Then below he found this article in the Guardian, which sums up what we all strive for in this business (apart from Old Mac himself who strives to make a few more pounds for his “Save an Old Farmer from Poverty” campaign and is of particular interest to us as we, with your help, fund the Wildlife Heritage Fund who successfully bred Amur Leopard cubs as you can find on other of our website news.

Photos below show Miranda and David as well as the Amur Leopard. No prizes this time for working out which is which!

First, David’s email about Miranda:

It gives me great pleasure to offer sincere congratulations to Miranda for the award of an OBE for services to wildlife and conservation in the 2012 New Year’s honours.

Over the last 25 years zoological gardens and aquariums have undergone a renaissance. From primarily being centres of entertainment they have transformed into powerful instruments of conservation and education. This change has been led by some amazing and dynamic individuals and included in these is Dr Miranda Stevenson.

Miranda has been a driving force in this evolution of zoos, she has demonstrated best practice, led by example and where necessary by inspiration. She has been instrumental in raising the standards of British zoos to become some of the best in the world and then advocating these advances in the European and indeed the global zoo forum.

In her role as Curator of Edinburgh Zoo, Miranda began to employ techniques to dramatically raise the care and welfare of zoo animals. Miranda also fostered and encouraged her staff to share this knowledge and Edinburgh Zoo became a beacon of best practice. It was also during this time that Miranda began to become involved with the formation of international cooperative breeding programmes for endangered species. Although Miranda’s speciality was primates her knowledge and foresight was able to transcend taxa.

Miranda’s present role as Director of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquaria has been an ideal platform to continue her mission to improve zoos and raise the contribution of zoos to science and conservation.

Miranda has encouraged and welcomed new members to the Association and assisted their development with close mentoring and advice – whether this has been at the institution level or indeed the individual level. Many of us in senior positions in British zoos (myself in particular) are indebted to the guidance of Miranda Stevenson early in our careers.

Miranda Stevenson is an architect of modern zoo philosophy and practice. She has inspired many people and achieved remarkable advances in zoo biology and zoo conservation.

BIAZA President, Sir Drummond Bone says “‘this is a most well deserved honour, and reflects not only all the work which Miranda has put into our community over the years, but the progress she has made in raising the profile of zoos and aquaria generally.”

EAZA Chairman and former BIAZA Chair Simon Tonge says “Miranda has been a great colleague and inspiration to the UK zoo community over many years and I am delighted that she has been recognised by the award of an OBE. It is richly deserved’

So please join with me in sending our congratulations to Miranda – I am sure we will all raise a glass or two in due course !

My best wishes to you all for a successful 2012 – it has started pretty well!

David

David A. Field

Zoological Director.  Zoological Society of London

Chair. British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA)

Chair.  ISIS

Now, the Guardian on Amur leopards:

Endangered Amur leopards from UK zoos could soon be heading to Russia as part of a captive breeding and release programme to save the big cat.

There are estimated to be just 25 to 35 Amur leopards left in the wild in the far east of Russia, with numbers driven down by poaching of both the cat and its prey and damage to its habitat from activities such as logging and forest fires.

But experts are hoping to reverse the fortunes of the rarest big cat in the world with a programme using animals bred from captive Amur leopards.

A multinational scheme to reintroduce the species, which would run alongside efforts to protect the existing wild population, has so far failed to secure the necessary funding, but the Russian government has backed a Moscow-based programme.

Experts from organisations including the UK’s Wildlife Vets International are working with the Russian scheme, which has established a captive breeding centre on the edge of the territory where it is planned leopards will be released.

Leopards will be mated and rear cubs at the centre, with the young fed live prey to allow them to learn how to hunt before they are released into the wild at around 12 to 18 months old – the time they would normally leave their mothers.

Dr John Lewis, veterinary director of Wildlife Vets International and veterinary adviser to the Amur leopard European captive breeding programme, said the centre could start receiving leopards in a few months’ time.

Lewis said UK wildlife parks and zoos could contribute animals to the scheme once the European breeding programme was confident that the centre in Russia was suitable for the project.

