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Krilling Fields
As populations of once plentiful pelagic fish become exhausted many of the boats equipped to fish for these species are unfortunately starting to turn their attention to krill. Krill are a shrimp like animal that are said to represent the largest biomass on Earth and are key to the health of the marine environment.
Krill fishing briefly peaked in the 1980s when the Soviet Union caught 500,000 tonnes per year but declined significantly with the fall of Communism. However with severely over-exploited fish stocks and an increasing demand for fish oils and food for the Aquaculture industry the krill fishery is expected to boom in the next few years. Companies like Aker BioMarine are developing new technology that can deliver a stream of live krill onto a vessel and is converting a second vessel for krill catches, alongside its existing Saga Sea. The company says it will be able to catch 200,000 tonnes of krill a year in the near future.
It is reckoned that catches could rise to 1 percent of the total biomass of krill, or 5 million tonnes a year if the total was 500 million tonnes. Scientists say little is known about krill stocks and as a keystone marine species - they are the favoured food of whales, penguins, fish and seabirds - large scale exploitation could have dire consequences for the marine ecosystem.
As populations of once plentiful pelagic fish become exhausted many of the boats equipped to fish for these species are unfortunately ... more -
7 pandas remain at famed breeding center in China
BEIJING - Only seven pandas remain at China's most famous breeding center, after a final group of 13 animals were transferred from the earthquake-damaged facility, an official said Tuesday.
Most of the pandas at the Wolong Nature Reserve, tucked in the lush mountains of Sichuan province, had already been moved following the powerful May 12 quake that rattled Sichuan province and killed nearly 70,000 people.
The quake killed at least one panda and left the Wolong center vulnerable to aftershocks and landslides.
The 13 giant pandas arrived at the Bifengxia Giant Panda Base in the Sichuan province town of Ya'an on Monday night, said Li Desheng, research director at Wolong. Only seven 1-year-old cubs remained at the center.
"This is because the staff at Wolong really loves pandas, and they wanted to keep some little ones," he said in a telephone interview. "They are the hope for the future reconstruction of the panda base."
There were 63 pandas living at the Wolong center when the quake struck. The others have been moved to Bifengxia and a breeding center in the provincial capital of Chengdu. Facilities in the Chinese capital of Beijing, the eastern province of Fujian and the southern province of Guangdong are also keeping Wolong pandas.
The Wolong reserve is at the heart of China's effort to use captive breeding and artificial insemination to save the giant panda, which is revered as an unofficial national mascot. Plans for the facility's reconstruction have not been decided, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Meanwhile, an 8-year-old panda evacuated from Wolong gave birth to a set of twins on Monday at her new home in Bifengxia, state broadcaster CCTV reported. News footage showed a staffer holding a newborn panda, hairless and squirming, in an incubator.
Only about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan. An additional 180 have been bred in captivity, many of them at Wolong, and scores have been loaned or given to zoos abroad, with the revenues helping fund conservation programs.
BEIJING - Only seven pandas remain at China's most famous breeding center, after a final group of 13 animals were transferred from the... more -
Water delivery system harms Calif. salmon
A federal judge ruled Friday that California's water systems threaten to push native, wild salmon into extinction but stopped short of ordering any immediate water cutbacks farmers said would have cost them millions in lost crops.
The ruling in a Fresno federal court Friday ultimately could force regulators to change the way they move and use water to help endangered salmon spawn in the state's rivers and swim downstream into the Pacific Ocean.
Environmentalists and fishermen had asked the judge to order immediate protections for the fishes' habitat, arguing that the collapse of one of the West Coast's biggest wild salmon runs earlier this spring foretold the extinction of related species.
U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger denied the groups' request to release more water from a federal reservoir to help young endangered winter-run Chinook salmon reach the ocean. That could have left hundreds of acres of almonds, walnuts and tomatoes without irrigation supplies next month, at the height of California's drought.
"I'm on cloud nine here," said Jeff Sutton, who manages a canal system that delivers water to farms from near Redding to just north of Sacramento. "We're obviously ecstatic that the service area is going to continue to finish the irrigation season and be able to harvest the crops."
A federal judge ruled Friday that California's water systems threaten to push native, wild salmon into extinction but stopped short of... more -
Trading in Bear Parts: The Bear Protection Act
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. ... more -
Manatee Death Under Investigation
Rescuers allow sea mammals to complete mourning before removing the dead.
