tagged w/ Poaching
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In July 2007, armed men entered the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park and killed five critically endangered mountain gorillas at point-blank range, leaving the bodies where they fell.
Since September, rebel forces have controlled the area, threatening to kill any conservationists or gorilla rangers who attempted to enter the area.
Diddy and Innocent are long-serving rangers who have spent their working lives protecting the remaining gorillas in the war-torn region.
In this weekly diary, they describe life on conservation's frontline and the frustration of how recent events are hampering their efforts.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7110093.stmIn July 2007, armed men entered the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga... more
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A new study warns that 48% of the world's primates species face extinction.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species says the main threats are habitat loss, primarily through the burning and clearing of tropical forests, hunting of primates for food and illegal wildlife trade.
The survey showed that out of 634 recognised species and subspecies, 11% were Critically Endangered, 22% were Endangered, while a further 15% were listed as Vulnerable.
With 71% considered at risk of extinction, Asia had the greatest proportion of threatened primates. The five nations with the highest percentage of endangered species were all within Asia.A new study warns that 48% of the world's primates species face extinction.... more
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WSPA Animal Rescue
Please watch video: https://www.wspa.org.au/campaigns/orangutan_bos/index.asp?ID=A0808E01
There is a place of refuge for these beautiful creatures, but now it too needs saving.
There is something so tragic about a baby orangutan sitting alone on the rainforest floor. Too scared to even move. Her mother nowhere in sight. The tragedy lies in this baby's chance of survival if left without help.
For every orphaned orangutan that lives through such an ordeal, there are on average three mothers and two infants who have perished. It is vital those fortunate enough to survive are given the care they need to one day return to a remote part of the forest where they belong. Safe. Protected. Home.
Run by Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS), the Nyaru Menteng Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre is the largest primate sanctuary in the world - and a lifeline for the many hundreds of orphaned, injured and abused orangutans who call it home.
With ninety per cent of their natural habitat gone, the threats orangutans face now, and in the future, are terrifying.
https://www.wspa.org.au/campaigns/orangutan_bos/index.asp?ID=A0808E01
Machete attacks on orangutans are common and often fatal for the adults, leaving orphaned infants alive and traumatised. Sadly, some are captured and sold into the pet trade experiencing poor care, disease, injury and psychological trauma which all take their toll on these poor creatures. Many can expect a life of beatings, solitude, confinement and malnutrition.
Amidst this suffering there is hope. Last year, you helped save the Nyaru Menteng Sanctuary from imminent closure. We now need your help to keep it open and running so it can continue its life saving work for orphaned and injured orangutans, and teach them the independence they need to one day return to the wild where they rightfully belong.
Without additional funding, the sanctuary still risks closure. Orangutans could be handed over to the local government for a life of confinement with no prospect of release. Caged and uncared for, we could lose an entire orangutan generation.
WSPA Animal Rescue
Please watch video:... more
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African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a pace unseen since an international ban on the ivory trade took effect in 1989. But the public outcry that resulted in that ban is absent today, and a University of Washington conservation biologist contends it is because the public seems to be unaware of the giant mammals' plight.
The elephant death rate from poaching throughout Africa is about 8 percent a year based on recent studies, which is actually higher than the 7.4 percent annual death rate that led to the international ivory trade ban nearly 20 years ago, said Samuel Wasser, a UW biology professor.
But the poaching death rate in the late 1980s was based on a population that numbered more than 1 million. Today the total African elephant population is less than 470,000.
"If the trend continues, there won't be any elephants except in fenced areas with a lot of enforcement to protect them," said Wasser. He is lead author of a paper in the August issue of Conservation Biology that contends elephants are on a course that could mean most remaining large groups will be extinct by 2020 unless renewed public pressure brings about heightened enforcement.
African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a pace unseen since an... more
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Help stop the trade in bear products, specifically bile and gall bladder.
