Free Webinar Addresses Fertility Control and African Elephants

MEDIA, Pa. - April 12, 2021 - PRLog -- The Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control (BIWFC) will host a free webinar addressing the use of immunocontraceptives on African elephants on Thursday, April 15 at 11 AM (EDT). "Providing ecological and social context for elephant immunocontraception: a case study in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa" will be presented by Paul Cryer, Ecologist and Coordinator of the African Conservation Trust's Applied Ecology Unit. This presentation will review the setting in which elephant immunocontraception has been applied within Ithala Game Reserve, a community-owned provincial protected area.

The webinar will illustrate the relationship between local priorities of elephant management and broader perspectives on national, continental, and global scales. For the implementation of immunocontraception to add value within protected areas, it must dovetail with other strategies that contribute to environmental sustainability at both local and global levels.

Ithala Game Reserve provides a test-case where human-elephant conflict is being addressed through a suite of approaches. Within those approaches, a reduced elephant population growth rate provides an essential platform for shifting human consciousness toward a more holistic perception of sustainability, one that may be valid at local and global levels. Approaching human-elephant conflict from multiple approaches, including immunocontraception and range expansion, may point to expanded protected areas, benefitting all species, and increased socio-economic security for the human community members.

Paul Cryer is coordinator of the African Conservation Trust's Applied Ecology Unit. His focus is the expansion of conservation areas for priority species, especially elephant and rhino. This area of ecology has included working with local communities to co-create innovative solutions to the socio-economic and environmental issues facing people and the environment. To mitigate human-elephant conflict, he has developed and led training in elephant behavior, specifically for conservation staff and community members encountering elephant on foot. He holds a BSc in Zoology, an MSc in Environmental Management with additional short course qualifications in protected area management, environmental law and GIS.

For more information or to register visit https://www.wildlifefertilitycontrol.org/webinar-9-elepha...

The Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control is a non-profit organization headquartered in Media, PA, that aims to advance the use of effective, sustainable fertility control methods to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts and promote coexistence worldwide. Learn more at https://www.wildlifefertilitycontrol.org