eastern Nepal – a key portion of red panda habitat – and fencing to protect tree saplings as they grow.

RPN says, “Habitat loss, quality degradation, and fragmentation are some of the major challenges for red panda conservation in Nepal. To overcome those challenges, consecutive plantation programs have been done in various patchy and barren spaces by RPN since 2015. Plantations conserve the forest we already have, and restore damaged forest to its healthy state.”

Longterm, the goal is to reduce forest fragmentation and connect important red panda habitat areas in Nepal.

Mask Donations Help Wildlife Sanctuaries Continue Essential Work

GreaterGood has donated masks to 11 sanctuaries in four African countries to help their workers and volunteers stay safe, as well as to keep the animals safe. Each of these wildlife sanctuaries is part of the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance.

Primates at these sanctuaries need a great deal of care and attention from the teams of people who work at the wildlife sanctuaries, and they couldn't do so safely without masks to protect themselves and those around them against disease.

"Chimps can die of the common cold, so the wearing of masks when we are working with them during the COVID pandemic is essential," says Pauline Stuart, head of Chimp Eden. "The masks are assisting in the prevention of the staff from contracting COVID from the people they come into contact with and transferring it to the other staff and to our chimps. All of the staff at Chimp Eden are wearing the masks every time they are either with the chimps, in their enclosures (cleaning, etc), when they are preparing food, etc., and when in the company of others."

These masks are protecting more than just people too. There's been some debate recently about whether some animals might be able to contract the COVID-19 virus from humans, and, while your cat or dog may be fairly safe from the disease, primates share more of their genetic makeup with humans, making them more likely to be able to contract COVID-19. More research needs to be done to determine exactly how susceptible primates are to this disease, but in the meantime, it's better safe than sorry when it comes to the precious creatures that live at these wildlife sanctuaries. Staff, volunteers, and visitors who wear masks when near the apes and monkeys are doing their part to keep them safe and healthy.

Tigers Bounce Back

In 2010, the number of tigers in the wild had fallen to an all-time low of 3,200. That was down from an estimated 100,000-plus in 1900. Twelve years ago, leaders agreed to work toward the goal of doubling the population by 2022. While they didn't quite manage it globally, their efforts appear to be heading in the right direction.

Recent figures from the International Union for Conservation of Nature show that there are now between 3,726 and 5,578 wild tigers throughout the world. That's up 40% from 2015 estimates. IUCN says this increase is due to improvements in monitoring that give a better head count, but it also shows the population seems to be stable or increasing.