The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF) is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit conservation agency working in Mauritius and the Outer Islands to save threatened endemic local flora and fauna.
The MWF is currently working to conserve the following species:
The Mauritian Wildlife Appeal Fund was established in 1984 as the pioneering initiative of naturalist Gerald Durrell and the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust principally to raise funds for the conservation of endemic Mauritius wildlife. The conservation work in Mauritius began as a species-orientated program concentrating on a few critically endangered species such as the Mauritius kestrel and the pink pigeon at the Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is associated with Mauritius' conservation movement from its roots in the 1970s and is run jointly by the National Parks and Conservation Service and Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, with the help of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. The initiation of the Mauritius conservation program in 1976 was popularized by Gerald Durrell in his book Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons.
1996: the organisation expanded its operations to habitat restoration, including the management of native forests and small islands around Mauritius and in the Outer Islands. Its evolution from a funding-and-administration organisation to a hands-on conservation agency was reflected in the new name adopted that year, the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF).
The Foundation is today perfecting whole ecosystem management and restoration, which includes predator and pest (weed) control. It also has captive breeding programs for animals, and endemic plant nurseries. This work is being done at Brise Fer in the Black River Gorges National Park, and on the islands of Ile aux Aigrettes, Round Island, and Rodrigues Island.
1998:, MWF expanded its activities into two new fields: ecotourism on Ile aux Aigrettes and an Environmental Education programme in Rodrigues.
March 2016: the President’s report of the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation declared St. Brandon an official MWF project to promote the conservation of the atoll at a national and international level.
2020: in the aftermath of the MV Wakashio oil spill reaching Ile aux Aigrettes which occurred during the Corona Virus Pandemic lockdown, an important rescue was coordinated, engineered and financed by the Jean Boulle Group (owned by Mauritian Jean-Raymond Boulle) working closely with Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, (MWF) Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, BirdLife International, National Parks and Conservation Service of Mauritius (NPCS), and the Forestry Service. The Jean Boulle Group provided its corporate executive jet to enable the emergency rescue of three species of rare reptiles (Gongylomorphus bojerii, Cryptoblepharus boutonii) and the lesser night gecko) which might otherwise be facing extinction, following the Wakashio oil spill in Mauritius. Small numbers of lesser night geckos, Bojer's skink (Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)), and Bouton Skinks were captured by MWF from the southeast islands of Mauritius and held in a temporary bio-secure holding facility on the mainland. The reptiles were safely transported to Jersey Zoo by the Jean Boulle Group [1] plane where they have received expert care from leading herpetologists and this safety net population forms part of a breeding programme from which the animals, their offspring or future generations can eventually be released back into the wild. Moving the reptiles to Jersey is a lifeline in establishing assurance populations of these animals and their unique genes away from the disaster zone until the long-term impacts of the MV Wakashio oil spill are fully understood. These offshore islands offer a unique diversity in plant and animal life and are home to some of the world’s rarest species, which are found nowhere else on Earth. Dr Vikash Tatayah, MWF Conservation Director, said, This rescue is our chance to prevent other Mauritian species following the same route as the Dodo, whose extinction wasn’t immediately noticed. When the double crisis of the Wakashio oil spill and the COVID-19 pandemic is consigned to memory, this effort could have avoided a “second dodo moment” for Mauritius. This rescue is our chance to save these unique Mauritian species and secure a lasting gene-pool so that they can be re-introduced one day. Everyone at MWF and Durrell is so grateful to the Jean Boulle Group, who have understood how critical it is that we get these reptiles to Jersey Zoo as soon as possible so they are away from the environmental disaster zone.
2020: The St Brandon Institutional Mapping and Action Plan was finalised. [2]
Jersey Zoo is a zoological park established in 1959 on the island of Jersey in the English Channel by naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell (1925–1995). It is operated by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. It has approximately 169,000 visitors per year.
Rodrigues is a 108 km2 (42 sq mi) autonomous outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about 560 km (350 mi) east of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Islands, which include Mauritius and Réunion. Like Agaléga, Rodrigues is a constituent island of the Republic of Mauritius, under the Constitution of Mauritius and still remains, as explicitly defined by the same Constitution, part of the Sovereignty of Mauritius, together with the following islands: "Agalega, Tromelin, Cargados Carajos, Chagos Archipelago ... Diego Garcia and other islands included in the State of Mauritius".
Saint Brandon, also known as the Cargados Carajos Shoals, is a southwest Indian Ocean archipelago of sand banks, shoals and islets belonging to the Republic of Mauritius. It lies about 430 km (270 mi) northeast of the island of Mauritius. It consists of five island groups, with about 28-40 islands and islets in total, depending on seasonal storms and related sand movements.
