Pie still remains in the sky as far as the hard-pressed fin whale is concerned, following the 26th meeting of the International Whaling Commission in London in June. But the sky has got perceptibly nearer. After the 1973 IWC meeting fin whaling stood to end in 1976; now it should end in 1975—provided the outcome of an Australian resolution is not denounced by Japan and Russia under the 90-day rule that makes the IWC so ineffective. The Australian resolution provided for a total moratorium on all protection stocks, defined as stocks whose annual increment does not maintain the population, so that the fin whale seems bound to be included. The other whales currently being hunted, the sei, minke and sperm whales, are still within the maximum sustainable yield, but there is every reason to fear that, if whaling continues, they too will have to be classed as protection stocks.

When the white man came to Nyasaland—now Malawi—the country teemed with wildlife. The next hundred years saw a fivefold increase in the human population and an immense depletion of the wild animals. Today, although protected only in the five national parks and three game sanctuaries, the wildlife is again increasing, and the main tasks are to develop the reserves and educate the young especially to value them.

In May 1969 we published the Mammal Society's report on the status of otters in Britain. This was based on figures supplied by otter hunts covering a large part, but not all, of England and southern Scotland. This second report, based on data collected in the same way, was compiled by Professor H. R. Hewer, who fortunately had completed this draft before his untimely death last February. Unfortunately, one hunt, in the north-east, was unable to supply any comparable figures, but for the areas covered—see the map opposite—this second report provides a valuable comparison. It shows that in some counties, in the four years 1968–71, otters have held their own or increased slightly, but in the Midlands especially the decline continues, and the otter can truthfully be described as a locally endangered species.

The IUCN's Red Data Book for endangered mammals lists 269 species and forms. Of these 135 are on red sheets indicating that they are in real danger of extinction and that only active measures can save them. The FPS Hon. Secretary has selected 25 of these and suggests what action must be taken for each one immediately. The species are arranged here in systematic order, not in any order of priority.

Following a visit to Tanzania in the autumn of 1972, the author, who, until 1971, was Director of National Parks in Tanzania, reports the good news that the Government's decision to allow grazing of domestic animals in a critical area bordering the Serengeti National Park has in fact been strictly interpreted. The amount of grazing is declining and is likely to do so still more.

The whale has become a symbol of world concern for the preservation of wildlife, concern mostly by people who have not the faintest idea that there is more than one kind of whale, and who do not care about these distinctions anyway. So on the opening day of this year's International Whaling Commission meeting, June 25th, in London, readers of The Times were greeted with a half-page advertisement illustrated with a vertical picture of the blue whale, and titled ‘One is killed every 20 minutes. Is this carnage really necessary?’. The ensuing appeal for the implementation of the Stockholm Conference's call for a ten-year moratorium on commercial whaling was signed by twenty distinguished conservationists, headed by TRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and the Duke of Edinburgh, and nine conservation bodies, including the Fauna Preservation Society, which contributed £200 towards the cost. The FPS Chairman, Sir Peter Scott, and two Vice-Presidents, Sir Frank Fraser Darling and Sir Julian Huxley, were among the individual signatories, who also included the President and Director-General of IUCN, Commander Jacques Cousteau, Professors Jean Dorst and Rene Dubos, Dr Paul Ehrlich, Dr Thor Heyerdahl, Dr Konrad Lorenz, Dr Sicco Mansholt, and the Chairman of the Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), Dr J. E. Smith.

What has happened to the animals and birds listed as endangered species 25 years ago at IUCN's first technical meeting? The FPS Hon. Secretary investigates their present status and looks at the conservation methods that have proved most effective.

There is at present no national park in any part of peninsular Arabia. The FPS therefore welcomed the chance to help Dr Harrison and Major Gallagher formulate their plans for a park in Oman to help save the Arabian tahr and also pioneer the idea of national parks in the Arab world. The FPS approached the Omani authorities, who readily agreed to allow Major Gallagher to make the preliminary survey, and the Society is also sponsoring the proposed scientific expedition in April 1975 described in this article. Michael Gallagher's photograph above was taken in the area.

A wildlife guard in the Kaziranga National Park, in Assam, describes what happens to the wildlife in the floods that inundate large areas every year, and the need for powered boats for rescue operations.

The Society's tour to Rwanda and Zaïre, in July, broke new ground both for the Society and for any British wildlife tour. The fifteen members who took part were rewarded by, among other things, a wonderful experience of mountain gorillas at ten-foot range and a ring-side view of a live volcano. Sir Hugh was leader of the party.

In this account of a safari to look for Arabian oryx in Oman—home of probably the last survivors in the wild—the author found remains of three dead animals and evidence for the chasing and capture alive of four more. These, he believes, were the last wild Arabian oryx. Other observers think that it is too soon to say, and emphasise the vastness of the area, but certainly, in the interval since this safari in October 1972, no reports of wild Arabian oryx have been received by the FPS.