tagged w/ Human Disgrace
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"Earthrace" is joining the fight for the whales.
JAPAN has asked Australia to prevent the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin leaving port to harass its whalers in the Antarctic next summer, but the plea may have little effect.
The anti-whaling activists plan to upgrade their fleet from an ageing, former North Atlantic fisheries patrol boat to include another ship - something out of the future. The global speedboat Earthrace would head south under Sea Shepherd colours next summer, the group's leader Paul Watson said.
"It looks like a spaceship. It can do 40 knots and dive under waves completely. We'll be using it to intercept and block harpoons."
In 61 days last year Earthrace circled the globe fuelled by biodiesel. The New Zealand owner/skipper, Pete Bethune, said he decided to become involved because "this is happening in my backyard and it really pisses me off. I'm going to make a stand."
He said he was adding half a tonne of Kevlar to the vessel to toughen it against the ice. It had the endurance to go half way round the world on a tank of fuel.
"They won't get away from me," he said.
Earthrace's role was unveiled as the International Whaling Commission heard that Sea Shepherd's protests endangered the lives of whalers in the Southern Ocean last summer when the Steve Irwin was involved in two collisions.
"These are highly dangerous, and it can only be described as a miracle that there has been no death or large-scale accident to date," said a Japanese delegation member, Jun Yamashita.
"We cannot tolerate such audacity," Mr Yamashita told the commission. "We ask for
all appropriate measures, including a ban on the ship from leaving port, so that we can prevent these acts from being repeated."
Mr Watson, who is not permitted inside the meeting, said the Steve Irwin was soon to leave Brisbane for Hobart after a $500,000 refit. Its buckled hull plates had been repaired, and it was fitted with a powerful water cannon on the bow to match the whalers'.
He dubbed next summer's campaign Operation Waltzing Matilda and has adopted a symbol with a kangaroo wearing a pirate's eye patch.
An official from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, David Dutton, told the 71-nation meeting in Madeira that the Rudd Government was "deeply concerned" about clashes in the Southern Ocean..."Earthrace" is joining the fight for the whales.
JAPAN has asked... more
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'A Westport farm family makes way for 12 orphaned ducklings'
The ducklings were barely 2 weeks old when their mother was run over and killed earlier this month by a motorist in a parking lot at the Dartmouth Mall.
The 12 orphans have found temporary shelter at a Westport farm, and the man who allegedly ran over their mother June 13 could face several charges, including animal cruelty.
The New Bedford Standard-Times reported yesterday that police said a 25-year-old Acushnet man ran down the mother duck. He did not stop his 2003 Kia Spectra after the incident and left the mall soon afterward, the paper said.
The newspaper also reported that the man later explained to the police that he left because a witness started yelling at him and he did not want a confrontation.
Meanwhile, the ducklings are being cared for by Christine A. Ponte and her husband, Joseph S. Ponte, who own the Westport farm. In another six weeks, when they are stronger and ready to fly, the couple will release them into the wild, they said.
The ducklings seem comfortable in their new home, which they share with a baby deer named Lucky.
The dozen feathery brown ducklings move together as a group, often climbing on top of one another and looking around curiously.
At a glance they look identical, but some are just slightly smaller and tend to follow the biggest one, pecking at one another.
At night they sleep in a cozy room with a heat lamp.
They are growing by the day, almost like weeds, Christine Ponte said.
She feeds them and pets them and cleans their cage, but also makes sure she does not grow too fond of them.
“I gave them a new life and a new start,’’ she said. “I try not to interact with them. . . . I want them to just go back where they belong.’’
Ponte said she could not believe someone would want to hurt the creatures intentionally.
“How can you do something like this?’’ she said. “A lot of people do it and think it’s OK to do it for fun.’’'A Westport farm family makes way for 12 orphaned ducklings'
The... more
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Eyelids are sewn shut to study effect of light deprivation.
HIDDEN CRIMES: A Photographic exhibition on vivisection
(WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS)
Please visit my blogger at: http://julesrs007saveanimals.blogspot.com/ for information on how you can help end the atrocity to our fellow creatures.Eyelids are sewn shut to study effect of light deprivation.