A bill pending before Congress would amend the Lacey Act of 1981,16 U.S.C. §§3371, 3372, and ban the import, export and interstate trade of these bear parts.
Help stop the trade in bear products, specifically bile and gall bladder.
A bill... more
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UN PANEL PAVES THE WAY FOR ELEPHANT POACHING AND IVORY LAUNDERING
GENEVA, SWTIZERLAND, July 15, 2008 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The illegal black market in ‘white gold’ seems ready to cause parts of Africa to run red with elephant blood once more after today’s decision by the Standing Committee of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to approve China as a ‘trading partner’ for over 100 tonnes of stockpiled ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Many conservationists and wildlife managers have been left stunned and appalled.
“Unbelievable, naïve and deadly,” stated Will Travers CEO of the Born Free Foundation and President of the Species Survival Network. “It was bad enough when Japan was approved as a trading partner more than a year ago but approving China is, in my view, like pouring petrol on an open fire.”
The reasons why China should not have been approved are numerous:
The lack of comprehensive internal law enforcement and trade controls
The steady stream of illegal ivory shipments destined for China.
The increasing involvement of Chinese nationals based in Africa in ivory trafficking
The continued high levels of elephant poaching (estimated to be running at between 20,000 and 25,000 animals a year)
The rising price of ivory (poached Sumatran ivory tusks have reportedly increased in value by 300% since 2005)
The fragile nature of most African elephant populations (only half a dozen or so African countries have robust and significant elephant herds out of a total of 36 countries that are home to the species)
“Now, in addition to all these challenges and threats, we are faced with the prospect of China and Japan bidding against each other for the ivory stockpiles, driving up the price and heightening still further the incentive to poach and smuggle ivory” said Mr Travers, speaking from Geneva where the Standing Committee of CITES is convened. “Furthermore, it will be shocking to many elephant lovers globally to learn that the decision to approve China as a trading partner was supported by WWF amongst others.
Born Free and the SSN have comprehensive records relating to massive and entrenched levels of elephant poaching over the last 10 years. Together with other conservation groups, SSN has consistently argued against any relaxation in the original ivory trade ban approved by CITES in 1989 following a decade when Africa’s elephant population fell by more than 50% from 1.3 million to 600,000. Today, elephant numbers are estimated to hover at around 475,000 – 500,000. Asian elephant numbers stand at a precarious 30,000-40,000
UN PANEL PAVES THE WAY FOR ELEPHANT POACHING AND IVORY LAUNDERING
GENEVA,... more
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llegal Ivory Trade Thrives on eBay Despite Year-Old “Ban”:
Despite eBay Inc.’s announcement exactly one year ago today of a global ban on all international trade in elephant ivory, investigators with IFAW have found that auctions of illegal or potentially illegal ivory have skyrocketed on eBay in the U.S. Further, eBay Canada faces persistent challenges as U.S.-based sellers of ivory list their contraband on the Canadian site.
In response to these developments, IFAW today is renewing its call for eBay, Inc. to institute a full and complete ban on all elephant ivory products worldwide.
“eBay’s affiliates in countries including Germany, Australia, France and China have virtually eliminated the illegal ivory trade on their Web sites thanks to severe restrictions and outright bans, ” said Jeff Flocken, IFAW’s Washington, DC, Office Director. “Unfortunately, according to the findings of IFAW’s investigations, it seems that this deadly trade has shifted to North America.”
“The ivory trade is directly responsible for the slaughter of over 20,000 elephants each year,” according to Peter Pueschel, Director of IFAW’s Wildlife Trade program. “As the world’s largest online marketplace, eBay is one of the more significant conduits for illegal trade in wildlife products on the Internet. This puts eBay in a unique position to set an example for the rest of the industry by implementing and enforcing a comprehensive ban on ivory,” says Pueschel. In fact, such a step is not unprecedented, as eBay, Inc. already prohibits the sale of other contraband such as firearms and ammunition.
