SPNI spring 2018 Newsletter

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The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel

Jackal at Yarkon Park, Tel Aviv. Photo Dov Greenblat

The Day of the Golden Jackal:

The Impact of Israeli Development on Wildlife Distribution

By Shmulik Yedvab, Director of SPNI’s Mammal Center Since the middle of the 20th century, Israel has experienced vigorous development, a process that has accelerated significantly in recent decades due to the dramatic increase in the country’s population.

The development process also changes Israel’s character and impacts the country’s living creatures in numerous “invisible” ways, including poisoning, light pollution, and the introduction and spread of invasive species, among many others.

Some of the animals impacted by this phenomenon are being pushed to the country’s natural and often fragmented periphery spaces while others have reached extinction or are on the verge of extinction, including the Honey badger, leopard, Griffon vulture, and even the Israeli gazelle. Still others have learned to take advantage of their newfound close proximity to humans, namely the inherent advantages of virtually limitless food and shelter.

Most of these species have a varied diet and make good use of the large quantities of garbage we produce. For example, the golden jackal, fox, and hooded crow, as well as invasive species like the Common Myna, thrive among us.

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In recent months, the Golden Jackal has taken center stage in Israel due to an unfortunate outbreak of rabies. This provides us with a good opportunity to learn more about this species and understand its journey over the last century.

The Golden Jackal (Canis aureus) is a predator and one of the most widely distributed canid (dog family) species, avoids arid regions and prefers Mediterranean areas with accessible sources of drinking water. In Israel, the golden jackal is found throughout Israel’s desert area as well, due to the existence of water sources around residential settlements.

Because they are nocturnal animals, the jackals are primarily active from dusk to dawn. They are a social species and usually live in pairs if not small family packs, formed when cubs remain with their parents to help raise the next generation. Despite being a predator, the jackal's nutrition is very diverse and includes live prey like rodents, birds and reptiles, as well as carcasses, vegetables, fruits, seeds and grains, and of course all kinds of garbage.

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Our Most Captivating Issue: It's not just about the Jackals and Sea Turtles In this issue of SPNI News, we present the trials and tribulations Marine environment, Israel. Photo Sarah Ohayon of two creatures that, sometimes uncomfortably, share our little country with us: the Golden Jackal and the Sea Turtle. Our mammal and marine experts are at the forefront of Israel's efforts to protect them, and SPNI has assembled a nature protection staff broad and deep enough to not just monitor our wildlife, but affect regulatory policy and legislation, influence land-use planning, engage the public in this work, and educate the next generation about its importance. The wide array of professionals from all disciplines who work for SPNI are Israel’s lead watchdogs, protecting the future of our nature.

But, like SPNI, even Israel's broader environmental policy community is only effective when it stands on the shoulders of the public. Our members and supporters in Israel and around the globe are the renewable wind energy in our sails.

In our case, the "public" includes the jackals and the turtles. Enjoy reading about them, and thank you for helping us protect them.

Jay Shofet

Partnerships and Development Director, SPNI

<< As Israeli society became affluent, the quantities of garbage it produced grew, leading to an increase in number and wider distribution of the golden jackal population.

In the 1970s, the density of jackal population was estimated at 0.2 jackals per square kilometer. In the last decade, this number has increased to about 8 jackals per square kilometer in large areas in northern Israel.

The density of the jackal population has various implications, including heavy pressure on the species they prey upon (from rodents to gazelle), damage to agriculture (and, as a result, illegal poisoning that harms a variety of other species), and the transmission of diseases.

In the 1950s and 1960s, state authorities poisoned jackals to thin their numbers. These poisonings severely harmed other wildlife populations, including vultures (which to this day have difficulty rehabilitating their populations), hyenas and many other species.

After realizing that this population control measure was doing more harm than good, institutionalized poisonings were halted. Instead, authorities now shoot jackals to reduce their numbers in areas where the environment or agriculture has been damaged.

A campaign to distribute a rabies vaccine via the air and by packaging it inside edible baits, as well as a dilution of potentially pathogenic populations (mainly jackals), has generally kept the disease in check, with a relatively low annual rate of infection and more significant outbreaks only occurring once every few years. However, in 2017, more than 70 cases of rabies were reported along Israel’s northern and northeastern borders, and the disease continued to spread to

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the center of Israel. Most of the diagnosed cases were discovered in golden jackals, and jackal poisoning was once again put on the agenda.