Some improvements, such as better security, were needed first, he said.

Lewis has also developed a disease risk assessment to see what conditions may pose significant problems to Amur leopards, and a screening programme to ensure a healthy captive population with genetic diversity.

The plan is to rotate different animals through the Russian breeding programme so that the released young will be genetically diverse.

To begin with, the reintroduced population will be kept separate from the existing wild population to avoid conflict between cats and the risk of spreading disease.

It may be many years before the scheme can be judged to have been successful, but Lewis believes the programme could help with conservation management of other cat species.

“The Amur leopard is facing a situation which may face a number of other big cats in the future, with populations which become so low that in the blink of an eye it could be extinct,” he said.

“A lot of lessons we learn in trying to manage this will be applicable to a much wider range of cats in the future.

“The more we learn about the whole process, on disease risk assessment and management and release, the more we will be in a position to help a wider range of cats.”

At present all the world’s nations are meeting in Durban to try and get a new international treaty on carbon emissions and Old Macdonald was keen to find out what it is all about. He thinks that the only international treaty to set down legally-binding curbs on carbon emissions is hanging by a thread. More and more advanced economies say they will not renew their pledges after the first round of commitments expires at the end of 2012 because the world’s biggest polluters remain outside these constraints.

That leaves the EU in Durban as the only bloc willing to renew its vows – provided the top two emitters, China and the US, endorse a “roadmap” to a comprehensive climate pact by 2015. Without a second commitment period, Kyoto would still exist as a treaty but it would be operationally gutted. Its collapse would send a devastating signal about the climate process ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Rio Summit where the forum was born.

But some experts say the treaty’s labyrinthine rulebook and 1990s-era distinctions between rich and poor countries should be ditched. Kyoto could be cannibalised and its useful parts incorporated into a new approach, they argue.

Climate finance

At the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, developed nations committed to creating a Green Climate Fund that will disburse, by 2020, at least $100bn per year to help poorer nations fight and cope with climate change. The Durban meeting will seek to resolve problems on the Fund’s design.

Developing nations want more money for adapting to climate change rather than keeping emissions down, and favour the creation of a UN-controlled fund to distribute the money. Rich nations, though, prioritise emissions mitigation, and prefer using existing channels such as the World Bank. Another issue is whether to endow the Fund with a specific source of revenue, such as a tax on aviation and shipping fuels, a global financial transaction fee and auctioning of carbon emissions allowances.

Most of $30bn in Copenhagen’s “fast-start financing” for 2010 – 2012 has been pledged and a good portion of it disbursed. Still unclear is how climate financing will build up to the $100bn-per-year-target, starting in 2013. The 2008 global financial crisis and the looming threat of further recession is making this task hard.

Forests

Forests are “sinks” that soak up nearly a third of carbon emissions each year. Loss of forests is also a powerful addition to the greenhouse-gas problem. The UN-backed scheme known as Redd+ – Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation ‘Plus’ – allots credit to tropical countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa that slow rates of forest destruction. It also provides a mechanism for rich countries to offset their own carbon-reduction commitments by investing in that process.

Environmental groups say a portion of the Green Climate Fund should be earmarked for Redd+, which will require $15bn to $40bn to implement, according to different estimates. They also call on the UN body to set a 2020 target for reversing the net loss of forest cover. Neither goal will be easily achieved.

Emissions compliance

A question since the Copenhagen Summit is how to make voluntary national cuts in greenhouse gas emissions measurable, reportable and verifiable – “MRV”, in UN climate lingo.

Progress has been stymied by a reluctance by developing countries to be subject to the same scrutiny as developed ones under the UNFCCC’s two-tier system of accountability.

Rich countries say that emerging giants will account for the lion’s share of emissions in the future, which means the “MRVs” have to be credible. The US, in particular, is insisting on common standards in oversight.

