CROCODILE SPECIALIST GROUP NEWSLETTER VOLUME 31 No. 3 • JULY 2012 - SEPTEMBER 2012 IUCN • Species Survival Commission CSG Newsletter Subscription The CSG Newsletter is produced and distributed by the Crocodile CROCODILE Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). The CSG Newsletter provides information on the conservation, status, news and current events concerning crocodilians, and on the SPECIALIST 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 Newsletter is available as: • Hard copy (by subscription - see below); and/or, • Free electronic, downloadable copy from “http://www.iucncsg. GROUP org/pages/Publications.html”. Annual subscriptions for hard copies of the CSG Newsletter may be made by cash ($US55), credit card ($AUD55) or bank transfer ($AUD55). Cheques ($USD) will be accepted, however due to increased bank charges associated with this method of payment, cheques are no longer recommended. A Subscription Form can be NEWSLETTER downloaded from “http://www.iucncsg.org/pages/Publications. html”. All CSG communications should be addressed to: CSG Executive Offi ce, P.O. Box 530, Karama, NT 0813, Australia. VOLUME 31 Number 3 Fax: (61) 8 89470678. E-mail: [email protected]. JULY 2012 - SEPTEMBER 2012 PATRONS IUCN - Species Survival Commission We thank all patrons who have donated to the CSG and its conservation program over many years, and especially to CHAIRMAN: donors in 2011-2012 (listed below). Professor Grahame Webb PO Box 530, Karama, NT 0813, Australia Big Bull Crocs! ($15,000 or more annually or in aggregate donations) Japan, JLIA - Japan Leather & Leather Goods Industries EDITORIAL AND EXECUTIVE OFFICE: Association, CITES Promotion Committee & All Japan PO Box 530, Karama, NT 0813, Australia Reptile Skin and Leather Association, Tokyo, Japan. Heng Long Leather Co. Pte. Ltd., Singapore. Hermes Cuirs Precieux, Paris, France. Printed by: Uniprint NT Singapore Reptile Skin Trade Association, Singapore. Charles Darwin University, NT 0909, Australia Friends ($3000 - $15,000) Mainland Holdings, Lae, Papua New Guinea. COVER PHOTOGRAPH: Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus Phillip Cunliffe-Steel, New Zealand/Australia. porosus). Photograph: Grahame Webb. Enrico Chiesa, Italhide, Italy. La Ferme aux Crocodiles, France. Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, NV, USA. Thai Animal Skin & Hide Industrial Co. Ltd. and United EDITORIAL POLICY: All news on crocodilian conservation, Leather Product Co. Ltd., Thailand. research, management, captive propagation, trade, laws and Yee Tai Leather Enterprise Ltd., Hong Kong. regulations is welcome. Photographs and other graphic materials are particularly welcome. Information is usually published, as submitted, over the author’s name and mailing address. The editors Supporters ($1000 - $3000) also extract material from correspondence or other sources and these items are attributed to the source. If inaccuracies do appear, please Crocodile Conservation Institute, SC, USA call them to the attention of the editors so that corrections can be William Belo, Coral Agri-Venture Farm, Philippines. published in later issues. The opinions expressed herein are those of Pan American Leathers Inc., MA, USA. the individuals identifi ed and are not the opinions of CSG, the SSC PT. Ekanindya Karsa, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia. or the IUCN unless so indicated. George Saputra, IRATA, Jakarta, Java, Indonesia. 2 Yosapong Temsiripong, “Sriracha Moda” and “Crocodile & mission will be undertaken in early December 2012 by Dr. Ostrich Cooperative of Thailand”, Thailand. Parntep Ratanakorn, Yosapong Temsiripong and Tom Dacey. The Marine Products Association, Hong Kong. The CSG also proposes to send a high level delegation to Indonesia to discuss crocodile management in general, but Contributors ($250 - $1000) with a specifi c focus on populations of C. siamensis and T. schlegelii in Lake Mesangat, East Kalimantan. East Coast Zoological Society (Brevard Zoo), FL, USA. Carl Camden, Kelly Services Inc., USA. The Northern Territory Government is seeking approval Simone Comparini, Pantera S.R.L., S. Croce s/Arno, Italy. of a modifi ed management program, which would allow Luis Gonzaga, Sitio do Carração Ltda., Brazil. trial safari/sport hunting of up to 25 C. porosus. Following James Hennessey, Reptile Village Zoo, Ireland. consultation with CSG members, the Executive Offi cer Indonesian Crocodile Farmers Association, Indonesia. provided comments to the Australian Federal Government. Rob Gandola, Ireland. The CSG fully supports the proposed amendment to the NT Vic Mercado, Microlab, Philippines. Management Plan and recommends its approval by the Federal Ari Palomo Del‘Alamo Criatório Caiman Ltda., Brazil. Minister under Subsection 303FO(3) of the Environment J. Perran Ross, Gainesville, FL, USA. Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The Ebey family, New Mexico, USA. Nao Thouk, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A fi nal report on the 2012 IUCN-SSC Chairs’ Meeting (Abu Virginia Aquarium, Virginia Beach, VA, USA. Dhabi, February 2012) was circulated to all members for their information. The overall feeling of the participants was that Editorial the meeting was a huge success, and built a new sense of teamwork and vision within the SSC leadership. The meeting It was extremely sad for the CSG to hear that another long- also laid the foundation for the upcoming Quadrennium, time CSG member, Saul Elías Gutierrez Eljuri (51 y), passed helping SGs to consider their strategy and devise new ways away in Venezuela on 17 August 2012, following a stroke and on engaging their membership and the wider community. a short time in hospital. During his career, Saul was Director of the terrarium in the Parque del Este Zoo in Caracas, and In early July, Chinese police intercepted three trucks loaded founded the fi rst Biological Station in the Orinoco Basin, with some 3600 Siamese crocodiles being smuggled from dedicated to breeding and raising a variety of species in a safe Vietnam into China. The incident occurred in Tongmain and sustainable environment. He was involved continually in Town, Guangxi, Zhuang region, close to the border with crocodile conservation in Venezuela, and was active in the Vietnam. Three “foreigners” were arrested and charged. establishment of the Venezuelan Crocodile Specialist Group. We extend our condolences to Saul’s wife and children. Compilation of the Proceedings of the 21st CSG Working Meeting is almost complete, and will be submitted for The CITES Standing Committee held its 62nd working printing soon. Advice will be provided to CSG members meeting in Geneva (July 2012). The Working Group on and participants on the availability of the Proceedings in due Ranching Operations in Madagascar, had recommended: course. “Based on the written information provided by Madagascar at SC62 that outlined its progress to date in implementing the In response to growing incidence of Human-Crocodile recommendations made by SC60, the majority of the Working Confl ict in India, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust organised a Group members (France, Germany, Japan, the United States, HCC symposium during the Society for Conservation Biology IUCN and the Secretariat) considered that insuffi cient conference in Bangalore, India, August 2012. The meeting information had been provided by Madagascar to warrant assembled some of the main players to discuss the issue and the withdrawal of the recommended trade suspension”. This begin drafting a plan to address HCC within India. recommendation was accepted and the matter will now be considered again at SC63. The CSG is of course keen to see The website for the 22nd CSG Working Meeting (Colombo, Madagascar implement a sustainable harvest program, that is Sri Lanka, 20-23 May 2013) is at: www.csgsrilanka.com. It has legal, sustainable and verifi able. details on the proposed program, registration, accommodation and submission of abstracts and papers. The success of CSG Following the 21st CSG meeting (Manila, May 2012), a working meetings relies on attendance to those meetings, number of actions have been implemented. Changes to the and we urge people to try their utmost to attend. As the fi rst CSG Steering Committee include the appointment of: Anslem meeting in the South Asia & Iran region since 1978, it is de Silva as Regional Chairman and Ruchira Somaweera important that we throw our support behind it. and Maheshwar Dhakal as Regional Vice Chairmen for the South Asia & Iran Region; Clara Lucia Sierra Diaz as Vice Annual letters of request were sent to CSG donors, whose Chair of the new Community Education Group; Dr. Parntep support to the CSG is critical to its ability to operate, Ratanakorn as Chairman of the newly-formed Siamese particularly in these diffi cult economic times. Donations have Crocodile Task Force; and, Alan Woodward as Chairman of begun to arrive, and I am personally very grateful to all who the Human-Crocodile Confl ict Working Group. have made a contribution, past and present. With the agreement of the Lao PDR Government, a CSG Professor Grahame Webb, Chairman 3 breeding projects of local fauna, including Venezuelan Obituary tortoises. As much as he loved his country, he worked in conjunction with BBC and National Geographic to show the Saul Elías Gutierrez Eljuri world our natural wonders. (17 November 1960 - 17 August 2012) A man of science lives on in the