Isobel Shepherd-Smith has a nice article on The Times website about the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and how it has been working to bring back native creatures from the brink of extinction. The article ticks many of the Last Chance To See boxes with mentions of Carl Jones, Dodos, Mauritius Kestrels, Pink Pigeons, Echo Parakeets, Gerald Durrell, Round Island, and Rodrigues.

In the Seventies the kestrel, the only raptor on the island, was one of the rarest birds in the world – only four lived in the wild. Today there are more than 800.

In 1980 the number of pink pigeons barely made double figures; 27 years later there were 380. In the 1980s the emerald green echo parakeet numbered little more than a dozen; now there are well over 300.
[...]
“At the start of this conservation work in the 1970s the future of the endemic species in Mauritius and Rodrigues seemed bleak and many thought that few could be saved from extinction. Thirty years later the long-term conservation of all the Mascarene [Mauritius, Réunion and Rodrigues] endemics is within our grasp.”

David Quammen's book "The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction", is previewed over at Google Books, and features the pages that introduce Mauritius Kestrel conservationist Carl Jones into the story. Carl Jones featured in both the Last Chance To See book and also in the Rodrigues Fruitbat Radio Episode which is now available for streaming from the BBC Last Chance To See website.

Carl Jones is a tall, sarcastic Welshman with a sheepdog haircut, a weakness for bad jokes, and a manic devotion to native Mauritian wildlife, especially the birds. His reputation carries far beyond south-western Mauritius, but I've only just met him, and I hardly know what to expect. I know that he has lived on the island a dozen years. I know that he runs a bird-rescue project in the vicinity of Riviere Noire, near the mouth of a system of steep valleys and igneous cliffs called (at least by the English speakers in this polyglot culture) the Black River Gorges. I know that the Black River Gorges contain small, precious remnants of forest, enclaves of wild landscape amid the sugar cane and the urban sprawl and the beach-tourism development that carpet modern Mauritius. I know that one focus of Jones's efforts has been the severely endangered falcon, the Mauritius kestrel, which stood just a sneeze from extinction then Jones first arrived. And I know that Jones, though trained as a scientist, retains the admirable passion and zeal of an adolescent pigeon fancier.

The full version of the book is available at both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

I thought I'd share these interesting animations by Iain Gardner from the UK.

Firstly, check out his film "Flight of the Dodo" which features Carl Jones talking about his work in Mauritius with the Pink Pigeon and Echo Parakeet.

And now, check out these "Sketchbook" animations of endangered animals such as Aye-Aye, Gorilla, Polar Bears and Rhinos. Iain says "These studies are as much about memory as they are observation. Memories are all we will have left of these species unless more is done to protect these wonderful creatures in the wild."