HIDDEN CRIMES: A... more
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Born Free USA united with API's dynamic circus campaign aims to end the exploitation and suffering of wild animals used in circuses through public education about the animals' quality of life, training and transportation methods, myths about conservation, and the inherent dangers to the public that exist by having wild and exotic animals in traveling exhibitions and performances, and by working to pass state and local laws aimed at prohibiting or restricting the use of wild and exotic animals in circuses.
The good news is that you as an individual have tremendous power to help change the lifetime of misery faced by animals that perform in circuses. There are a number of things you can do to start helping right away.
Please sign our petition to Kenneth Feld, Chairman and CEO of Feld Entertainment, Inc. and owner/producer of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey animal circus.
http://action.bornfreeusa.org/site/TellAFriend?page=http%3A%2F%2Faction.bornfreeusa.org%2Fsite%2FSurvey%3FSURVEY_ID%3D1341%26ACTION_REQUIRED%3DURI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS&type=0&id=0&taf_sec_cat_id=1
Let him know that the use of animals in the circus is an unnecessary and inhumane practice that is harmful to both the animals and the public. Urge him to update his circus by making it compassionate and truly fun with only human performers.
Please sign and send in our pledge to show your support and promote animal-free circuses.
http://www.bornfreeusa.org/downloads/pdf/API-Ringling-Pledge.pdf
We will collect signed pledges and deliver them to Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus — letting them know just how many people prefer animal-free circuses. Feel free to make copies to share with others! Send your completed pledge to:
Born Free USA united with API
Circus Pledge
P.O. Box 22505
Sacramento, CA 95822Born Free USA united with API's dynamic circus campaign aims to end the... more
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BALTIMORE, Maryland (WUSA)--The reward fund for the dog set on fire, while bystanders did nothing, has jumped from $15,500 on Wednesday to $25,500 Monday, June 8th.
9NEWS Now first reported Wednesday, May 27 that the 1-year-old pit bull, nicknamed both Phoenix and Miss Mercy, was found in southern Baltimore by an alert police officer fully ablaze. Someone doused the dog in gasoline and then set her on fire. Bystanders witnessed the act, and it's reported some were even laughing as the dog burned.
"Her tongue, her eyes, her pads are scorched off, her vulva, unbelievable. We are speechless, and overwhelmed with emotion," said Dr. Marcella Bonner of Swan Animal Hospital.
After treating the dog in Baltimore, Dr. Bonner sent her to Main Line Animal Rescue in Chester Spring, Pennsylvania--a special care facility.
It was Baltimore Police officer, Syreet Teel, who came to Phoenix's rescue. She was patrolling Presbury Street when she saw the dog. Teel has a pet pit bull named Blu.
"We saw this dog in flames, [she] was screaming and rolling around fully in flames," said Teel. "It was sad because I'd never heard a dog make the sound, the scream [she] made. I've never heard it before and it was just cruel.
"[She] was fully in flames. There were people around, but nobody was doing anything. So, I got out of the car, took off my sweater, and started hitting [her] to put the fire out," said Officer Teel.
"We could smell it in the air," said Linda Mackey a witness.
Linda Mackey and Meredith Sickle were volunteering in the neighborhood when they noticed a horrifying ball of flames.
"We were so appalled anything like that could happen and there were actually people in the street standing and laughing like it was entertainment for them," said Sickle.
Bonner says she's handled several similar cases in the past.
Her pet "Apple" was also set on fire.
Bonner warns animal cruelty is widespread but it can be prevented.
"This is an epidemic, do something about it. There's power in numbers, power if we all ban together as a community to get this to stop," she said
-- Unfortunately, Phoenix/Miss Mercy had to be euthanized on Sunday, May 31 because her kidneys were shutting down.
BARCS (Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter) started a reward fund for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual (s) responsible for setting Phoenix/Miss Mercy on fire.BALTIMORE, Maryland (WUSA)--The reward fund for the dog set on fire, while bystanders... more
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... but, they're going through with it anyway!
Egypt said on Thursday its cull of 250,000 pigs was a general health measure rather than a precaution against swine flu after the UN said there was no evidence the animals were spreading the disease.
"We're at stage five, the matter is now human NOT animal," health ministry spokesman Abdelrahman Shahine told AFP after the World Health Organisation ratcheted up its alarm level over the flu, now detected in 12 countries.
