Taipei – A Taiwanese county on Saturday offered cash rewards for people to catch the Cuban lizard Anolis Sagrei, an invasive species threatening local fauna.The Chiayi County Government said it will pay 10 Taiwanese dollars (30 US cents) for each Anolis Sagrei, or Brown Anole, caught. The lizards can be turned in dead or alive.Brown Anole is native to Cuba and the Bahamas, but has invaded the United States, Honduras and other Caribbean islands.They were discovered in Taiwan in 2000, and have quickly multiplied in the western country of Chiayi and the eastern county of Hualien.In a similar campaign last year, Chiayi residents caught 89,752 Brown Anoles. As the Cuban lizards continue to multiply, the Council of Agriculture has allocated funds for a renewed campaign this year.”They multiply fast and eat ants, spiders and local lizards’ eggs, so they threaten local species and ecology,” Cheng Yung-hua, an official from the Chiayi County government, told the German Press Agency dpa. “The United States and Honduras have given up the fight against Brown Anole because there are too many of them. But for us, it is not too late yet, becaue the population of Brown Anole is not too large,” he said.
Category Archives: Foreign News
Vacuum Assisted Closure Therapy Treated a Wounded Reptile
The Singapore Zoo has made veterinary history by doing Vacuum Assisted Closure Therapy on a reptile in captivity. This zoo is one of the four wildlife parks managed by Wildlife Reserves Singapore, including the first river-themed attraction River Safari.
The Zoo had three komodo dragons and out of them Yoko became the first reptile to get a breakthrough treatment, which is commonly used to support injury healing in humans.
Last November, Yoko had sustained a 16cm injury to her back while hatching a second batch of eggs. She is a mother of the zoo’s first successfully hatched Komodo dragon bred in Asia. She laid her eggs in an underground burrow, where she stuck herself in a crevice of the cave and consequently sustained abrasions to her spinal region. The damaged tissue started to deteriorate and the open wound was susceptible to possible infection.
Dr. Serena Oh, Assistant Director, Veterinary, WRS said, “We kept infection at bay with daily manuka honey dressings and antibiotics. A major challenge was the nature of the Komodo dragon’s skin”.
Several medical experts were consulted and the team decided to use the V.A.C Therapy, which has been clinically proven to treat serious or complex wounds through the use of negative pressure.
Though, reptiles heal very slowly, but Yoko made great progress in her recovery with the V.A.C. Therapy.
Egyptian police stop man at airport trying to smuggle 8 foxes, 50 chameleons to Thailand
CAIRO — Security at Cairo’s international airport on Wednesday stopped an Egyptian man trying to smuggle eight live foxes and 50 chameleons in a huge suitcase out of the country.
Police stopped the 36-year-old traveller and asked him to open his suspiciously large suitcase, revealing the squirming mass of animals confined in small plastic cages.
Brig. Gen. Mustafa Salah of airport security said they confiscated the animals and will turn them over to the Cairo zoo.
According to Salah, the man said he planned to sell the animals in Thailand, use the money to buy cellphone parts and a computer that he would resell upon returning to Egypt.
Transporting live reptiles out of the country is illegal in Egypt.
Though he was released by police, the man elected to stay in Egypt saying he did not want to be separated from his animals.
Airport officials often confiscate live animals being smuggled out of Cairo, often for destinations in the Gulf.
In 2007, police stopped a man carrying a large numbers of reptiles, including baby crocodiles, chameleons and a cobra, he said were for use at a Saudi university.
In another case that year, a Saudi was discovered with 700 snakes in his carry on luggage. He told authorities they were popular as pets in his country.
Gov’t to crack down on snake soup
A bowl of snake soup is considered the best “stamina” food for summer, according to some urban myths. But eating it could put you behind bars, the Ministry of Environment decided Tuesday.
The ministry is planning a nationwide crackdown on restaurants serving soups made with snake broth by July 15 to regulate the illegal distribution, sales and intake of snake meat, a move to protect wild animals.
The authorities said anyone who is caught eating snake meat here and those who import snakes and process them into an edible form will be fined up to 5 million won or imprisoned for up to one year. Those who poach wildlife animals are subject to up to two years in jail or a 10 million won fine.
“We hear some celebrities and sports stars on TV boast about eating snake meat to boost their energy. But we can assure you that eating snake is illegal and is nothing to speak proudly of,” a ministry official said.
