Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Please go to Viva Vaquita’s website and go to the Facebook part on the bottom to look at some cool news updates; I might as well just show you the whole site rather than giving you each update separately.

Also, you might know that I am an avid birder (see my birding blog). I have found a “winged Vaquita.” A species of shorebird, called the Spoon-billed Sandpiper, is in as much need for help as the Vaquita. There are only about 200 left (sound familiar?), and are rapidly decreasing. I have taken the responsibilty of creating a new blog, The Spoon-billed Sandpiper World, and it serves the same purpose as V-log: to inform the public about an extremely endangered species. TSBSW is still a work in progress, but please check it out and follow it so you will be able to get all the updates. Thanks so much.

PROFEPA progress

According to vaquita.tv and www.vivavaquita.org, as part of the enforcement
activities from January-August 2012 PROFEPA reports:
– Surveillance: 559 boat
trips and 15 flights
– 135 written inspection reports
– Confiscated 20,390
kg in product, 243 fishing gears, 55 skiffs (pangas)
– 1 person arrested for
poaching (geoduck and totoaba swim bladder)

This is very great news for the Vaquita. Here’s my petition to the President of Mexico, PROFEPA, and SEMARNAT asking to continue with these efforts and some others. Every signature counts!

http://www.change.org/petitions/save-the-elusive-vaquita

Toshiba Vision rejecting Vaquita

¡Viva Vaquita! brings up a great point in saying in a Facebook post that Toshiba Vision has not allowed the Vaquita picture in Times Square, NYC to be on the big screen for the Put Your Face on Toshiba Vision. I actually happened to contact Toshiba Vision about a week ago with the same complaint, still with no reply. My dad and I have been voting every day (sometimes it lets you vote more than once a day), and have literally voted at least 900 times. Now the Vaquita picture has about 1500 votes, and it is not a question to whether or not it has the most votes—second place has 76—because every picture besides the Vaquita has been featured on the screen in front of the city, even if they have no votes. It is ridiculous that they are not allowing the Vaquita picture on the screen, and the only possible reason I can think of is that it is not a human “face” (Put Your Face on Toshiba Vision). I ask everyone to keep voting for the Vaquita, http://apps.facebook.com/your_face_on_toshiba/vote-view.php?id=1632, and also to contact Toshiba Vision with a complaint. Maybe if they receive enough emails about the same thing they will cave in. I can’t thank you enough, and please share this with your friends.

More articles

Check out these articles:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/world/americas/13dolphin.html?_r=0

http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/features/201414/how-now-little-cow

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=usdeptcommercepub

http://eeb19.biosci.arizona.edu/courses/Ecol406R_506R/506-Lit-CEDO-2008/Vaquita%20Conservation%20Mamm%20Rev.pdf

http://eebweb.arizona.edu/courses/Ecol406R_506R/DAgrosaetal2000.pdf

Tom Jefferson slideshow

Take a little while to go through this presentation/slide show by Tom Jefferson: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.404646446091.182152.164400421091&type=3. It is very informative, and talks about a lot of important issues.

Along with that, watch these two videos: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=vb.164400421091&type=2, also on the ¡Viva Vaquita! Facebook page. The one with the active Vaquitas is very heartening. If you haven’t already, check out the rest of the photos and the whole Facebook page when you get the chance. It makes me want to live in San Diego!:) Thanks.

Education page

Attention teachers or students: click here to visit the Last Chance for the Desert Porpoise website’s Education page. It includes great project ideas for your classes that seem very fun and intriguing. It is on an amazing and reliable website, and the projects are based on the documentary found on the site. The projects are a great way to teach people/learn about the Panda of the sea. If you would like to see the whole website, click here: http://vaquita.tv/.