"The authorities took advantage of the situation to resolve the question of disorderly pig rearing in Egypt," he said. No cases of swine flu have been detected in Egypt.
The agriculture ministry's head of infectious diseases Saber Abdel Aziz Galal told AFP that the cull was "a general health measure."
We will build new farms in special areas, like in Europe. Within two years the pigs will return, but we need first to build new farms."
Galal could not say how many pigs were expected to be put to death on Thursday.
Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza said that the mass slaughter would begin in earnest on Saturday.
"It will take three weeks to a month, they'll kill them in specialised slaughterhouses after they've been checked for swine flu," state news agency MENA quoted Abaza as saying.
In defence of the decision to cull the pigs, the minister called on the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to "come and see for itself the conditions at any pig farm in Egypt."
At least one clash was reported north of Cairo on Wednesday after the health ministry announced the immediate slaughter of the nation's pigs, with farmers throwing stones at veterinary services who had come to take their pigs away.
The health ministry said it would now also start collecting health data from 34,000 rubbish collectors, "particularly those working in areas near pig-breeding farms," MENA reported.
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday ruled out pigs as a source of flu transmission.
"We don't see any evidence that anyone is getting infected from pigs," said WHO acting assistant director general Keiji Fukuda. "This appears to be a virus which is moving from person to person."
The world's lead agency in the trade of farm animals added its voice to the WHO, saying the culling of pigs would not stop the spread of the disease.
Culling "will not help to guard against public or animal health risks presented by this novel A/H1N1 influenza virus," the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said.
Instead, the organisation urged members, which include Egypt, to "focus their efforts on appropriate disease surveillance and strengthening the general biosecurity measures applied at premises where pigs are handled and slaughtered."
State media have said that compensation for pig owners could reach 1,000 Egyptian pounds (180 dollars), but Galal said they would initially simply get their animals back as meat.
"We will kill them and give the meat to the owners," he said. "I think the government will talk to the owners and reach a suitable compensation with them."... but, they're going through with it anyway!
Egypt said on Thursday its cull... more
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Baby gorilla rescued from suspected traffickers -
Undercover officers rescued a baby gorilla from suspected animal traffickers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a national park in the country announced Tuesday.
The gorilla, thought to be about two years old, was hidden at the bottom of a bag and covered with clothes when Congolese Wildlife Authority officers arrested the suspected trafficker on Sunday, Virunga National Park said.
The gorilla, a female, was overheated and dehydrated after six hours in transit. She also had a puncture wound on her right leg, among other injuries, and is malnourished, but is responding to treatment, the park said in a statement.
It is not clear if the young gorilla's mother is alive or dead, park spokeswoman Samantha Newport said.
"You can assume that a gorilla family was attacked in order for the traffickers to obtain a baby -- but it is impossible to know if a whole family was wiped out, just a few individuals, or none at all," she said. "In most cases gorillas have to die to get a baby -- but we cannot know specifically for this case."
The animal is now being looked after by specially trained carers, Newport said.
"This is of course not an ideal replacement for a mother -- but the best option we have," she told CNN via e-mail. Carers often have some veterinary training, but are not fully fledged vets, she added.
But gorillas do not do well in situations like this, she warned.
"Gorillas, it is worth noting, are notoriously difficult to keep alive," she said. "Chimps are fighters, as are bonobos. But gorillas -- when the going gets tough -- tend to just shut down. So it really is a critical time right now to ensure she gets the veterinary attention and human warmth that she needs to get through this."
The suspect was getting off a plane from the interior of the country, near the gorillas' habitat, the park said.
One person has been charged under the country's law forbidding the destruction of flora and fauna, Newport told CNN. The park did not name the suspect.
Gorillas can fetch up to $20,000 on the black market, the head of Virunga National Park said.
"Investigations have yet to reveal where these animals are being sent and who is buying them, but on the ground sources tell us that a baby gorilla can fetch up to $20,000," said Emmanuel de Merode, the director. "We must remember that for each trafficked baby gorilla, several gorillas have probably been killed in the wild."
He led the three-month undercover operation that netted the suspect and the gorilla, the park said.