The pink pigeon is a species of pigeon in the family Columbidae endemic to Mauritius. The pink pigeon nearly became extinct in the 1970s and the 1990s and is still very rare. It is the only Mascarene pigeon that has not become extinct. It was on the brink of extinction in 1991 when only 10 individuals remained, but its numbers have increased due to the efforts of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust since 1977. While the population remains at below 500 birds as of 2011, the IUCN downlisted the species from Critically endangered to Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2000, and then downlisted it again to Vulnerable in 2018.
The Gerald Durrell Endemic Wildlife Sanctuary is an animal sanctuary founded in 1984, in Western Mauritius. It is an area closed off to the public, in the Black River Gorge region, which is densely forested, and is used for breeding rare, endemic Mauritian species. Among the endangered species in the sanctuary is the Mauritius kestrel, once the rarest bird in the world with only 4 members left. It has been successfully bred and the population has now reached the capacity of Mauritius.
Round Island is an uninhabited islet 22.5 kilometres north of Mauritius. It has an area of 1.69 square kilometres and a maximum elevation of 280 metres. The island has been a nature reserve since 1957 and is administered jointly by the National Parks and Conservation Service and the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation. The island has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.
The Mauritius kestrel is a bird of prey from the family Falconidae endemic to the forests of Mauritius, where it is restricted to the southwestern plateau's forests, cliffs, and ravines. It is the most distinct of the Indian Ocean kestrels. It colonized its island home to evolve into a distinct species probably during the Gelasian. It is the most distant living species among the western Indian Ocean kestrels.
Bojer's skink is a small species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Mauritius including some of its offshore islands.
The Islets of Mauritius include circa 130 tiny islets and rocks scattered around the coast of Mauritius, Rodrigues, Agalega and St Brandon.
France Staub was a Mauritian ornithologist, herpetologist, botanist, and conservationist.
The wildlife of Mauritius consists of its flora and fauna. Mauritius is located in the Indian Ocean to the east of Madagascar. Due to its isolation, it has a relatively low diversity of wildlife; however, a high proportion of these are endemic species occurring nowhere else in the world. Many of these are now threatened with extinction because of human activities including habitat destruction and the introduction of non-native species. Some have already become extinct, most famously the dodo which disappeared in the 17th century.
The Round Island boa, also known commonly as the Round Island keel-scaled boa and the Round Island ground boa, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the monotypic genus Casarea in the family Bolyeriidae. The species is endemic to Round Island, Mauritius. No subspecies are currently recognized.
The wildlife of Réunion is composed of its flora, fauna and funga. Being a small island, it only has nine native species of mammals, but ninety-one species of birds.
Île Plate, also known as Flat Island, is a small island in the Indian Ocean off the north coast of Mauritius.
Carl Gwynfe Jones, MBE is a Welsh conservation biologist, who has been employed by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust since 1985, and a founding member (1984) and current scientific director of Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF). Additionally he is Chief Scientist at Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and an honorary professor in ecology and conservation biology at the University of East Anglia. Often outspoken on the importance of knowing your species and using intuition, empathy and practical knowledge over dogmatic education, Jones is best known for his work in recovering the Mauritius kestrel from just four individuals in 1974, to an estimated 400. Working in the Mascarene Islands since 1979, Jones has led five successful bird restoration projects where the starting population has numbered less than 12 individuals; as a consequence Mauritius has averted more bird extinctions than any other country. Jones has pioneered the use of ecological or taxon replacements to fill the ecological roles of extinct animals and successfully restored levels of endemic vegetation to previously denuded islets. Jones' work has been highlighted in Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine's 1990 radio documentary Last Chance to See, along with its accompanying book, as well as David Quammen's 1996 book The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions.
Jean-Raymond BoulleCOR is a Monaco-based Mauritian businessman, the founder of four publicly traded companies with deposits of nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, titanium and diamonds.
Ile aux Aigrettes is an islet off the south-east coast of Mauritius. It functions as a nature reserve and a scientific research station. It is also a popular visitors attraction — both for tourists and for Mauritians.
Diospyros egrettarum is a species of tree endemic to Mauritius and was once a dominant species throughout dry and coastal forests. Due to harvests for timber and firewood in the past the species was reduced to fewer than 10 individuals on the main land. The only viable population remained on Île aux Aigrettes, a coral island off the east coast, where it was able to survive thanks to protective measures, such as the eradication of exotic plants and rats. The tree is named after this Island.
L'Île Coco is one of the longest islands adjoining the inner lagoon of the St. Brandon archipelago. It is at times inhabited by fishermen as a base for the resident fishing company's fishing activities as well as for fly fishing and fly-casting activities.
St Brandon, an area that needs to be protected for future generations to enjoy