With its nearly unlimited scope, largely unregulated access and relative anonymity, the Internet is emerging as the preferred method for the illicit trade in ivory and other endangered animals and their parts.
“Banning all ivory sales would give eBay an opportunity to become a conservation leader and take immediate action to protect elephants and other illegally traded species,” said Flocken. “IFAW stands ready to offer any assistance to eBay necessary to quickly develop and implement a strict and clear global policy banning ivory and to jointly inform and educate the public.”
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=229546
llegal Ivory Trade Thrives on eBay Despite Year-Old “Ban”:
Despite eBay... more
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Going once, going twice: Remnants of 10,000 elephants may be on the auction block
For the first time in nearly a decade, the international sale of ivory from endangered African elephants has been authorized by the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat. An estimated 119 tons (108 tonnes) of ivory, put up for sale from four southern African nations, which was in part conditionally approved in 2002, has been audited and verified by the CITES Secretariat. This sum represents the deaths of over 10,000 African elephants.
Japan is the sole country yet approved by CITES as a trading partner for these ivory stocks while China is up for consideration at CITES SC57 next month. “China is the single largest destination for illegal ivory and to accept them as an importer for these legal stocks will only sustain the rampant poaching that African nations are faced with today,” says Michael Wamithi, Director of the global Elephants Program at International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW – www.ifaw.org), and former Director of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
“Furthermore, each day rangers are putting their lives on the line to defend elephants and other wildlife. Poor African nations do not have the resources to endure the level of ivory poaching being experienced today. There are an estimated 20,000 elephants slaughtered each year for their tusks. And, the bloodshed extends to human lives as well. There are countless rangers continuously killed in the line of duty. How many lives must be lost to realize the gruesome reality and reach of the elephant ivory trade?”
http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=229642
Going once, going twice: Remnants of 10,000 elephants may be on the auction block... more
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The global trade in bear parts from China to Asia and beyond
A new report by the World Society for the Protection of Animals uncovers evidence of the ongoing illegal trade in bear bile products. From Cage to Consumer summarizes the results of an extensive undercover investigation conducted in 2006 and 2007. Bear gall bladders and bear bile products were found on sale in Traditional Asian Medicine (TAM) shops across the United States as well as in cities in Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
With more than 14,000 bears suffering on bear farms in Asia so that their bile can be extracted for use in traditional remedies and non-essential products such as shampoo and wine, WSPA will use this data to help us end bear farming.
Results of global investigation:
% of stores surveyed selling bear bile:
Japan 75%
Taiwan 42%
Korea 33%
Singapore 22%
United States 15%
Canada 14%
New Zealand 9%
Australia 4%
Results of U.S. investigation:
% of stores surveyed selling bear bile:
Boston 50%
Chicago 27%
New York City 20%
Seattle 14%
San Francisco 12%
Los Angeles 4%
Washington D.C. 0%
Portland, OR 0%
Highlights from the U.S. investigation:
Illegal bear products were found for sale in 6 of 8 U.S. cities examined: Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
Intact gall bladders made up 63% of all bear products found for sale in the U.S.
$2800 was the price tag on a gall from a wild U.S. bear offered for sale in Los Angeles.
A Boston shop offered 30 galls for sale.
Bile from wild bears is considered to be more potent and therefore demands a higher price.
Help End Bear Farming!
Please Visit: http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/29_bear_farming.cfmThe global trade in bear parts from China to Asia and beyond
A new report by the... more
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WSPA uncovered evidence of the illegal trafficking of bear bile in the U.S., Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand in 2006.
Illegal bear products were found for sale in traditional Asian medicine shops in 6 of 8 U.S. cities examined: Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
Intact gall bladders made up 63% of all bear products found for sale in the U.S.
$2800 was the price tag on a gall from a wild U.S. bear offered for sale in Los Angeles.
A Boston shop offered 30 galls for sale. A U.S. bear gall was offered for sale in a traditional medicine shop in Taiwan.