SPNI strongly opposes the use of poisoning to reduce the density of the jackal population due to the tremendous damage this method causes to the environment as well as its dubious effectiveness in stopping the spread of the disease.

It is important to realize that poisoning will cause severe damage to the wildlife population that was already immune, which usually serve as a barrier to the spread of disease. Additionally, as long as we continue to produce so much garbage, a main source of food for jackals, the eradication of the jackal population in any one area through poisoning will fall short, as jackals from other areas will simply migrate there to take advantage of the untapped resources.

In order to stop the spread of the disease, a variety of alternative methods should be implemented, including preventing easy-access to garbage in residential areas and at campsites, enhancing the vaccination program and adapting it to the country's climatic conditions as well as to the biology of the jackal population, disallowing pets to wander freely in the streets unattended, and implementing selective and careful population thinning measures by authorized personnel in accordance with a systematic and scientific program.

The golden jackal is a curious, family-oriented animal, and we must make every effort to allow it to exist as nature intended. With the support and involvement of the government and the public, we can set things straight and avoid any more damage to jackals, humans or any other species.

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It’s Not Easy Being A Sea Turtle Mediterranean Sea turtle

Sea turtle hatchlings

By Alon Rothschild, SPNI’s Director of Biodiversity It is common knowledge that reptiles evolved from amphibians, which in turn evolved from fish. At some point in their evolution, sea turtles, which are reptiles, “retreated” back to the sea while still maintaining several significant reptilian attributes that challenge their lives as marine animals: they must breath air, are caged in heavy armor that adds weight to their bodies, and their eggs must come into contact with air to complete the reproductive process.

Sea turtles spend their entire lives in the open sea. While the males remain in the water forever, the females return to land when they reach puberty (at the age of ten years or more) in order to lay eggs in the vicinity of their own hatching site. During the breeding season, which takes place during the spring in the Mediterranean, male sea turtles approach the shallow water to mate, and the females come ashore at night to lay eggs.

This is a highly sensitive process for the female sea turtle, and it cannot take place on beaches that are disturbed by construction, noise, lighting or widespread recreational activities, thus the importance of keeping our beaches accessible, clean and dark.

During the process, the female sea turtle digs a pit in the sand, lays dozens of eggs, covers them with sand, and returns to sea. After about two months, the eggs hatch, usually in the evening or at night, and the young hatchlings make their way towards the water, often a treacherous journey for the newborns, as they have to dodge lurking carnivores like foxes, crows, and crabs, as well as people involved in leisure activities.

The young hatchlings are “programmed” to navigate their way towards the brightest area on the horizon, which is usually the reflection of the moon and stars on the water. However, in coastal areas that are flooded with light, such as those adjacent to a promenade, roads and buildings, the hatchlings become confused by the multiple sources of light and turn eastward towards land, often dying before ever reaching the water.

Even if they manage to safely reach the water, many hazards and threats still await the young hatchlings: • Young turtles are in danger of becoming prey.

• All turtles are at great risk of being injured by marine vessels, since they must rise to the surface to breathe.

• Although sea turtles have been declared a protected species, and their fishing is prohibited by law, unintentional injury from fishing equipment remains one of the greatest threats they face, as roughly 3,000 sea turtles are caught in nets and fishing hooks every year.

• Sea turtles are also injured due to gas and oil exploration activities,

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which operate high-frequency sonar, transmitting sound waves towards the seabed.

• Marine waste also endangers sea turtles, especially plastic bags, which they sometimes swallow by mistake thinking that they are jellyfish, a part of their diet.

As a result, the current survival rate of sea turtle hatchlings reaching sexual maturity is one in a thousand at best.

What is SPNI doing to keep the sea turtles safe?

1. SPNI is lobbying for the zoning of marine nature reserves that will protect the entire marine ecosystem, including turtles and their feeding grounds.

2. The Sea Watch phone app was specially developed by SPNI to enable the public to take a direct part in improving the ecological state of the Mediterranean Sea by sending real-time reports to SPNI professionals on a variety of marine environmental incidents and hazards.

3. Thanks to SPNI’s campaigning efforts, new fishing regulations are expected to reduce sea turtle mortality by withdrawing bottom trawlers from shallow water, shutting down trawlers at the northern area of the Mediterranean, and instituting a fishing moratorium during spring, which is the breeding season of sea turtles.