So Old Macdonald will tell you that this is a very complicated subject. It is all very well those of us living in comparative comfort in Europe to expect those living in rainforest areas to stop cutting back trees, but the forest provides their only real source of income and they want to have the right to have decent roads and transport links and to grow crops to raise money.

However all of you can do something in your own lives, because loss of animal life is not just a thing that happens “over there” so take care with your gardens and plant flowers that are friendly to bugs as they feed birds and birds spread seeds, all part of the Circle of Life, and also cut back on pesticides. Then you can make sure any wood you buy is from sustainable sources (those that are not from endangered areas), and of course re use and recycle as much as you can. If everyone in the world did something, between us we would achieve a lot. Even Old Mac helps, he recycles his money, and his jokes too.

Old Macdonald popped down to Hopefield on Sunday to visit their annual Christmas open day, and found that patron of the Brentwood animal sanctuary Leona Lewis had worked very hard with the committee there to arrange a wonderful day out for everyone. The place was packed, and more than this Leona has raised tens of thousands of pounds for this important place with a sponsored walk, a Carol concert and much more.

After the sad loss of Ernie Clark, founder of Hopefield, as well as Paula who passed away two years ago, Old Mac was a bit worried as to how everyone would carry on their wonderful pioneering work, but having seen this he can rest easy. In fact Old Mac has in the past raised funds and given prizes to help them raise funds, and he is now wondering whether maybe they could give him a donation.

Well done to everyone at Hopefield and here is to a great 2012.

In 2012 a priority for Old Macdonald is to get his farm to be even better for access for all, including special training sessions for staff and a review of all our facilities to improve accessibility. We always welcome those with special needs, and in particular schools, with our price rates and staff support.

So when we came across the Private Eye cartoon featuring one of M.C. Escher’s fantastic etchings of the everlasting stairs, and if you have not seen this before do study how clever it is and look at Escher’s other work on the internet, with the addition of a local authority officer saying “Mr Escher we must talk to you about disabled access” it really tickled our fancy and thought we would share it with you.

Old Macdonald found the following article in the Guardian on 17th November and wanted to share it with you. If you have visited our Bull Frog Trio none of this will come as a surprise to you, but it is very worrying and something about which we should all think. Congratulations to Camila Ruz from the Guardian for writing this clear article.

If the current rapid extermination of animals, plants and other species really is the “sixth mass extinction”, then it is the amphibian branch of the tree of life that is undergoing the most drastic pruning.

In research described as “terrifying” by an independent expert, scientists predict the future for frogs, toads, newts and salamanders is even more bleak than conservationists had realised.

Around half of amphibian species are in decline, while a third are already threatened with extinction. But scientists now predict that areas with the highest diversity of amphibian species will be under the most intense threat in the future.

And they warn that a three-pronged threat could also cause populations to decline faster than previously thought.

Like many creatures, amphibians have been hit hard by climate change and habitat loss. But they have also been decimated by the spread of the deadly fungal disease chytridiomycosis.

One in three of the world’s amphibians are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of endangered species. These include the Malagasy rainbow frog that lives in the rocky forests of Madagascar. It has the ability to inflate itself when under attack and can climb vertical rock faces. Found in an area smaller than 100 square kilometres, it is a prime target for the pet trade.

The Chinese giant salamander is also critically endangered. The largest of all amphibian species, it can grow to more than a metre long. Overexploitation for food has led to a catastrophic decline in the last 30 years.

European species are also threatened. Scientists predict climate change, habitat destruction and disease could drive more than half of all Europe’s frogs, toads and newts to extinction within 40 years.

Now the largest study of its kind has found that it is in areas where amphibian diversity is at its highest that the greatest threat lies.

Researchers led by Dr Christian Hof, from the University of Copenhagen, used computer modelling to predict the impact of climate change, the effect of habitat loss from urbanisation and farming and, finally, the fungal disease on amphibian populations.

“What we found looking at climate change, for example, is that many tropical regions, such as northern South America, the Andes and parts of Africa, will be highly impacted,” said Hof. The team then compared this map of impact with the global distribution of more than 5,500 species of amphibians.