One of the biggest threats faced by bears in the United States today is an illegal yet thriving trade in bear parts, including bear gallbladders. Each year wild bears are killed so that their parts can be sold in Traditional Asian Medicine (TAM) shops in the United States and internationally. In our recent undercover investigation, WSPA found that the trade in intact gallbladders had actually increased since our previous investigation in 2000.
Unfortunately, state laws pertaining to the trade in bear parts are inconsistent and, in some cases, non-existent. The solution is clear: a unifying federal law is the only viable solution for bears.
U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) recently re-introduced H.R. 5534, the Bear Protection Act of 2008, to protect North American bears. The Act specifically bans the import, export and interstate trade of all bear parts and products, while closing loopholes in existing state laws.
PLEASE SIGN THIS LETTER & HELP SAVE BEARS FROM THIS TORTURE!
http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/2101_support_the_bear_protection_act.cfm
http://capwiz.com/wspausa/issues/alert/?alertid=11109406
Please visit:
http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/29_bear_farming.cfm
http://www.cites.org/gallery/species/mammal/mammals.html
For more information on bear welfare (& many other animals!) visit:
http://my.care2.com/julesrs007
Thank you all for reading this!
WSPA uncovered evidence of the illegal trafficking of bear bile in the U.S., Canada,... more
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5th Annnual
Denver Gorilla Run
2008
Do Halloween this year as a Mountain Gorilla
and help save these animals from extinction.
GET READY........GET SET.............GO...............rilla!
9:00am Registration Open
11:00am Start time
Saturday, October 25, 2008
5.6K RUN
"Most Creative" Gorilla Contest 10:30am
The Denver Gorilla Run is a charity fun run with a difference. Everyone who takes part wears a full gorilla costume - from fluffy head to furry toe - and helps raise funds for the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, the international charity working to save the world's last remaining mountain gorillas and keeping Dian Fossey’s dream alive for the past 23 years.
You can run, jog, walk, rollerblade or skateboard around the 5.6K route that weaves its way around the City of Denver, Colorado. Or if you like, you can do it gorilla style: on all fours!
With your entry, we will provide the gorilla suit (which you may keep afterwards), the spectators, t-shirt and all kinds of entertainment. All you have to do is get registered, be assigned to a gorilla team, get fit and have some fun!
Every participant in The Denver Gorilla Run will represent a group of real live gorillas in the wild. You will be assigned to either the Amahoro Group, Mubare Group, Sabinyo Group or the Rushegura Group - so with limited entries available you must register soon to secure your place.
Also visit: http://www.saveagorilla.org/ for more information.
5th Annnual
Denver Gorilla Run
2008
Do Halloween this year as a Mountain Gorilla... more
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'On Day 15 of the Susa Group respiratory outbreak, a cool, rainy morning, I stood in one place for two hours watching three sick gorillas. The longer I stayed, the more I worried about what we’d find the next day. Ururabo, a first-time mother with a three-month-old baby, coughed and picked her nose. Her baby coughed and sneezed; white fluid ran down from each nostril. He breathed through his mouth through pursed lips. Poppy, the oldest female in the family, sat motionless, huddled with her two older offspring. She’d been sick for almost two weeks.'
From: http://gorilladoctors.wildlifedirect.org/2008/06/03/ururabos-baby-sick/
There are less than 700 Mountain Gorillas...that is unbelievably sad. Especially, when taking into consideration, that the 'discovery' of this magnificint & gentle creature was only ~100 years ago.