The gorilla is a lowland eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), also known as the Grauer's Gorilla, a subspecies of Eastern Gorilla only found in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the park.
Virunga National Park calls itself the oldest national park in Africa, established in 1925. It lies in a region that has been badly affected by the long-running war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The gorilla section is in a strategically important area near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda.
A ranger was killed earlier this year, and rangers lost control of a large part of the park to rebels for over a year.
But a census earlier this year suggests mountain gorillas are surviving despite poaching and war.
Officials have long said that the 250-square kilometer gorilla reserve in the southern part of Virunga National Park is where around 200 of the world's 700 mountain gorillas live.Baby gorilla rescued from suspected traffickers -
Undercover officers rescued a... more
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Find out exactly what the mixed martial arts champ thinks of dogfighters and what you can do to help put an end to this barbaric abuse of animals.Find out exactly what the mixed martial arts champ thinks of dogfighters and what you... more
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If so, it's because they didn't...
Because of the cramped, filthy conditions in which they are kept, many calves raised for veal are very ill by the time they are loaded onto transport trucks.
The short trip from their tiny pens to the transport truck may be the first time that these calves have a chance to walk.
Some calves, like those in this photo, die before they can be taken to the slaughterhouse.
These dead calves were dumped by a dairy company on the side of a highway in California.If so, it's because they didn't...
Because of the cramped, filthy... more
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Joeys rescued after the recent bushfires are seen at the home of caregiver Annie Williams in Gisborne, Australia.
Whilst the state of Victoria does not allow commercial hunting, Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia do.
Sanctioned by the Australian government, hunters are instructed to kill any joeys by decapitation, shooting or clubbing.
The controversial practice has been brought to the forefront due to the opening up of vast parts of NSW to commercial shooters.Joeys rescued after the recent bushfires are seen at the home of caregiver Annie... more
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Plastic bags are handed out in their billions, used for a few minutes then discarded to pollute the earth for hundreds of years. Here we trace the life cycle of a plastic bag...
Use - For every one of us, 216 plastic bags a year are handed out. A typical free supermarket bag is used for an average of 20minutes before it is thrown away.
Landfill - A third of us use plastic bags as bin liners. Another third re-use them for shopping. But eventually, more than 98% end up in landfill. About 200million litter the countryside.
Decay - Plastic bags have only been around since the Thirties, so no one knows how long they last. But scientists estimate they take 400 to 1,000 years to vanish. Some are designed to turn into carbon dioxide, water and compost within a month or two - but only in a composter. Chemicals in some bags, particularly the inks used in printing, can leak and cause poisoning or turn into noxious compounds if burned. In the oceans, they can survive intact for years. A recent Greenpeace report found that one remote area, called the Pacific Gyre, a whirling current, contained more than a million items of plastic microdebris in every square kilometre of ocean surface.
Recycling - Only 5% of us recycle bags. UK facilities are so limited that about 100million a year are shipped back to China. There, they are shredded, melted and turned into plastic beads. The dyes and inks in bags do not make them harder to recycle - but they turn the plastic grey or black. The beads can be used to make new bags. Plastic bags are cheaper than paper bags, but may be worse for the environment. Four times as much energy is used to produce them and 85 times as much to recycle them, the US. Environmental Protection Agency says. But paper takes up nine times the space of a plastic bag at landfill. And paper bags are four times more expensive.
End of life - In the oceans, plastic bags and other waste kill a million sea birds and 100,000 animals such as whales, dolphins, turtles and seals, each year. Once the animal's body has rotted, the bag is released back into the sea, to kill again and again.Plastic bags are handed out in their billions, used for a few minutes then discarded... more
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A haunting image of a sea turtle, struggling through the deep ocean waters as discarded plastic bags wrap themselves around its flippers and body.
These majestic animals are dying in alarming numbers because they mistake the flimsy translucent bags - which could in theory come from British supermarkets - for jellyfish, a key element of their diet.
Once swallowed by the turtle, the tough plastic becomes lodged in its gut, sealing the fate of the sea creature. The plastic is indigestible and wraps around the turtle's insides. Slowly, agonisingly, the animal starves to death.
