ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS

March 2013 is the wettest it has been in Spain since 1947, according to data released by the Spanish meteorological agency AEMET. In some places, mainly Navarre, some five times the average rainfall poured down, everywhere in the country having satisfied the rainfall quota of having at least 100% precipitation within the first few weeks. It has certainly likely to be the wettest March in a decade, after 125 litres per square metre of rainfall were recorded in 2001, but if the rainfall reaches 135 litres per square metre in total once the entire month´s figures are collated, then the record of 1947, the wettest March since records began, will be broken, making the month classed as officially “rainy”.

Officers from the environmental arm of the Guardia Civil, SEPRONA, have arrested and charged four people accused of hunting boars with hounds in the Parque Nacional de Doñana, in Andalucia. Those arrested are all residents of Almonte and had trained their dogs not to bark, so as to avoid detection. The dogs would round up the boar, trapping it, before the hunters will then slaughter them with knives. In many of the hunts the dogs themselves would suffer serious and sometimes fatal injuries, and were then abandoned in the park. In addition to the offences relating to animal abuse and hunting, the gang are also charged with crimes against public health as they would sell the meat on the black market.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment has announced the allocation of 250,000 euro to volunteer programs in the National Parks network, which they hope will benefit both the environmental and educational facilities at these locations. In the official bulletin issued this week, applicants for the grants must include elements of training and monitoring of volunteer networks, as well as links to develop social partners and society participation in achieving the objectives of the network, as well as promoting environmental awareness in society, through participation in activities related to conservation.

The Tarra Natura animal park in Murcia has increased its own family of residents, following the birth of a 150 gram ring-tailed lemur. This is now the second Lemur Catta baby born at the establishment, but is so far unnamed and unsexed, as the baby is too small for experts to determine anything more than the fact it is indeed a baby. Females usually give birth to between one and three cubs each birth and these stay close with the mother for at least the first month, before beginning the first stage of integration into the group.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/38401/

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