A manatee bobbing in the waters near Marco Island is poked and prodded by the noses of several larger manatees, an apparent attempt to bring their ailing relative up for air. That’s the report received by Mitts Maravic of the Fish and Wildlife Commission over the Fourth of July weekend.
A Marco Island man reported that a dying or dead manatee was located off Isles of Capri near channel marker 16.
He added that it is very common and touching to see the animals trying to help and then often mourning the loss of one of their own.
“We had a porpoise doing the same thing over the weekend. The body of a calf was decomposing and the mother was still trying to push it up for air,” he said.
“We won’t ever take that baby away until the mother is done dealing with it,” he added.
The deceased manatee was brought to a Charlotte County pathology lab for an autopsy, officially called a necropsy or animal autopsy.
“There were small scars on its back, but that’s not unusual,” he said.
The necropsy will likely reveal the cause of death, which may be related to being struck by a boat ...
While Maravic said he is often the first responder when a boater or resident reports a hurt or deceased sea mammal in Collier County, the Marine Mammal Stranding Network (MMSN), a group of State and Federal volunteers trained in biology and sea rescues, often come in with expertise in marine biology and serve Collier, Lee and Charlotte Counties.
The Marine Mammal Stranded Network were able to shift their focus from the deceased manatee to a live manatee rescue.
MMSN saved a manatee Thursday afternoon that was found near Port of the Islands east of Seminole State Park. The manatee is receiving treatment at the Lowry Park Tampa Zoo, said FWC biologist Deidre Semeyn
Rescuers allow sea mammals to complete mourning before removing the dead. ... more -
Gray wolves back in protected column
A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction late Friday restoring the protections for the wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Molloy will eventually decide whether the injunction should be permanent.
The region has an estimated 2,000 gray wolves. They were removed from the endangered species list in March, after a decade-long restoration effort.
Environmentalists sued to overturn the decision, arguing wolf numbers would plummet if hunting were allowed. They sought the injunction in the hopes of stopping the hunts and allowing the wolf population to continue expanding.
"There were fall hunts scheduled that would call for perhaps as many as 500 wolves to be killed. We're delighted those wolves will be saved," said attorney Doug Honnold with Earthjustice, who had argued the case before Molloy on behalf of 12 environmental groups.
In his ruling, Molloy said the federal government had not met its standard for wolf recovery, including interbreeding of wolves between the three states to ensure healthy genetics.
"Genetic exchange has not taken place," Molloy wrote in the 40-page decision.
Molloy said hunting and state laws allowing the killing of wolves for livestock attacks would likely "eliminate any chance for genetic exchange to occur."
The federal biologist who led the wolf restoration program, Ed Bangs, defended the decision to delist wolves as "a very biologically sound package."
"The hunting of wolves clearly wouldn't endanger threatened wolf populations," Bangs said Friday. "We felt the science was rock solid and that the delisting was warranted." A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states t... more -
Dead Baby Penguins Wash Ashore by the Hundreds
July 18, 2008 -- Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro's tropical beaches, rescuers and penguin experts said Friday.
More than 400 penguins, most of them young, have been found dead on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro state over the past two months, according to Eduardo Pimenta, superintendent for the state coastal protection and environment agency in the resort city of Cabo Frio.
While it is common here to find some penguins -- both dead and alive -- swept by strong ocean currents from the Strait of Magellan, Pimenta said there have been more this year than at any time in recent memory.
Rescuers and those who treat penguins are divided over the possible causes.
Thiago Muniz, a veterinarian at the Niteroi Zoo, said he believed overfishing has forced the penguins to swim further from shore to find fish to eat "and that leaves them more vulnerable to getting caught up in the strong ocean currents."
Niteroi, the state's biggest zoo, already has already received about 100 penguins for treatment this year and many are drenched in petroleum, Muniz said. The Campos oil field that supplies most of Brazil's oil lies offshore.
Muniz said he hadn't seen penguins suffering from the effects of other pollutants, but he pointed out that already dead penguins aren't brought in for treatment.
Pimenta suggested pollution is to blame.
For the rest of this story:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/18/dead-baby-peng... July 18, 2008 -- Hundreds of baby penguins swept from the icy shores of Antarctica and Patagonia are washing up dead on Rio de Janeiro... more -
thelastdance
Working to make this the
Last "Dance"
of
Pain
for these Bears !
