Poaching May Destroy Last Sumatran Rhinos

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (UPI) -- Poaching has greatly reduced Malaysia`s population of Sumatran rhinoceroses, but a small group of 13 are holding on, says the World Wildlife Fund.

'If this band of rhinos is to have a healthy future in Borneo the poaching must be stopped immediately -- their numbers are so small that losing one or two rhinos to a poacher could upset the remaining rhinos` chances of survival,' said Sybille Klenzendorf, lead biologist of WWF`s Species Conservation Program.

'Conservationists and Sabah government agencies are hopeful that there is a chance to save this group of rhinos and are diligently working to protect them.'

NWF Working with Carbonfund to Offset Pollution

The National Wildlife Foundation, via Carbonfund.org, is supporting wind and energy efficiency projects that subsidize the cost of clean, renewable energy that also helps develop the technology. The average American is directly responsible for about 10 tons of carbon dioxide annually through their home, car and air travel, and their average total annual impact rises to an average of 24 tons when factoring in the purchase of goods and services. Conferences, with the heavy reliance on air travel and other transportation, are an easy first step for any organization to offset. Because conferences also often bring decision makers together, for Carbonfund.org, it is an excellent opportunity to educate and demonstrate that being responsible is both simple and environmentally effective.

Carbonfund makes it easy and affordable for individuals and businesses to reduce their climate impact to zero. With its easy-to-use calculator, low offset cost per ton of CO2, and certified offset projects, Carbonfund is proving that anyone can reduce their impact on climate change quickly and efficiently. Carbonfund is a 501(c)(3) charitable, nonprofit organization.

Canada's Military Studying Effects of Noise on Wildlife

Source: Melissa Leong, National Post

The Canadian military will be deploying caribou collars and mock birds' eggs equipped with sophisticated monitors to make sure aircraft noise does not disturb the creatures.

The Goose Bay military base in Labrador is planning to broaden its training exercises to include jet fighters hurtling at supersonic speeds, exposing migrating caribou herds and other species for the first time to sonic booms.

To better study the effects of aircraft noise on animals, the Department of National Defence hired Idaho-based TenXsys Inc. to develop the new technology.

The caribou collars register noise and motion and transmit the data to researchers via satellite. The collars are equipped with GPS indicators and a remote-release mechanism.

"These collars measure the sound at the animal. With accelerometers, we detect when the animal becomes agitated and moves," said Frank Riskey, president of TenXsys.

The company has also developed plastic eggs in three different sizes to place in osprey, eagle and goose nests. The dummy eggs will measure sound and, most importantly, temperature.

"Do the birds leave the nests too long and the eggs cool?" producing a mortality as the result of the sound, Mr. Riskey asked.

"This is going to open up all kinds of environmental study possibilities. We've had contacts from all over the world, people asking things like, 'What's the effect of road noise on birds?' " Mr. Riskey said.

Warming of Bering Sea causing animals to migrate north

Bering Sea, which is home to a number of sea animals including whales, walruses, sea birds and fishes, is rapidly warming, threatening the ecosystem that thrives in its icy waters, a study, by University of Tennessee researchers, has said.

For a minimum of seven months a year, north Bering Sea, located between Siberia and Alaska, sees a solid ice cover. However, in the past decade, the temperatures on the floor of the sea have been showing rapid escalation, with the surface temperatures in 2004 hitting a high of 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Earlier, the temperature would hover around 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

According to Jacqueline Grebmeier, the lead author of the study, besides experiencing lesser ice, the region is also battling earlier annual melting of ice, with the melting in 1997 coming three weeks prior to its normal date.

This is posing problems for many animal species that source their food from bottom-feeders, like phytoplankton, which require extremely cold climates to survive. These bottom-feeders are slowly facing dwindling populations, causing animals from different parts to encroach upon other territories, leading to scarcity of food and subsequent loss of habitat.

While some like gray whales are coping by shifting base to the north in search of colder waters, others like bearded seals, walruses and Eider ducks are perishing, facing competition from fishes like pink salmons invading their territory to feed on pollock, a bottom-feeding species proliferating in northern Bering Sea due to increased temperatures.

“(Eider ducks') population is going down, and their food supply is going down. We're seeing that a change in the physical conditions is driving a change in the ecosystems. What we are seeing is a change in the boundary between the sub-Arctic and the Arctic ecosystem. The potential is real for an ecosystem shift that will be felt farther north,” Grebmeier said.

According to Lee Cooper, a co-author of the study, the massive disruptions in Bering Sea due to small climatic changes can be explained by the fact that the sea is a shallow one with a depth of less than 200 feet.

“(The study) demonstrates the biological effect in an area so shallow that it doesn't take much to fundamentally change the system. It's a little sobering,” Cooper said. The researchers say that the likelihood of these changes being irreversible are high, and reversal to cold temperatures might not undo them. Bering Sea, which spans an area of over 700,000 square miles, is separated from the North Pacific Ocean by the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian Islands.