The endangered Green Turtle provides a potent symbol of the deadly threat to wildlife and the blight on the natural world caused by throwaway plastic bags handed out free in their billions to shoppers.
The oil used to make a plastic bag takes millions of years to form in the Earth - the bag is used for a few minutes and it then lasts in the environment for 1,000 years. Is that a wise use of the material?'A haunting image of a sea turtle, struggling through the deep ocean waters as... more
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An Australian government ruling that will permit thousands of baby kangaroos to be clubbed to death has caused outrage among animal rights activists.
The state of New South Wales is permitting culling for the first time after a drought forced kangaroos into residential areas. Up to 150,000 a year are to be killed by hunters.
Animal welfare groups have been horrified over official guidelines which legitimise barbaric killing methods for orphaned marsupials - or joeys - found in their mothers' pouches.
They say tens of thousands will now be decapitated, shot or clubbed to death with official blessing.
Nikki Sutterby from the Australian Society for Kangaroos said the public has no idea how many joeys were killed in the commercial shooting industry.
'If we estimate that 1/3 of the 150,000 kangaroos to be killed are females and 1/2 of them have a joey, that works out to 25,000 joeys to be decapitated, bashed to death or shot each year,' she said.
'There are already almost 4 million kangaroos commercially killed in Australia annually. Do the same sums and you realise hundreds of thousands of joeys are being killed horribly each year.
Official guidelines for hunters say that hairless joeys should be decapitated or bludgeoned to death while older joeys should be beaten to death or shot.
Miss Sutterby added: 'They don't want to allow joeys to be rescued because it would expose the dirty secrets of the industry.'
The Australian arm of the Human Society International said: 'Clubbing and decapitation of joeys is one of the forgotten cruelties of kangaroo hunting.'
But the RSPCA said it reluctantly accepted the decapitation and clubbing of joeys after two thorough investigations of the commercial kangaroo industry.An Australian government ruling that will permit thousands of baby kangaroos to be... more
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Horses are being poached and slaughtered for their meat on the black market.
Dozens of horses disappearing in the dead of night only to be found stripped of skin and meat on a roadside. Other horses are discovered butchered in their stables by mortified owners.
But the culprit isn't some half-wolf, half-man abomination that preys on thoroughbreds during the full moon.
They are poachers from Miami's black market who sell the horses' meat, which is a popular delicacy among new arrivals from other countries to the area. The horse meat can go for as much as $20 per pound and based on the number of bloody horse remains and meat-stripped carcasses found on the side of dirt roads and in stables across Miami-Dade, harvesting horses for meat is a lucrative business.
The sale of horse meat for human consumption is illegal in the U.S., but that hasn't stopped the meat from being in high demand by natives of the Caribbean, Cuba and other European countries who crave horse cuisine.
Some U.S. cattle ranchers have worked around the law by exporting horses to Mexico or Canada, where killing horses for dinner is legal.
Fostering some of the boom in slaughterhouses has been the horse-racing industry and some owners of race horses. Some discard a horse after it's out-lived its racing life or is injured. They are usually sold to the first person who offers a few bucks for the animal, as was the case for Freedom's Flight, a horse rescued during a raid at a Miami area slaughterhouse.
Please follow link for the rest of this story, a slideshow and video and related stories. http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/From-Race-Horse-To-Main-Course.html
Hopefully 'Animal Planet' will choose to end their new 'Jockey' series. Too many race horses are being abused and/or brutally slaughtered.
Please watch for follow up posts on the crisis affecting America's horses.Horses are being poached and slaughtered for their meat on the black market.
Dozens... more
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A SICK puppy was strangled to death on the front lawn of a neighbour's house because the owner could not afford to take it to the vet, Gatton Magistrates Court heard yesterday.
Fiona Richardson, 39, asked her neighbour to kill her four-month-old Stafford cross Bella but told the court she was not cruel to animals.
RSPCA Prosecutor Bill Brown said Richardson let Bella suffer for about three days without any veterinary assistance before the dog was brutally killed.
Mr Brown said Richardson failed in her duty of care to the animal.
The neighbour strangled the dog to death on the front lawn of his home at Forest Hill.
The puppy was then put in a plastic bag and dumped in nearby bushland, the court was told.
