-
-
"Canned Hunting" Preserve to Open in Grainger County
Exotic animals are trapped within a 65 ft enclosure in Grainger County, Tennessee, and being cruely hunted and killed for sport and profit, without hope of escape or a chance of survival. They live in this enclosed area for the reason of being shot at by people as 'sport'. There are even treestands inside the area. This is inhumane, and horrible, and should not be allowed to have ever been opened.
Please look at the animals on this website, and please forward and sign this petition:
http://www.clinchmountainhuntingadventures.net/SPECIES-...
Petition Link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/animals-being-brutally...
To view news video of actual footage, and animals walking right up to the camera, along with neighbor's protest go here: http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=61587...
News Release:
Along the quiet Dry Valley Road in Grainger County, a cow is about as exotic as you'll get.
That was before Robert Haun moved in and brought dozens of animals with him.
"You just can't go anywhere and get ONE," Haun said of the exotic animals. "Some people
have phobias of flying or not being able to afford the expense to go across sea and get ONE, so we're bringing IT to them."
"They're going TO HAVE TO go into the woods and sit down and hunt and walk and look and stalk for the animal that they choose, and it's not ALWAYS going to be a hundred percent success," Haun said.
He's responding to some criticism from some neighbors and animal rights supporters.
The Grainger County Humane Society opposes the hunting preserve, calling it a "canned hunt," but members make clear they do not oppose hunting.
"I was horrified," neighbor Betty Rich said. "I'm almost 80 years old, and I did not know that these facilities existed in this country."
Rich has written a letter to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, asking commissioners to consider changing their rules about the hunting preserves.
Right now, the preserves have to be a minimum of 20 acres. Rich says that's not nearly enough. She's pushing for 1,000 acres.
She and her daughter also are collecting signatures for a petition they plan to send to the state legislature.
"I'm against raising exotic animals domestically and putting them in a fence and shooting them for trophies. I'm against that. I think it's wrong," she said.
Meanwhile, Haun is defending his facility, saying the acreage and foliage make it MORE THAN A FAIR CHASE for the animals. Plus, he points out he will also CATER to young hunters and people whose DISABILITIES may prevent them from hunting elsewhere.
"They just don't understand, they don't understand," Haun said of his critics. "They think it's up here behind a big, high fence, the animals have NOWHERE to go. As you can see, there's PLENTY of places for animals to HIDE that we CANNOT access."
Clinch Mountain Hunting Adventures is set to open in September. The prices range between $600 and $10,000. Exotic animals are trapped within a 65 ft enclosure in Grainger County, Tennessee, and being cruely hunted and killed for sport and pr... more -
Last Desert Elephants in Firing Line
SERIOUS alarm has been raised over official plans to shoot three of Namibia's rare desert-adapted elephant bulls in the Kunene Region as trophies for big-game hunters, which conservationists fear could cause a collapse in their dwindling numbers.
The permits for shooting what could be three of only five breeding-age elephant bulls left were issued in spite of warnings that this was unsustainable in a population that already showed alarming signs of high natural mortality and genetic problems due to in-breeding.
Documentation seen by The Namibian shows that the Ministry of Environment and Tourism had issued three hunting permits to six conservancies in the Kunene Region for shooting three elephant bulls in the current hunting season.
These conservancies, controlled by the local communities, typically sell their rights on to professional hunting companies, earning on average about N$60 000 per elephant.
The professional hunting firms however sell these on to wealthy hunters willing to pay up to US$60 000 for the privilege of bagging such a rare trophy.
The desert elephant, so called because of their smaller stature and physical adaptation to their arid environment, range in the dry riverbeds of southern Kunene where they feed primarily on Ana tree pods.
Regarded as a keystone species in the local eco-system, they are also a key attraction in Namibia's estimated N$6,2 billion tourism industry.
While the elephant largely keep to unpopulated areas, increasing encroachment from pastoral farmers have over the past years has brought them into conflict with local communities.
A man was killed in the Bergsig area late last year by a bull which a local NGO said had become aggressive after he had been previously shot at.
The Ministry has not, as far as could be established, conducted any recent census of the elephant population but apparently based its decisions on complaints from local communities about "problem animals."
According to research by Australian researcher Dr Keith Leggett, there are fewer than 240 of these elephant left in the southern Kunene Region, ranging from the Ugab to the Bergsig area further north.
Elephant-Human Relations Aid (EHRA), a NGO that constantly monitors these elephants and manage conflict between the elephants and local populations by constructing elephant-proof water points, however says there are fewer than 60 adult cows, and as of 2006, only five bulls of breeding age.
EHRA's Johannes Haasbroek believes their and Leggett's data overlap, as the elephant range up 70 kilometres in a single day, with the herds of about six to 10 animals moving between rivers in search of food and water.
Even more alarmingly, EHRA reported on their website that they have only spotted three breeding-age bulls over the past few months -the same number as the trophies now up for sale.
The three permits appear to have been issued by Director of Wildlife Management Ben Beytell, in spite of several recommendations by the Ministry's own staff to the contrary. SERIOUS alarm has been raised over official plans to shoot three of Namibia's rare desert-adapted elephant bulls in the Kunene Re... 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 as... 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 -
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 ... 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 th... more -
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 subj... more -
Mountain Gorillas in Peril - 'The Silent Killer'
Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project: http://www.mgvp.org/
Dr. Lucy's Blog - Susa Group
Ururabo's baby seemed to recover completely after his two-day episode of runny nose and soft cough. We'd been checking him daily, along with all of the mothers and infants. Magda had seen him the day before, and he'd looked normal compared to the infants of both Ruvumu and Rwandarushya, who were now coughing along with their mothers. Dufatayne had recovered and her baby had yet to show any symptoms. When I arrived to check on the group, the mothers and infants were again the priority.