Under the law, the Indian sloth bear is entitled to the
same protection as the tiger. Yet crimes against it are
committed openly across India as bears are made to dance
for our entertainment. By venturing on an undercover
anti-poaching operation and witnessing the surrender of
dancing bear, The Last Dance shows how this crime can be
brought to an end.
http://wildlifesos.org/
The Last Dance
Ashima.narain@gmail.com
For more information on Sloth Bear Rescue and
Rehabilitation please visit
www.wildlifesos.org or call +91-9871963535/ +91 - 11 -
24621939 / +91 - 11 - 24644231
For Information on The Last Dance email
Ashima.narain@gmail.com
*For more information on 'Dancing Bears' please visit these pages:
VIDEO of Dancing Bear Cruelty - REUTERS
http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=57...
World Society for the Protection of Animals - Bear Baiting
http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/391_bear_baiting.cfm
World Society for the Protection of Animals
http://www.wspa-usa.org/pages/24_wildlife.cfm
AAF
http://www.animalsasia.org/
"Can you bear it?"
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/2008/01/31/120171412...
More Bear Welfare Information:
Bears-News
http://www.bears-news.com/
MoonBears.org - A global coalition campaigning to save Korea's Moon Bears.
http://www.moonbears.org/
nformation on Japan's 'Bear Parks' & a petition - http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/420824836/ins...
Andean Bear Conservation Project - Home
http://www.andeanbear.org/ Working to make this the Last "Dance" of Pain ... more -
Illegal trade in Indonesian markets putting wild animals in danger
Tiger skins and rare caged primates openly sold at markets in the heart of Indonesia's capital are the most brazen and visible aspect of a thriving illegal wildlife trade.
Indonesia is struggling to take on a multi-million-dollar industry that is stripping the archipelago nation's vast forests of endangered species for enormous profit by selling them to buyers around the world.
With corruption rife and authorities overwhelmed, conservationists say police and forestry officials have barely made a dent.
Activists and the government estimate Indonesia loses at least 80 million dollars a year through the illegal trade, with rare animals -- dead and alive -- being sold at huge mark-ups once they get to overseas markets.
"What's interesting is that an orangutan caught in Kalimantan (on Borneo island) costs no more than three million rupiah (327 dollars) and is sold in Jakarta for five million rupiah," said Asep Purnama from the non-government organisation ProFauna.
"Once they get to Taiwan they will sell for around 100 million rupiah and in Europe they'll sell for 400 million," he said, adding that an estimated 100 orangutans are taken every year from Kalimantan's forests alone. Purnama's group estimates around 10,000 animals found only on Sumatra island were poached in 2007 to supply the illegal trade.
Most buyers likely don't know trade in the seemingly cute animals is illegal -- or that they usually die within weeks from the stress of captivity -- but the sellers do, and they are extremely camera shy.
Occasional raids have driven most of the high-profile endangered animals from clear view, but buyers from around the world still place orders for goods as exotic as tiger cubs and ivory, den Haas said.
While conservationists have been pushing for a crackdown, they say authorities are often either under-resourced, corrupt or unaware of the problem.
Tiger skins and rare caged primates openly sold at markets in the heart of Indonesia's capital are the most brazen and visible aspect ... more -
Black Market - Darkness of the Animal Trade
Wildlife trade's dark side:
What do elephants, rhinos, great apes, bears, big cats, sharks, parrots and marine turtles have in common? They're all threatened by the illegal wildlife trade.
View images of the trade in bushmeat that international conservationists are hoping to curb. WARNING: SOME ANIMAL IMAGES ARE GRAPHIC. http://www.msnbc.com/modules/interactive.aspx?id=Wildli...
Great Apes:
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/interactive.aspx?id=Wildli...
An appetite in China for traditional medicines, and hunger in Africa for protein from apes and other wildlife, dubbed bushmeat.
There’s heavy bushmeat hunting in Central and West Africa, says Russ Mitermeier of Conservation International, and heavy poaching for meat and medicinal uses in Southeast Asia and China.
"In Central Africa alone, about one million tons of wild meat is hunted every year," estimates Liz Bennett of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "That is equivalent to 9 billion 1/4 pound hamburgers each year. It has been estimated that that includes some 28 million bay duikers; 16 million blue duikers; 7.5 million red colobus; 1.8 million red river hogs; 34,000 leopards; 15,000 chimps; and 6,250 lowland gorillas."
A 2008 report by the wildlife monitoring group TRAFFIC found that the lack of meat in refugee rations in Tanzania is causing a flourishing illegal trade in bushmeat, including chimpanzees.