The results, published in the Journal Nature, show that two-thirds of the areas with the richest diversity of frog and salamander species will be affected by one or more of these threats by 2080.

Scientists also found that some of the threats overlapped.

The regions where amphibian populations are expected to suffer most from climate change tended to overlap with the areas that could suffer most from habitat destruction. The fungal disease, on the other hand, was more isolated.

“What we still have not really understood is the mechanistic interaction between them, like how does land use change or the fragmentation of habitats influence the potential responses of a species to climate change,” said Hof.

Overlapping threats could mean that estimates of the rate of amphibian decline are too optimistic and that populations could decline even faster than previously thought.

Helen Meredith, amphibian conservationist at the Zoological Society of London (fellow BIAZA members with Old Macdonald himself) said: “Looking into 2080, it seems there will be more extinctions of species of amphibians, which is terrifying as a third of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction now.

“Data is deficient for a quarter of them, which means we don’t know whether they are threatened with extinction or not and about half of all amphibian populations are in decline. And that is just what is happening at the moment.”

So Old Macdonald wants you to think about what you can do, and we can all start by changing the way we live our lives, such as being more careful with wasting the world’s resources as small changes can make a lot of difference if done by many people.

As you will have noticed, being observant types who read these pages, it gets dark very early now as we switch in Britain from British Summer Time hours to G M T. That is why Old Macdonald has to close his farm at 4 pm, because he does not want you wandering around in pitch black skies.

However there is a lot of talk at the moment about changing this next year so that in October we keep to the same hours as in British Summer  Time, and that in the summer we stay light even later. There are many reasons for doing this, and Old Macdonald’s personal favourite is that he can stay open longer and you will spend even more money at his farm. That always makes him happy.

However this is probably not why the Government are considering this. They may be more interested in energy saving as if it is Lighter Later (the campaign slogan) then people use less electricity and it helps reduce the nation’s carbon footprint. Also, the wider economy would benefit too as production goes up in daylight hours, and shops too would have customers out for a longer time.

There will be an opportunity for the Scottish Parliament to keep to the current system in Scotland if they wish, as there are safety concerns about dark mornings for children going to school, but we do support this and hope you will too. So what, you may ask, can you do? Well first of all you can visit the website www.lighterlater.org, learn of the many benefits and sign the petition; you can write to your MP; and you can visit our farm and give Old Macdonald a couple of quid. This final idea will not help the campaign but he insists we add it.

Old Macdonald left his farm on 2nd November and told me he was going to the HSBC building. Now normally when Old Mac visits HSBC it is to stand outside and wave at his money, but this time he was going to the giant tower in Canary Wharf for a conference.

This was organised by LEAF, and he wanted to ask who it was who had cleverly created this name for the charity Linking Environment And Farming as he could do with some clever acronyms himself, but instead he was fascinated by the debates on GM foods, organic farming and water savings, and more on this soon on this blog page.

But first he learnt about the LEAF Marque, as important as the Fair Trade sign on food, because this shows that the food has been produced by farmers who are committed to sustainable farming, which is farming that ensures it does not damage the countryside. There are many tests that farmers have to pass to achieve this and Old Macdonald tells me that 20% of fresh produce now is produced by LEAF marque suppliers and that all major shops stock this food, which not only tastes good and is great value but is done in a way that will help future generations too.

This Marque shows that farmers 

• Carefully managing hedgerows to provide habitats and food for wildlife
• Using pesticides and fertilisers only when absolutely necessary
• Leaving a strip of land between hedgerows and crops to act as a habitat for as a wildlife
• Recycling on-farm waste and conserving energy
• Improving water efficiency and quality 

You can find this on vegetables, salad, fruit, crisps, oil or even flowers. So join Old Macdonald and when you go shopping look for the LEAF Marque.

By the way, he said his money said hello!

Sheep were domesticated 10,000 years ago in Central Asia, but it wasn’t until 3,500 B.C. that man learned to spin wool. Sheep helped to make the spread of civilization possible. Sheep production was well-established during Biblical times. There are many references to sheep in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.