Please see the following links (as well as this page) on how you can help this extremely threatened species:
http://www.worldwildlife.org/gorillas/
http://www.worldwildlife.org/gorillas/
www.iccnrdc.cd/
www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/gorilladoctors
http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/2008/05/16/video-tshiaberimu-gorillas/
http://getinvolved.conservation.org/site/PageServer?pagename=gorillavideo
http://www.wcs.org/international/Africa/gorilla
http://www.igcp.org/gorillas/gorillas.htm
http://mgvp.32ad.com/
http://mgvp.32ad.com/default.aspx
http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/2008/05/16/video-tshiaberimu-gorillas/
http://www.gorillas.org/
http://gorilla.wildlifedirect.org/2008/05/16/video-tshiaberimu-gorillas/
http://www.conservation.org/fmg/pages/videoplayer.aspx?videoid=17
www.uwa.or.ug/
www.rwandatourism.com/home.htm
discovery.blogs.com/quest
www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/gorilladoctors
Videos:
http://www.conservation.org/fmg/pages/videoplayer.aspx?videoid=36
http://www.conservation.org/fmg/pages/videoplayer.aspx?videoid=17
http://www.conservation.org/fmg/pages/videoplayer.aspx?videoid=17
* Please contact me directly for more info & links.
'On Day 15 of the Susa Group respiratory outbreak, a cool, rainy morning, I stood... more
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* Does anyone have an update(s) to the following story?...
Zachary W. Famuliner, 20, pleaded guilty to animal abuse for stabbing an opossum multiple times during a fraternity prank in Columbia.
Associate Circuit Judge Larry Bryson suspended imposition of a sentence and placed Famuliner on 2 years of UNSUPERVISED probation. Bryson also fined him $500 for illegal possession of wildlife and DISMISSED a 2nd count of animal abuse.
The judge ordered Famuliner to complete 50 hours of community service, 20 hours of counseling & not consume alcohol during his term of probation. If completed successfully, the court will SEAL ITS RECORDS of the case.
"Far be it for me to criticize Judge Bryson," Assistant Prosecutor Connie Sullivan later said of the suspended sentence, "but I think the conviction should have been on his record."
Bryson told her he agreed that Famuliner should not be allowed to hunt but said state law already bars him from hunting because FAMULINER HAS A PRIOR COVICTION for deer POACHING.
Defense attorney Pat Eng said after the hearing that his client understands what he did was wrong but described the incident as a "stupid college prank." "No one SET OUT to ABUSE ANIMALS in this process," he said. "That is what we hoped to make clear to the judge."
Early that day, Columbia police responded to a disturbance call and found members of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity standing around a barrel full of about 40 OPOSSUMS - half of them ALIVE - outside the fraternity house at 602 S. College Ave.
Famuliner and fraternity brother Adam P. Thomas, told police they’d COLLECTED the critters as part of a FRATERNITY CONTEST. Members drove around COLLECTING opossums and returned them to the fraternity for POINTS, getting 1 point for each dead animal and 2 points for each live one.
The fraternity expelled Famuliner and Thomas after the incident, and MU placed the fraternity on PROBATION through the fall semester. Thomas paid a $500 fine in May for illegally possessing wildlife.
* In an unrelated incident, Famuliner pleaded guilty in December to killing four deer out of season two months earlier in Boone County. He paid a $377 fine, according to court records.
When Sullivan asked her whether opossums are animals and whether they can feel pain, Eng objected, saying that he would STIPULATE that opossums are animals that can feel pain. The exchange elicited chatter and SOFT LAUGHTER from some spectators in the courtroom.
Asked by Sullivan whether she knew about her son’s poaching, Famuliner said, "If you’re trying to say I don’t know my son, you’re wrong." Then the mother said she had not known about her son’s illegal deer hunting before he was caught. "No, I don’t know what he does 24/7," she said. * Does anyone have an update(s) to the following story?...
Zachary W. Famuliner,... more
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Rhino poachers are hitting hard in India's national parks. The demand for their horns is currently valued at $37,000 per kilo. Could increased education help people to understand how much more saving these amazing creatures is worth?Rhino poachers are hitting hard in India's national parks. The demand for their... more
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The European Parliament has called for a new strategy to prevent the tiger from becoming extinct.
The organisation's India delegation is holding a "Tiger Day" at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Indian government figures show the country's tiger population has fallen hugely in the past five years with only 1,411 tigers left in the wild.