Two dozen refugee camps are near wildlife areas, making it easy for poachers. The bushmeat is covertly traded and cooked after dark -- and referred to as 'night time spinach' inside many refugee camps.
'BLACK MARKET' : A Multimedia Interactive: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25677681/ Wildlife trade's dark side: ... more -
Virunga Gorillas: How to Help
PHOTO: An orphaned gorilla curls up with her caregiver.
After the July 2007 killings of endangered mountain gorillas, possibly by people involved in the illegal charcoal trade, a mobile antipoaching force stayed close to gorillas in Virunga National Park. But the Democratic Republic of the Congo's parks authority, ICCN, must keep the animals safe when these guards are needed elsewhere.
Many groups are working to protect the gorillas and support the people fighting for their survival.
WildlifeDirect
Nairobi-based WildlifeDirect, founded by anthropologist Richard Leakey, helps outfit wildlife rangers in Virunga National Park and supplement their government salaries. The group's website hosts blogs where rangers and others post news and pictures from the field. Online donors can specify where their funds go—for patrol rations, medical kits, or support for the families of rangers killed on duty.
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
Founded by the gorilla researcher murdered in 1985, this organization helps care for young gorillas like the one whose mother was killed in July.
Frankfurt Zoological Society
FZS has trained and equipped hundreds of rangers; it also provides aircraft to help the ICCN monitor gorillas and direct antipoaching forces from the air.
International Gorilla Conservation Program
This coalition works with the governments of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda.
Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project
Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project field vets make routine health visits to habituated gorilla groups in Rwanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in partnership with park rangers, guides, patrols, monitoring agents, and scientists from various organizations.
Wildlife Conservation Society
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is one of the only organizations in the world working to protect all four gorilla subspecies—each of which is threatened by extinction. For nearly half a century the WCS has initiated and supported gorilla research and conservation projects throughout Africa.
Zoological Society of London
In addition to helping supplement rangers' salaries, the ZSL works with D.R. Congo's park authority to help manage Virunga National Park as a whole.
PHOTO: An orphaned gorilla curls up with her caregiver. ... more -
Gorillas: Kings Of Congo Endangered Mountain Gorillas
Gorillas: Kings Of Congo, CNN's Anderson Cooper Visits Endangered Mountain :
They act tough, but mountain gorillas are really gentle giants. They are playful, peaceful, highly intelligent, and one of our closest animal relatives. The gorillas live in families, each headed by an adult male called a "silverback" because of its distinctive coloring. Over the years, they've been gradually introduced to people, so scientists can study them, and taught that people won't hurt them. But this year, in Congo, humans have betrayed them. Mountain gorillas are under attack.
"They’re extremely threatened in Congo. Threatened to the extent that we're worried about the survival of the whole population," Dr. Emmanuel de Merode, head of the non-profit group WildlifeDirect, explains. "The whole population could be destroyed. Could be wiped out."
WildlifeDirect helps pay the salaries of Congo's park rangers, who protect the gorillas. Dr. de Merode was with the rangers in July when they made their most gruesome discovery, finding the bodies of four gorillas who had been slaughtered in the dead of night.
"It was a terrible, terrible scene to witness," de Merode recalls. "It was our whole lives. Everything we were working for-that was shattered in front of us."
The dead gorillas were part of the Rugendo family. They were the first gorilla group introduced to humans. "We had spent time with that group. And it was, in many ways, a strong sense of trust," de Merode tells Cooper.
The first victim de Merode found was a female named "Safari."
"She was quite famous in many ways because she had just had a baby," he says. "And we had taken a photo in the days after she was born and that photo had been you know a real symbol of hope for us. And then to find her dead. And her baby nowhere to be seen, was gutting and for all of us."
Safari, de Merode says, had been shot twice through the chest. Her killers then poured fuel on her and set her on fire....
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/07/60minutes/mai...
Gorillas: Kings Of Congo, CNN's Anderson Cooper Visits Endangered Mountain : ... more -
Overfishing must now be seen as a threat to human existence
Climate change grabs all the money and headlines, but now overfishing must be seen for the global threat that it really is.
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Irreplaceable Wildlife
Don't Let Global Warming Take Out Our Irreplaceable Wildlife
The Petition Site
Target: U.S. Congress
Sponsored by: Earthjustice
The polar bear - an icon of a rapidly disappearing Arctic - has just been listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. While this is a symbolic step, we need to do much more to protect the polar bear from global warming, which is threatening wildlife not just in the Arctic, but across the world.