Mr Brown said Richardson told the RSPCA she believed her pet had the parvovirus, however an autopsy later performed on the pet revealed that was not the case.
Richardson pleaded guilty to breaching her duty of care to an animal and told the court she did what she could in the circumstances.
Richardson, a self proclaimed pet lover, told Magistrate Kay Ryan she did not know she had other options available to her.
“I went around the area and asked if people could lend me money but no one did, not even my mother and I didn't know I could go to the RSPCA,” Richardson said.
“It's not like I intentionally meant to hurt the dog. I have three rats, two cats, hermit crabs, and another dog. It's not like I'm cruel to animals.”
Ms Ryan told Richardson she should consider the responsibilities of pet ownership before getting another pet.
“Well you were on this occasion. This dog suffered for three days, Ms Richardson,” Ms Ryan said.
Richardson was fined $3000 with half of the costs going towards the RSPCA and ordered to pay vet bills of $415.A SICK puppy was strangled to death on the front lawn of a neighbour's house... more
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TOWN OF ELBA - A freight train ran into about two dozen cattle that had strayed onto railroad tracks in southwestern Dodge County Wednesday afternoon, leaving remains of the animals scattered for over about a mile and a half.
Dodge County Sheriff Todd Nehls said the collision killed 20 to 25 steers, but there was no damage to the Canadian Pacific train and no rail workers were injured.
According to the sheriff, a herd of about 35 cattle had escaped from a pasture in the town of Elba and walked on the railroad tracks toward Columbus for about a mile before the eastbound freight going about 50 mph hit the animals at about 1 p.m.
The cattle were owned by Roche Farms, according to Dodge County Chief Deputy Blaine Lauersdorf. The animals were not in road traffic, he noted.
Nehls described the scene as “quite the mess” after the accident, with pieces of the steers spread down the tracks for 1 1/2 miles.
Some of the cattle that survived were injured so badly they might have to be euthanized, the sheriff said. A veterinarian was on the scene.
The collision occurred near Astico and state Highway 60, Lauersdorf said. The owner of the cattle worked with authorities to get the dead animals removed.
Most of the carcasses and dismembered parts had been loaded onto trucks by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The cattle weighed about 500 pounds so they were not full grown, Lauersdorf said. “That is a big loss for the farmer,” he added.
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A "big loss for the farmer"? WOW... talk about disconnected! this report by the Daily Times refers to cattle without even the slightest ethical regard.
SHAME ON YOU! THESE CREATURES FEEL PAIN AS MUCH AS WE DO!TOWN OF ELBA - A freight train ran into about two dozen cattle that had strayed onto... more
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Conservation Groups Demand Immediate Protection for Sea Turtles Jeopardized by Commercial Bottom Longline Fishing off Florida's West Coast
Caribbean Conservation Corporation, Center for Biological Diversity,
Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Gulf Restoration Network,
Turtle Island Restoration Network
A coalition of conservation groups notified the federal government's National Marine Fisheries Service today of their intent to sue if the agency does not act immediately to protect imperiled sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. The groups' action comes after fisheries observer data revealed that the Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery, which targets reef fish like grouper and tilefish, resulted in the capture of nearly 1,000 threatened and endangered sea turtles between July 2006 and the end of 2007. The coalition asks that the commercial bottom longline fishery be suspended until the National Marine Fisheries Service meets its legal obligations under the Endangered Species Act to ensure that the fishery does not imperil sea turtles and other threatened species in the Gulf of Mexico.
Allowing this fishery to continue to kill threatened and endangered turtles while the government studies the problem is irresponsible and illegal.
Of particular concern for the groups are loggerhead sea turtles, which accounted for 799 of the 974 captured turtles in the government analysis. This is more than three times the number of loggerheads the Service authorized the fishery to take in 2005 and may well jeopardize the species. Loggerhead nesting populations in Florida have dropped by over 40 percent over the past 10 years. The large number of juvenile and reproductive adult turtles injured or killed by the bottom longline fishery is likely contributing to this steep decline.
It's devastating to think about all the hard work and progress we've made safeguarding Florida's loggerheads and their nesting beaches being destroyed by this rampant level of take.
