One of Colombia’s finest national parks, La Macarena, is being gradually encroached by settlers — the park area has been nearly halved since 1948, and there is no sign of an end to the process. The author, a research zoologist of the New York Zoological Society, describes the situation and appeals to the President and the government to act to save the park.

Over-collecting of shells on the Kenya coast, mainly for sale to tourists, has almost denuded some popular and accessible sites. In some formerly rich areas few molluscs can now be found, and collecting has shifted to more inaccessible sites. The authors describe an investigation they made in 1972 and 1974 into stocks held by dealers and the effects on the wild populations. They emphasise the importance of the marine national parks at Malindi and Watamu, where regular patrolling effectively prevents collecting and there are signs that cowries at least may now be re-establishing themselves. The creation of a third and much larger marine national park, near Shimoni, will protect another area rich in shells.

In recent years several African national parks have been faced with the ‘hippo problem’ — a large population of hippos accused of causing serious erosion and habitat destruction. Should they be culled? Uganda decided yes, in the Rwenzori National Park (formerly Queen Elizabeth); but the Zaire (formerly Belgian Congo) parks have always been regarded as strict nature reserves and no killing has been allowed. However, at a joint meeting of the Survival Service and the National Parks Commissions, at Kinshasa, last September, the question was raised in regard to the Virunga (formerly Albert) National Park. The commissions were asked to advise the Parks Administration on the possible relationship between the hippopotamus population and the erosion of land adjacent to the Semliki, Rutshuru and Rwindi rivers. It had been suggested that a hippopotamus population explosion in recent years was responsible for overgrazing and damage to the river banks, increasing erosion to such a degree that the whole river valley was threatened with denudation and destruction. Should the hippopotamus population be culled? Dr Paul Leyhausen was among the delegates who were able to visit the Virunga park in the course of the IUCN meetings, and in this note records his observations and conclusions on the problem and incidentally gives some idea of the complications of the situation.

In a paper published in Oryx in 1972 McNeely and Cronin concluded that small numbers of Javan and Sumatran rhinoceros Rhinoceros sondaicus and Dicerorhinus sumatrensis still occurred in Thailand, in three main areas: the Malayan border, the Tenasserim range, and Chaiyaphum province. Since then new information has come from several areas, and the present authors have re-surveyed Phu Khio Reserve in Chaiyaphum.

Swayne's hartebeest, a race found only in Ethiopia, has declined seriously in recent years, and there are now thought to be fewer than 700 left. The main population at Senkele – under 400 in May, 1976 – has to compete for grazing with the domestic animals of the Galla people – 13,000 in the same month. Translocation experiments have not been successful, and the authors, who in late 1975 and 1976 made a study of the situation, believe that, while every effort to establish a reserve in the wild should be made, the threat of extinction is so great that a captive breeding group should be established immediately in a European or North American Zoo.

The largest remaining and probably the best protected population of the endangered northern barasingha or swamp deer Cervus duvauceli duvauceli occurs in the Dudhwa Sanctuary of Kheri District, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. In April 1975 the authors made a count of the deer in this sanctuary, following up Dr Colin Holloway's 1972 survey. Their estimate of the population as a result is 1200–1600, compared with ‘about’ 1200 in 1972. This article presents the results of their survey along with a description of the habitat.