Wildlife Conservation Stories

Once virtually extinct in Russia, the Persian leopard is showing signs of a comeback in the region. Restoring a population takes time so each sighting of a leopard in the wild stirs excitement.

An estimated 1 million pangolins were trafficked in the last ten years, though this number may be conservative given the volume of recent pangolin scale seizures. Learn what WWF and partners are doing to stop the extinction of this elusive mammal.

Illegal killings of rhinos in South Africa are on the decline. In 2019, poachers killed 594 rhinos, down from 769 in the year prior, according to South Africa’s Department of the Environment, Forestry, and Fisheries.

New tallies from the country’s 2018 tiger survey demonstrate a stable or growing population, estimated at 2,967 individuals, bringing hope for the species’ recovery.

WWF, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Model Avionics developed an innovative system to deliver plague protection for black-footed ferrets in the form of peanut butter-flavored baits by drones or all-terrain vehicles to prairie dogs. Recently, the team received a patent for the design—a first for WWF!

While monarchs are not endangered, their marvelous migration is at risk. Because they cluster in an area of just a few squares miles, loss of habitat to forest degradation has serious consequences.

Lions used to attack Kenyan farmer John Mpoe’s cattle almost nightly. Then he installed solar-powered LED lights around the pen where he keeps his livestock at night. He hasn’t lost a cow since.

Established by WWF Nepal in 2016, RRTs help to engage communities in wildlife protection efforts, manage human-wildlife conflict, and monitor poaching and other illegal activities. Today, there are nearly 60 RRTs across Nepal.

Leigh Henry, WWF’s Director of Wildlife Policy, recently returned from a trip to China – the country where tiger farms started back in the 1980s. Leigh and her colleagues visited one of the world’s largest tiger farms– the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park – in the northeast corner of China. This is what she saw on her visit.

Two years ago this month, China took the monumental step of banning elephant ivory trade within the country. Dec. 31, 2017 was the last day it was legal to buy or sell ivory there.

A recent survey revealed the largest number of mountain gorillas ever recorded in a large swathe of protected forest in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WWF and partners counted 459 individuals, up from an estimated 400 in 2011, in the 83,840-acre Bwindi-Sarambwe ecosystem.

Wildlife Insights is a one-of-a-kind cloud-based platform housing the largest publicly accessible database of camera trap images in the world. It allows researchers and conservation organizations around the world to share and analyze wildlife data to ultimately better anticipate threats, understand where and why wildlife populations are changing, and take action to protect wildlife.

Established in 2010 and dubbed Tx2, it is arguably the most ambitious effort ever undertaken to recover an endangered species. Today, the overall tiger population decline has begun to reverse, with better data and improved surveys indicating there are likely now close to 4,000 tigers roaming free across the range states.Here are the Tx2’s top nine achievements to date.

Tigers living on the Malayan Peninsula—a region that includes parts of Thailand, Malyasia, and Myanmar—are at risk of going extinct in just the next two to three years.

2019 has been a year of both wins and losses for rhinos. Though still facing threats like poaching and habitat loss, the global rhino population has increased by 30 percent over the past decade.

Bison in Badlands National Park now have an additional 22,553 acres to roam thanks to a passionate group of supporters who want to see America’s national mammal thrive.

The spot where I captured this image is between two trees, giving a sense of depth, and one, a “marking tree,” has been scratched everywhere by tigers.

The population of snow leopards in Russia has remained stable for the past three years, according to a recent WWF survey. This may not seem groundbreaking, but it is, in fact, excellent news.

These birds benefit when their preferred lake habitats are protected. In the Lake Naivasha Basin, WWF is using an integrated approach to tackle water challenges and further conserve the lake.

Facts about rhinos and what WWF is doing to help protect the species.

Governments from around the world recently gathered to discuss the threat of wildlife trade on species.

Singapore takes an important step in protecting species from illegal wildlife trade.

For Chinese tourists traveling internationally, ivory demand has increased. WWF worked to combat that trend via a social media campaign focused on reaching travelers through Chinese social platforms.

During 2015 and 2016, survey teams combed the Virunga Massif’s dense, mountainous forests in two sweeps in search of gorillas. What they found was good: 604 gorillas—up from just 480 in 2010.