The Gulf of Mexico bottom longline fishery operates primarily off the west coast of Florida, an area that also provides key habitat for several sea turtle species, including loggerhead, Kemp's ridley, and green turtles. Bottom longline gear generally consists of a four- to 10-mile-long mainline made of steel cable or monofilament with up to 2,100 hooks. Sea turtles are caught on the lines when they attempt to eat the bait from hooks or become entangled when swimming near a line. Unable to surface for breath, they suffer injury or death.
The use of longlining in the Gulf of Mexico is tragic. Loggerheads, Kemp's ridleys and other sea turtles die caught by a fishing method that has no regard for the waste it entails and the death of endangered species. It reminds many of us of the slaughter of sea turtles drowning in shrimp trawls before Turtle Excluder Devices were required.
Even though the bottom longline fishery has far exceeded the number of turtles it is allowed to take under the Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Fisheries Service has refused to close the fishery while it studies options for reducing turtle take.
Now that the National Marine Fisheries Service knows the longline fleet is jeopardizing the future of the turtle populations they have a duty to act immediately, There are other ways to catch the same fish without killing turtles. The fishery is also known to catch endangered smalltooth sawfish and could affect staghorn and elkhorn coral, which are also protected under the Endangered Species Act.
The National Marine Fisheries Service is responsible both for managing fisheries and for protecting endangered species (responsibility for the sea turtles threatened by longline fishing).Conservation Groups Demand Immediate Protection for Sea Turtles Jeopardized by... more
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Recently, an 11-year-old Mexican "bullfighter," goaded on by parents who make Brooke Shields' mom look overprotective, tried to establish a Guinness world record by killing six bull calves in one day in Merida, Mexico—despite attempts by the courts and animal protection groups to cancel the event.
Bullfighting is always cruel—the bulls are often beaten in the kidneys, have Vaseline smeared into their eyes, and are given laxatives to slow them down before they are released into the ring to be stabbed to death—but this was calf-killing. Like the child "bullfighter," Michelito Lagravere Peniche, these animals were still youngsters, but, unlike him, they didn't choose to be there and they didn't want to hurt anyone. They just wanted to prance and play. To make matters worse, hundreds of other kids were brought by their parents to watch the carnage and be encouraged to emulate the little matador (literally, "murderer").
The good news is that Guinness World Records takes animal abuse seriously and has refused to publish this new "record," saying, "We do not accept records based on the killing or harming of animals." Olé to Guinness!
More info visit: http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=64Recently, an 11-year-old Mexican "bullfighter," goaded on by parents who... more
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Zimbabwe’s government, which so far has made no effort to relieve the suffering of it’s starving people, has now resorted to slaughtering the country’s elephants to feed Robert Mugabe’s soldiers.
According to ZimOnline, the state Parks and Wildlife Management Authority has since last week supplied elephant meat to army barracks, which, like the rest of the country, have run out of food. The crippling food shortage has left up to half the nation already facing starvation and in the midst of the cholera crisis has left untold thousands of people dead.
The country’s elephants are now the latest victims in a crisis that the government has refused to accept responsibility for. The Mugabe administration reportedly views the supplying of elephant meat to soldiers as “killing two birds with one stone” as it enables it to cull allegedly excess animals while also ensuring its army has food.
The army is a critical part of Mugabe’s continued grip on power and the soldiers’ comfort has long since taken precedence over that of the people. With no food or goods to plunder in the ravaged country anymore, it is not surprising that hunger is rearing its head in the barracks. Analysts have ruled out the possibility of a military coup against Mugabe because all top commanders are still relatively comfortable. But some say that worsening hunger could at some point force ordinary soldiers to either openly revolt or to simply refuse to defend the government, should Zimbabweans rise up in a civil rebellion.
Meanwhile Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi has declined to comment on the matter or to discuss the availability of food at army barracks in general, while Parks director-general Morris Mutsambiwa reportedly would not take questions on the matter. It is as of yet unknown how many elephants have been turned into soldier fodder, but it does go without saying that the slaughter is not merely a method of feeding the troops. The ivory collected will undoubtedly be sold off to the country’s dubious Chinese business links, lining the pockets of government officials and further aggravating the illegal ivory trade.Zimbabwe’s government, which so far has made no effort to relieve the suffering... more
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