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Crocodile Specialist Group Newsletter 25(1): 14 CROCODILE SPECIALIST GROUP NEWSLETTER VOLUME 26 No. 4 • OCTOBER 2007 - DECEMBER 2007 IUCN - World Conservation Union • Species Survival Commission CSG Newsletter Subscription CROCODILE The CSG Newsletterr is produced and distributed by the Crocodile Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN-The World Conservation Union. The CSG Newsletterr provides information on the conservation, status, news and current events concerning crocodilians, and on SPECIALIST the activities of the CSG. The Newsletter is distributed to CSG members and to other interested individuals and organizations. All Newsletter recipients are asked to contribute news and other materials. The CSG Newsletterr is available as: GROUP • Hard copy (by subscription - see below); and, • Electronic, downloadable copy (free) from “www.fl mnh.ufl . edu/natsci/herpetology/CROCS/CSGnewsletter.htm”. Annual subscriptions for hard copies of the CSG Newsletterr may be made by cash ($US40), credit card ($AUD55) or bank transfer ($AUD55). Cheques ($USD) will be accepted, however due to NEWSLETTER increased bank charges associated with this method of payment, cheques are no longer recommended. A Subscription Form can be downloaded from “www.wmi.com.au/csgnewsletter”. All CSG communications should be addressed to: VOLUME 26 Number 4 CSG Executive Offi ce, PO Box 530, Sanderson NT 0813, OCTOBER 2007 – DECEMBER 2007 Australia. Fax: (61) 8 89470678. E-mail: [email protected]. IUCN - The World Conservation Union PATRONS Species Survival Commission We thank all patrons who have donated to the CSG and its conservation program over many years, and especially to donors in 2006-2007 (listed below). CHAIRMAN: Professor Grahame Webb Big Bull Crocs! ($15,000 or more annually or in aggregate PO Box 530 donations) Sanderson, NT 0813 Australia Japan, JLIA - Japan Leather & Leather Goods Industries Association, CITES Promotion Committee & All Japan EDITORIAL AND EXECUTIVE OFFICE: Reptile Skin and Leather Association, Tokyo, Japan. PO Box 530 Heng Long Leather Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore. Sanderson, NT 0813 Roggwiller Tannery of Louisiana Inc. and Tanneries des Australia Cuirs, France. Singapore Reptile Skin Trade Association, Singapore. Printed by: Uniprint NT D. & J. Lewkowicz, France Croco et Cie-Inter Reptile, Charles Darwin University, NT 0909, Australia Paris, France. Friends ($3000 - $15,000) COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Indian Gharial (Gavialis Horiuchi Trading Co., Ltd., Japan. gangeticus) hatchlings in the Girwa River, Katerniaghat Mainland Holdings, Lae, Papua New Guinea. Wildlife Sanctuary, India (see page 8 for full story). Enrico Chiesa, Italhide S.R.L., Milan, Italy. Photograph: Suresh Chaudhari, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Jake Puglia, Alligator Adventure, Barefoot Landing, State, India. North Myrtle Beach, SC, USA. Reptilartenschutz e. V., Offenbach, Germany. Sam Seashole, Alligator Adventures, USA. Wabin Crocodile Farm and Nakorn Sawan Crocodile Farm, Thailand. 2 Supporters ($1000 - $3000) India. More than 80 Gharials, including many adults, were found dead in a 35 km stretch of the Chambal River, St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, St. between Barhi (Madhya Pradesh) and Chakranagar Augustine, FL, USA. (Uttar Pradesh). The pathology of the dead Gharials is Gordon-Choisy S.A., France. still equivocal with regard to the cause of death, and the Terry Cullen, Cullen Vivarium, Milwaukee, WI, USA. Government of Madhya Pradesh requested help from Johan Jordaan, Zongwe Farming Enterprises, Zambia. the CSG. The CSG Veterinary Science Group, under the Mandalay Bay Casino/Shark Reef, USA. guidance of Dr. Fritz Huchzermeyer, is organizing for Luis Martinez, Caicsa S.A. Colombian Reptiles, a team of CSG veterinarians, familiar with crocodilian Colombia. health and disease, to visit the area and work with the Pan American Leathers Inc., USA. Indian veterinarians to identify and resolve the problem. Daniel Haller, Nile Crocodiles Ltd., Kenya. Jorge Saieh, Zooben, Colombia. By way of contrast, good news from the Philippines. On George Saputra, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia. 14 September 2007, the Ligawasan Marsh Wild Crocodile Yosapong Temsiripong, Sriracha Moda, and Crocodile Research Program was successfully launched at the Management Association of Thailand. College of Agriculture, University of Southern Mindanao, Utairatch Crocodile Farm and Zoo, Thailand. Kabacan (see page 10). I congratulate Dr. Cayetano C. Pomares and all involved. Ligawasan Marsh is one of the Contributors ($250 - $1000) most important natural wetland areas in the Philippines, especially for crocodiles. It contains the largest known Audubon Nature Institute, New Orleans, USA. wild population of the critically endangered Philippine Brevard Zoo Animal Keepers, Brevard