However, we are still advocating for the complete implementation of the originally drafted reform, including: • Shutting down the entire bottom trawler fleet – with adequate compensation – and removing it from the sea.

• Replacing commonly used fishing hooks with round-shaped hooks that do not penetrate the turtle’s stomach.

• Adoption of new standards in military, gas and oil explorations activities to reduce their harmful impact on sea turtles.

4. SPNI is also lobbying for turtle-friendly beaches, including measures to: • Keep shores dark along the sandy beaches and utilize appropriate lighting that will not cause light pollution.

• Maintain turtle-friendly recreational activities, prohibiting vehicles from driving on the beach, and directing noisy recreational activities to designated public beaches, while keeping other beaches noise and light-free.

5. SPNI work on several fronts to educate the public and encourage them to keep the marine environment clean, and leads marineenvironmental projects, run in cooperation with the IDF and INPA, as part of the Nature Defense Forces initiative.

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Baltimore Oriole. Photo Jonathan Meyrav

UPCOMING EVENTS

SPNI springs into action in North America!

May 2-3: SPNI Birding Presentations in Texas Even birding is bigger in Texas! SPNI expert birder Jonathan Meyrav will visit Austin (May 2) and Houston (May 3) to discuss the unique and awesome spectacle of bird migrations in Israel.

May 4-6: SPNI Birding Weekend in Cape May, NJ Our first-ever migration-themed weekend in Cape May, NJ, will include birding, presentations and social activities focusing on the beauty of migration. SPNI expert birders Dan Alon and Jonathan Meyrav will be on hand to spread the word about birding and conservation in Israel and beyond. The Cape May weekend, SPNI's first such event to take place in the USA, will be hosted by the SPNI birders in conjunction with the Cape May Bird Observatory and will celebrate the wonderful cross border conservation effort.

May 7-8: SPNI Birding Walk in Canada SPNI expert birders Dan Alon and Jonathan Meyrav will continue their North American tour with a two-day birding walk at Long Point Provincial Park,a prime birding location on the northwest shore of Lake Erie near Port Rowan, Ontario, Canada.

There is a fee for this special birding to cover transportation and accommodation.

June 3: SPNI at the Celebrate Israel Parade in NYC With over 40,000 marchers and hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic spectators from across the United States and around the globe, the Celebrate Israel Parade is the largest pro-Israel event of the year – the ultimate Zionist block party. Join us as we march along the parade route (Fifth Avenue from 59th St. - 74th St. in Manhattan) with American and Israeli community leaders and dignitaries, entertainers, artists, musicians, dancers, celebrities, floats and marching bands to mark Israel’s 70th birthday and share our love of Israel’s unique nature. Participants will receive special edition SPNI t-shirts and hats, not to mention an unforgettable experience.

For more information about events in the USA and to register, please contact Robin at 1-800-411-0966 or via e-mail at aspni@aol.com.

For more information about events in Canada and to regsiter, please contact the CSPNI office at 647-346-0619 or via e-mail at canada@spni.org.il.

Photo Avital Yogev

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www.natureisrael.org international@spni.org.il EDITOR: Aya Tager THE SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATURE IN ISRAEL 2 HaNegev Street, Tel Aviv 6618602 Tel: +972-3-638-8653 Email: international@spni.org.il Iris Hann, CEO Jay Shofet, Director, Partnerships and Development NATURE ISRAELTM THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATURE IN ISRAEL 28 Arrandale Avenue, Great Neck, NY 11024 Tel: 1 (800) 411-0966 Email: aspni@aol.com Leon Sokol & Russell Rothman, Co-Chairs Robin Gordon, Director THE CANADIAN SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF NATURE IN ISRAEL 25 Imperial St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario M5P 1B9 Tel: 1 (647) 346-0619 Email: canada@spni.org.il Allan Shiff, President Avi Sadiv, Coordinator LES AMIS DE LA TERRE D’ISRAËL “Les Empereurs” 6 rue Spitalieri, Nice 06000 Tel: +33 6 15 76 75 04 Email: bernard.rebibo@gmail.com Bernard Rebibo, President Norbert Lipszyc, Chairman SPNI UNITED KINGDOM PO Box 67678, London, NW11 1LD Tel: +44 207 048 6057 Email: UKSPNI@spni.org.il John Levy, Su Blake, Linda Falter, Dr Richard Melzack, Trustees

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