Sheep production is man’s oldest organized industry. Wool was the first commodity of sufficient value to warrant international trade. So the sheep can tell our goats that they have a longer history!

In the 1400′s, Queen Isabella of Spain used money derived from the wool industry to finance Columbus and other conquistadors’ voyages. In 1493 on his second voyage to the New World, Columbus took sheep with him as a “walking food supply.” He left some sheep in Cuba and Santo Domingo. In 1519, Cortez began his exploration of Mexico and the Western United States. He took with him sheep that were offspring of Columbus’ sheep. These sheep are believed to be the descendents of what are now called “Churros.” The Navajo Churro is the oldest breed of sheep in the U.S. Despite efforts by the U.S. government to eradicate the breed, Navajo Churros are still raised by Navajo indians. The Gulf Coast (or Florida) Native is another breed of sheep believed to be directly descended from sheep brought to the New World by Spanish and French explorers.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, England tried to discourage the wool industry in the American colonies. Nonetheless, colonists quickly smuggled sheep into the States and developed a wool industry. By 1664, there were 10,000 sheep in the colonies and the General Court of Massachusetts passed a law requiring youth to learn to spin and weave. Imagine that, knitting as a GCSE subject!

By 1698, America was exporting wool goods. England became outraged and outlawed wool trade, making it punishible by cutting off a person’s right hand. The restrictions on sheep raising and wool manufacturing, along with the Stamp Act, led to the American Revolutionary War. Thus, spinning and weaving were considered patriotic acts. Even after the war, England enacted a law forbidding the export of sheep. George Washington raised sheep on his Mt. Vernon estate. Thomas Jefferson kept sheep at Monticello. Presidents Washington and Jefferson were both inaugurated in suits made of American wool. James Madison’s inaugural jacket was woven from wool of sheep raised in his home in Virginia. President Woodrow Wilson grazed sheep on the White House lawn.

Sheep raising has played a role in several historical conflicts such as the “Highland Clearance,” American range wars, and the English “enclosing of the commons.” The Highland Clearances consisted of the replacement of an almost feudal system of land tenure in Scotland with the rearing of sheep. Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes.

In the U.S. range wars, violent conflicts erupted between cattle ranchers and sheep herders as both competed for land to graze their livestock. Britain’s close of the commons was similar to the Highland clearance; open fields were enclosed into individually-owned fields for sheep farming, displacing many subsistance farmers.

So when you look at Old Macdonald’s lovely and peaceful flock, just think what trouble their ancestors caused in Scotland and in America! Wool I never.

Take for instance the Tiger. Not only do Tigers need reserves in which to live and be protected but above all they need to be able to roam, looking for new lady tigers perhaps, and if they just rely on one reserve with no means to travel they will be unhappy and the breed will not continue. Now in India, Nepal and other countries they are creating protected corridors between reserves in which these magnificent animals can travel to fulfill their natural lifestyle.

Now you may think this is just “over there” a long way away, but nature corridors are just as important in this country to maintain the wide and diverse wildlife living here, and your garden should be a very important part of that! Bees, insects, spiders and other small creatures need to be able to travel around from place to place to maintain their lifestyles and to allow wild birds to hunt them and also to spread seeds around to keep up the balance of nature. So it is not just somewhere else, it is here and in your own home!

What you can do to help is to make sure that when you are planting your garden, window box or flower pots, you use native British plants, and also look to sow wildflower seeds, bee friendly seeds are ideal, and also to allow some areas of grass to grow wild as when you look at long grass you do not want to think of scruffy gardens but recognise that within these areas bugs, worms and other creepies find their home and they are just as important to the balance of nature as anything else.

So we do not want you to open your garden gate on the off-chance that a tiger might be strolling past on a night on the tiles, but do look to be nature friendly in your gardening. Cut out insecticides, use natural methods to control pests, and be friendly to bees!

That is Old Macdonald for you, helping save the world all the time, now you can help him.