We hadn't yet opened our medical bags for the Susa outbreak, but we'd come close twice. Though Poppy had improved, one of her 4-year-old twins, Byishimo, had become progressively sicker. He'd been struggling with a cough and lethargy for over a week and then stopped eating. When he began lagging behind the group, our level of concern shot up.
My initial impression of the group on this morning, Day 20, was that many gorillas had improved. Maybe we'd turned the corner on the outbreak. Then I cautioned myself, remembering the number of infants in the group and the time it takes for this disease to cycle through everyone.
Sure enough, Rwandarushya appeared with her baby. First she coughed and then her infant coughed. His eyes looked bright enough, but he seemed very quiet. Ruvumu had regained her appetite and looked much improved, but her infant had a thick nasal discharge and frequent cough. He's a bigger, older baby, however.
Then we found Ururabo, coughing with nearly every breath, sitting head down and not eating. The baby lay limply in her arms, eyes closed, mouth open, wheezing. They were clearly the sickest of the 39 gorillas today. This little one had come down with the disease six days earlier — plenty of time to develop pneumonia, sometimes called the silent killer.
*PLEASE visit my pages for more information on how you can help these gentle giants...
http://my.care2.com/julesrs007
http://julesrs007saveanimals.blogspot.com/
*ALSO:
http://blogs.discovery.com/quest/2008/07/ururabos-baby-...
http://www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/mountaingori... (AWF Wildlife Mountain Gorilla)
http://www.gorillafund.org/ (Saving Gorillas - The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International) Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project: http://www.mgvp.org/ Dr. Lucy's Blog - Susa Group ... more -
End Moon Bear Suffering
Just imagine many bears waiting to be slaughtered for their gall bladder, feet and meat, crowded into small and filthy cages being fed pigs food on a daily basis. In the West, activists protest against similar treatment of battery hens. Here we are talking about a protected species, and one of the world's most magnificent animals. Nothing is being done by authorities to stop the trade in Korea.
The cruellest thing for this animal - remember this is the animal meant to be the mother of the Korean nation - is that they cannot live in the wild. Bears hibernate in their natural environment and the need to do this is indelibly implanted into their DNA. But bears caged at farms cannot hibernate during Korea's bitterly cold winters. This drives them insane, and activists have seen bears self-harming themselves against hard objects in despair.
There are no regulations providing for any specific method of slaughter, and there is a widespread belief that the bears are killed inhumanely. All of these conditions are against CITES agreement.
These bears are killed for oriental medicine, especially for their gall bladder but also for their meat and feet. Customers regularly visit the farms to select their own bear for slaughter.
MoonBears.org - A global coalition campaigning to save Korea's Moon Bears.
A bear gall bladder sells for up to $20,000 in Korea. Mr. Kim argues that deregulation will allow farmers to compete with imported bladders from China. China, Russia and North Korea have huge bear farming industries.
There are legal processes set out for the establishment of bear farms and the sale of bear products. However these are clearly being ignored and not enforced. Advertisements for internet sales for bears and bear breeding are easily found in Korean internet shopping malls, For example www.petmart.org; www.sajapet.com ; www.doumy114.com ; www.chunggaechun.co.kr .
Visits to 10 bear farms by in 2004 Green Korea confirmed hygiene standards and the condition of bears were both extremely poor. Most bears were in small dog cages - around 1 meter by 2 meters in size. There are frequently up to 10 bears in larger cages.
All bears were showing signs of abnormal behaviour. Some farms were located in the gardens of residential houses or temporary buildings. The "farmers" indicated that there were no inspections by authorities.
According to reports on oriental medicine there is over speculation about a bear's gall bladder being extra effective to cure human liver problems, it can also be replaced by around 54 alternative herbal formulas. For more information you should download the Detailed background on Asian bile trade and uses for bear bile, prepared by ACRES document.
Please Visit my other pages for more info on the bears & other animal & enviromental issues
http://my.care2.com/julesrs007
http://julesrs007saveanimals.blogspot.com/ Just imagine many bears waiting to be slaughtered for their gall bladder, feet and meat, crowded into small and filthy cages being fed... more -
YouTube - WildAid PSA - Harrison Ford: Souvenir
Following his chest-waxing to highlight deforestation, Harrison Ford has recorded another public service announcement --this time to address the nasty trade of animal trafficking.
The Indiana Jones star has joined forces with the U.S. State Department and the organization WildAid to draw attention to the campaign — and to encourage people not to buy endangered animal products when visiting overseas. “No thanks, just send me a postcard,” he quips. From the site,
“More than 30 U.S.embassies in all regions of the world will showcase the PSAs in a global launch beginning June 5, World Environment Day. The ads will also be broadcast globally on television and cable stations.”
In all, Ford recorded three 30-second spots. You can have a look at all of them by visiting the WildAid site here:
http://www.wildaid.org/index.asp?CID=7&PID=507
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/05/21/harrison-ford-offici... Following his chest-waxing to highlight deforestation, Harrison Ford has recorded another public service announcement --this time to a... more
-
related topics
wildlife-trade
Contributors (22)
wildlife-trade