Wildlife activists blame poaching and urbanisation for the decline and say the authorities must do more.
"Recent figures show... by 2025 the tiger may be extinct," Neena Gill, president of the European Parliament's India delegation, said.
"India alone cannot tackle this looming extinction. It is time for the European Union to take a stronger role in the international drive to save the tiger," she said.
Ms Gill's office said that one of the chief causes of the declining numbers of tigers is the presence of "tiger trafficking mafias" in Asia who are poaching Indian tigers, trafficking skins and body parts across Nepal and the Himalayan region to China.
China is a big marker for tiger skins and bones which are sold at a profit of 900%.
It says that China is under pressure from its tiger "farmers" to lift its existing ban on the trade in tiger parts and legalise it.
But conservationists say such a move would devastate the wild tiger population by causing an upturn in demand for tiger products and increasing poaching in the wild.
"With the run up to the Beijing Olympics, the world's attention is on China. We must raise this issue with the authorities and ensure they do not lift the ban on trade in tiger products which would prove disastrous to global efforts to save the tiger," says Ms Gill.
"Losing the tiger would be a global tragedy. Therefore, I am calling on the European Union to develop a comprehensive strategy to tackle this issue." The European Parliament has called for a new strategy to prevent the tiger from... more
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These tortoises and turtles are critically endangered due to the illegal pet and food trade. They are also threatened by habitat loss.These tortoises and turtles are critically endangered due to the illegal pet and food... more
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Ecotourism is a relatively new development in Cambodia where the majority of tourists visit for the history rather than the wildlife. But in targeted areas of active environmental protection, ecotourism has been making a positive and successful impact in the lives of indigenous species and local villagers. Lisa Schroeder reports from Siem Reap, Chong Khneas, and Prek Toal, Cambodia.Ecotourism is a relatively new development in Cambodia where the majority of tourists... more
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A former poacher in Kaziranga reveals why the animal is being increasingly hunted
By Teresa Rehman
Kaziranga, (Assam) : A RARE SUCCESS story in India’s wildlife conservation record, Assam’s Kaziranga National Park, home to the one-horned Asiatic Rhinoceros and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is struggling to come to grips with a spurt in rhino killings. Twenty rhinos were poached last year, 14 of them inside the national park and the rest in areas just outside the sanctuary. The forest department has come up with the usual excuses of being understaffed and under-equipped, but the retrenchment of casual workers in the park by the previous Prafulla Kumar Mahanta regime, leaving scores without livelihood and angry at the government apathy, has also played its damaging part.
One of those dismissed workers was Golap Patgiri. Employed informally by the forest department since 10 years, Patgiri’s monthly earnings of Rs 1,500 suddenly ran dry. “We used to do everything, from patrolling to cutting grass. We assisted the permanent staff in almost everything. I had once caught a poacher red-handed,” he says. Suddenly jobless, Patgiri found himself under pressure to join the ranks of the very people he had once battled: the poachers.A former poacher in Kaziranga reveals why the animal is being increasingly hunted... more
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Explosive new video blasts the justification for Alaskas current aerial wolf hunting program and rallies voters to end it. Using testimony from Alaska Department of Fish & Game staff, a master hunting guide, and Board of Game members, this video exposes the fallacy behind Governor Sarah Palins claim that predator control is based on sound science. Declarations that the program is for the benefit of subsistence hunters are shattered with documentation showing that sport and trophy hunters take up to 73% of prey in areas where aerial wolf hunting has taken place. End Aerial Wolf Hunting rallies support for H.R. 3663, legislation now being considered in the U.S. Congress which will close the loophole in the Federal Airborne Hunting Act that has been exploited to allow this practice to continue. Five years in the making, this video exposes the truth about the stranglehold the hunting lobby has on wildlife management in Alaska.Explosive new video blasts the justification for Alaskas current aerial wolf hunting... more
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