The polar bear currently faces great challenges, such as oil and gas development in its rapidly melting habitat. The recent listing, for example, includes a loophole that enables energy exploration to continue in the Arctic despite its obvious threat to the bear's survival.
The action is part of Irreplaceable - a unique campaign that brings together groups from the worlds of art, justice, science and faith. These groups show that people from all walks of life are uniting to protect wildlife such as gray whales, grizzly bears and whooping cranes from global warming.
You can help by telling Congress to save the polar bear and other wildlife threatened by global warming. Please sign the Call to Care today! Don't Let Global Warming Take Out Our Irreplaceable Wildlife The Petition Site Target: U.S. Congress Sponsored by: Earthjustice ... more -
2 Women Killed in Gorilla Reserve
TWO women were killed and three people injured when a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) vehicle was attacked in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The WWF vehicle was travelling with 11 people in the Nord-Kivu sector of the vast territory - famed for sheltering more than half the world's 700 remaining wild mountain gorillas - when it was ambushed by armed men, the United Nations-sponsored radio Okapi said.
An 18-year-old girl and her mother, the wife of a park warden, were shot dead, while two conservationists and the wife of another park warden were injured.
Members of the Congolese conservation institute ICCN were also travelling on board with WWF agents.
The attackers stole GPS devices and other personal belongings.
Okapi radio quoted local officials who attributed the attack to Mai-Mai resistance fighters.
Militia in this region have frequently carried out attacks, violating a January ceasefire signed by all Congolese armed groups.
The Virunga park spreads across the DR Congo-Rwanda border.
TWO women were killed and three people injured when a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) vehicle was attacked in Virunga National Park in the D... more -
Gorillas: Sights & Sounds
With just 700 mountain gorillas left on earth, CNN's Anderson Cooper finds some high in the African jungles and reports on why they have become so endangered on this Sunday's 60 Minutes.
*VIDEO*
http://video.aol.com/partner/cbs/sights-and-sounds-gori... With just 700 mountain gorillas left on earth, CNN's Anderson Cooper finds some high in the African jungles and reports on why they ha... more -
Manatee abuse caught on film! How can you help?
Crystal River Florida is one of the only places in the world that allows people to swim with and touch wild manatees. But tour operators are breaking rules and guidelines to insure that manatee encounter. I made this film to examine our role as consumers in manatee harassment and abuse. Winner of the prestigious 2008 Our World Underwater Video Competition. Crystal River Florida is one of the only places in the world that allows people to swim with and touch wild manatees. But tour operato... more
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Rare White Bengal Tiger Babies At The Saskatoon Zoo Until September!
The Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, has announce they have a pair of very rare white Bengal tiger cubs visiting their facility. Find out more here and find out about other things to do and see here when you travel through Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park and Zoo in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, has announce they have a pair of very rare white Bengal t... more
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African Gorillas in Peril
CNN's Anderson Cooper travels to an African jungle and reports on the endangered mountain gorilla species, as they have been subject to slaughter and oppression at the hands of humans.
*VIDEO* http://video.aol.com/partner/cbs/african-gorillas-in-pe...
CNN's Anderson Cooper travels to an African jungle and reports on the endangered mountain gorilla species, as they have been subject t... more -
Blue Planet Society
The health of the marine environment is essential to life on earth. The sea is far richer in major groupings (phyla) of animals than the land; nearly half of all animal phyla occur only in the sea. It was only in 1992 that scientists (Grassle and Maciolek) estimated that the deep sea could harbour 10 million species that have not yet been described and named, a diversity of species roughly comparable to that of tropical forests.
Despite this diversity, less than one percent of the seas around the UK are protected. This is comparable to the landmass of the UK having Hyde Park in London as its only National Park. This situation highlights the fact that conserving our marine environment seems to be of little importance to our Government. Unfortunately, with few exceptions, this sitution can be found worldwide.
Marine mammals do receive some attention, and rightly so, but do you spare a thought for that endangered cod, haddock, halibut, swordfish or tuna you purchased in the supermarket? Most of us have a general idea of what damage has been and is being done on land, but who really knows what harm we continue to do to the far larger area of our planet that is our oceans and seas?
The Blue Planet Society strives to increase our understanding of man’s impact on the marine environment and to ensure that wildlife in the sea is given the same consideration as wildlife on land.
The health of the marine environment is essential to life on earth. The sea is far richer in major groupings (phyla) of animals than t... more
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Endangered Species
Contributors (275)
Endangered Species
