Animal education for volunteers
CHARTWELL – Education for Friends of Free Wildlife volunteers continues.
The ongoing education of (FFW) volunteers is considered important by the organisation.
And this was evidenced at the recent monthly volunteer meeting which was held at the organisation’s long-standing supporter, Sheila Bath Upton’s home in Chartwell.
Margi Brocklehurst, chairperson of the FFW management committee, said that they invited a guest speaker to the meeting, Jerome Ainsley from the Animal Demography Unit (ADU), to teach the volunteers more about animal data collecting.
ADU provides citizen scientists or volunteers the opportunity to go outdoors and collect valuable data for science and conservation. The concept on which the ADU is based is traced back to 1983 when a workshop was held in Johannesburg on the establishment of a Bird Populations Data Bank for the country. The workshop was held in conjunction with a Birds and Man symposium which had been organised by the Southern African Ornithological Society, now BirdLife South Africa.
The ADU has continued to be closely associated with BirdLife South Africa and has a formal partnership relationship with that organisation, with the objective of fostering the development of further ornithological projects.
The close association is appropriate because much of the research of the ADU continues to focus on large-scale demographic studies in which participation by amateurs is a vital element.
“Ainsley touched on the need for citizen science and how we can help in so many ways. The records that we religiously keep regarding the animals we help are hugely important to the ADU as it gives valuable insight into where different species occur,” Brocklehurst said.
She further added that the general public can also become involved by joining on ADU’s website.
“FFW volunteers thoroughly enjoyed Ainsley’s talk and we are now registered to become part of the ADU information highway, you too can become part of the citizen science and make a difference,” Brocklehurst concluded.
Details: www.adu.org.za; www.friendsoffreewildlife.co.za; Wildlife advice 082 561 3681.
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