Dad dangles tot over lucky croc
The death-defying stunt is part of a ritual in Pakistan in which Sheedi devotees seek blessings for their children.
This father happily waved his five-month-old son in front of one of the fearsome reptiles.
The crocs are regarded as sacred to the African-descended locals in Karachi and to appease the beasts they suspend their children in front of them as part of an annual spiritual festival — the Sheedi Mela.
Each parent makes a pledge to a shrine dedicated to the reptiles and then offer the animals chunks of fresh goat.
If the crocodiles eat the meat it is a sign of good luck — and they feel free to goad the animals with their own flesh and blood believing that, as the disciples of the saint Khwaja Hasan, they won’t attack.
The crocs are so revered that when they die they are wrapped in a shroud and buried like humans in a special croc graveyard.
Teenager Unearths Dinosaur Era Marine Reptile in Vegetable Garden
A teenager in Queensland, Australia, recently dug up a 100-million-year old Dinosaur Era marine reptile in his school’s vegetable garden. A local museum has since identified the fossil as belonging to an ichthyosaur.
Ichthyosaurs, which could grow to 13 feet in length, were ocean predators that mostly fed on fish and shellfish. Some had such sharp, plentiful teeth that they could crush hard shells with just a few bites.
The Australian city where the fossil was found, Richmond, was once covered by a Cretaceous Sea, so fossils for now-extinct marine reptiles and other prehistoric animals are often found there.
Student Raymond Hodgson never thought he’d make such a discovery, especially while just digging in the veggie garden with some of his classmates.
When Hodgson first unearthed the fossil, he didn’t think much of it and was prepared to keep on shoveling. A groundsman who was also present, Ben Smith, happened to see the object. Smith studies paleontology as a hobby. He recognized the find’s importance.
Pakistan – a dreamland for snake researchers
Dr Takacs has travelled to133 countries, yet he believes, “The people of Pakistan are one of the friendliest in the world.” Most venom in Pakistan has never been studied in detail, “We are sitting on a toxin biodiversity goldmine that remains unexplored.” He cannot wait to return and after relishing nehari with tandoori naan, hit the trail with his local friends to explore the biomedical potentials of venomous snakes of Pakistan.
More than 20 medicines and clinical tests come from snake, lizard, and marine snail venom ranging from high blood pressure to diabetes, from lupus to cancer pain with over a billion dollar sales. There is even a skin smoothening cosmetic developed from viper venom, which unlike Botox does not require an injection.
Over millions of years, snake venom has evolved to immobilise and kill prey and predator. It is nature’s most lethal mix of molecules — toxins in the venom target vital systems of the body like nerve-muscle communication or blood circulation and potently inhibit those functions. This precision-targeting of toxins is what makes venom superb for drugs. But high throughput methods to screen toxins were lacking — until now.
While there is a lack of reliable statistics, snakes of Pakistan cause approximately 40,000 reported bites with death estimations varying widely from over 1,000 to up to 20,000 a year. To reduce this number the specific and affordable antivenom must be available in hospitals, along with physicians properly trained in management of snake bites. People bitten by snakes need to seek prompt medical attention. Traditional medicine will not work. “If you are bitten then go to the hospital immediately. If not bitten, then the best thing you can do when seeing a snake is to back up five steps, then you are at a safe distance. Take a photo if you like, call a sapaira to remove it, but never try to kill it — often that would result in a bite”.
As an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago and chasing venomous snakes around the world — to make new medication; I recently received the National Geographic Society’s Emerging Explorer of the year 2010 award.
Since my childhood in Hungary, I have captured and kept reptiles. Now, geared as a pilot and scuba diver, facing wars and snake bites, I enjoy travelling to the world’s most remote jungles, deserts and oceans to collect venom from snakes, scorpions and spiders. I participated in a technology that creates ‘toxin libraries’, with millions of new toxin variants after which this library is screened on a target that can determine the outcome of a disease. It is like making a million different keys, trying them out all at once and finding the one that opens the lock. For me, a new key is a toxin that looks promising for autoimmune disease like multiple sclerosis, arthritis and diabetes.
With cobras and kraits, sea snakes and vipers, Pakistan is a dreamland for snake researchers. I have traversed the country from Sindh to Khunjerab collecting venom, bare-handedly catching kraits at night and teaming up with sapairas to hear their folk stories, some of which have significant scientific basis.