Zoo, Melbourne, crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis), along with a FL, USA. population of Saltwater crocodiles (C. porosus), that I. Lehr Brisbin, USA. are extinct throughout most of their former range in the Broome Crocodile Park, Broome, WA, Australia. Philippines. The research project is now underway, with Cairns Crocodile Farm, Queensland, Australia. a commitment to combining improved conservation with Simone Comparini, Pantera S.R.L., S. Croce s/Arno, improved local livelihoods of those who coexist with the Italy. crocodiles. Two reconnaissance surveys have now been Darlow Smithson Productions Ltd., UK. conducted in the marsh, at Cuyapon and Rajah Muda. In Edgardo Fernandez, Crocodilia Colombiana Farm, October, as part of the exchange program funded by CSG, Barranquilla, Colombia. there was a return visit by the Mabuyaya Foundation from Vic Mercado, Microlab, Philippines. Isabela Province to the University of Mindanao (see page Reptel Leather Goods, Madagascar. 11). The “Philippine Crocodile Society” has now also Sirtrack Ltd., Havelock North, New Zealand. been established to further this work. Phillip Cunliffe-Steel, New Zealand. Dr. Nao Thuok, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The fi rst regional CSG meeting ever held in Africa took Vermillion Gator Farms, Inc., Abbeyville, LA, USA. place on 13-15 November 2007 in Tapoa, Niger. The Rachmat and Erik Wiradinata, Jakarta, Indonesia meeting was a direct outcome of decisions made at the last Yee Tai Leather Enterprise Ltd., Hong Kong. CSG Working Meeting in France, and brought together, for the fi rst time, the French-speaking African countries Editorialii that contain crocodiles. The meeting was very successful (see report on page 4). There has already been a request to The CSG has continued to make good progress during the hold a second regional meeting, in Burkina Faso in 2009- last quarter of 2007. Firstly, I want to once again thank the 2010, which the CSG is supporting fully. donors who responded so positively to our annual request for contributions. For the CSG to be sustainable, and to Thanks to Dr. Ruth Elsey, the CSG submitted an article be able to maintain activities, we must be in a secure to the SSC “Species” Newsletter on the sustainable use fi nancial position. We achieve this through the generous of American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) in help of a network of supporters, both to core CSG business Louisiana, which will be a ‘feature’ in “Species 48” rather and to specifi c projects such as the CSG-Tomistoma Task than just a specialist group update. Louisiana’s sustainable Force. use program is truly one of the world’s great examples of wildlife conservation and sustainable use operating hand- The news has not all been good. The status of Indian in-hand. Since the early 1970s it has been an important Gharials (Gavialis gangeticus) in the wild has declined model for crocodilian conservation around the word in in recent years to such an extent that they now meet the terms of both research and management. criteria for Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List. Adding to the diffi culties, reports were received in mid- The conservation, management and commercial use December 2007 of mass mortality of Gharials in one of through farming of of the Siamese crocodile (Crocodylus the last strongholds, the National Chambal Sanctuary in siamensis) remains problematic in that every effort must 3 be made to ensure the wild population remaining in The meeting, initiated at the 18th CSG meeting Cambodia, the last stronghold, is not compromised through (Montelimar, France, June 2006), was attended by more international trade. Following the CSG review mission than 25 representatives from Benin, Burkina Faso, in Cambodia, and discussions held at the CITES CoP14 France, Germany, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and the USA. (The Hague, Netherlands), the CSG Executive Offi cer It was specifi cally designed to target the needs of the met with Vietnam’s Forestry Protection Department in West African francophone region, in which the CSG Vietnam in late September 2007. Agreement in principle had not been very effective in extending its activities. was reached on a CSG review mission to Vietnam. Draft Furthermore, the new CSG initiative was also aimed at terms of reference have been agreed and the review is building up a new forum through which francophone scheduled to take place in April/May 2008, headed by African countries can meet together and openly exchange CSG Deputy Chairman Dr. Dietrich Jelden. Serious information about crocodiles and their conservation and fl ooding in central Vietnam during November 2007 management in the region. resulted in more than 5000 crocodiles (200 breeders and thousands of hatchlings), mostly C. siamensis, escaping Major objectives of the meeting were: from a crocodile farm in Khanh Hoa Province.
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