Expressing concerns at the findings, oceanography scientists stressed the importance of halting global warming in its tracks and warned about the consequences for ecology should such changes continue. They point to the complaints of subsistence hunting tribes, like Yupik of St Lawrence Islands, who have reported thinning of ice.

“In the southeast, fish population and bottom-dweller changes are happening in the context of a complete loss of sea ice. But in the northern Bering Sea, ecological changes are occurring in the context of shifts in the quality of the sea ice. The ice there is broken and thin compared with ice floes that were more the norm,” said James Overland of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography's John Hildebrand felt that immediate action was required to prevent such ecological changes that can have devastating repercussions for mankind somewhere down the line.

“We need to make every effort possible to give them a chance to survive. I can't predict at all how climate change would play into the lives of right whales. It definitely will play into their lives but how, we don't know,” he said. The findings of the study have been reported in he journal Science.

Written by : Archibald Freeman

Wildlife crime unit concerned about elephants killing in Indonesia

Bandar Lampung, (ANTARA News) - The Wildlife Crime Unit (WCU) has expressed concern about the killing of elephants in Riau Province recently.

"It`s true that the killing happened in Riau, but we are worried that it might also occur in Lampung Province," Lampung WCU Coordinator Dwi Nugroho said.

Therefore, WCU kept on encouraging the improvement of national park and protected forest area management to protect the wildlife in Lampung forests, he said.

Conflicts between elephants and local residents were also reported in Lampung in the past few years.

Wild elephants reportedly came out from their habitats in several Lampung parks in the last few years. The big animals hurt local people and damaged plantation and human settlements located surrounding the forest areas.

"We very much hope that the killing of elephants in Riau, believed to be poisoned by poachers wanting to get the elephants` tusks, will never happen in Lampung," the WCU staff said.

Did You Know....Fish Feel Pain?

While it may seem obvious that fish are able to feel pain, like every other animal, some people still think of fish as swimming vegetables. In fact, regarding the ability to feel pain, fish are equal to dogs, cats, and all other animals. Dr. Donald Broom, scientific advisor to the British government, explains that “The scientific literature is quite clear. Anatomically, physiologically and biologically, the pain system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and animals.”

Indeed, neurobiologists have long recognized that fish have nervous systems that comprehend and respond to pain, and anyone who made it through Biology 101 knows that fish have nerves and brains that sense pain, just like all animals. Indeed, scientists tell us that fish brains and nervous systems closely resemble our own. For example, fish (like “higher vertebrates”) have neurotransmitters like endorphins that relieve suffering—of course, the only reason for their nervous systems to produce pain killers is to relieve pain. Claiming that fish do not suffer is as intellectually and scientifically sound as arguing that the Earth is flat.

Interestingly, scientists have created a detailed map of pain receptors in fish’s mouths and all over their bodies. A team of researchers at the University of Guelph in Canada recently surveyed the scientific literature on fish pain and intelligence. They concluded that fish feel pain and that “the welfare of fish requires consideration.” Dr. Lynne Sneddon, a scientist of fish biology in the United Kingdom, explains, “Really, it’s kind of a moral question. Is your angling more important than the pain to the fish?”

Scientists at Edinburgh University and the Roslin Institute in the United Kingdom report that in response to pain, fish also feel emotional stress and engage in “a ‘rocking’ motion strikingly similar to the kind of motion seen in stressed higher vertebrates like mammals.” The research team concluded that fish clearly experience pain in the same way as mammals, both physically and psychologically.

As you would expect from animals who we now know to be intelligent and interesting individuals with memories and the capacity to learn, fish can also suffer from fear and anticipation of physical pain. Researchers from universities across America have published research showing that some fish use sound to communicate distress when nets are dipped into their tanks or they are otherwise threatened. In a separate study, researcher William Tavolga found that fish grunted when they received an electric shock. In addition, the fish began to grunt as soon as they saw the electrode, clearly in anticipation of the torment that Tavolga was inflicting on them.
According to Dr. Michael Fox, D.V.M, Ph.D., “Even though fish don’t scream [audibly to humans] when they are in pain and anguish, their behavior should be evidence enough of their suffering when they are hooked or netted. They struggle, endeavoring to escape and, by so doing, demonstrate they have a will to survive.”

What happens to fish before they end up on your plate is nothing short of cruelty to animals—whether they’re farmed or pulled from the ocean, fish are treated in ways that would warrant felony charges if other animals were so horribly abused. Please click here to learn what you can do to help.

Please click here to learn what you can do to help.

Sir Paul McCartney Working to Block Animal Testing Lab in Arizona

Taking on the world's largest animal-testing company, top musical icon Sir Paul McCartney has fired off an appeal to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano asking that Covance, the company caught abusing monkeys during a PETA investigation, not be allowed to set up shop in Arizona.

"Arizona has a special place in my heart. It is where Linda loved to ride and it is where she lived her last days on our ranch. Linda was a champion for animals so it is for her and for all of us who want to protect animals from harm that I am writing to ask you not to let Covance, an animal testing laboratory, set up shop in Chandler."
—Sir Paul McCartney



What's Sir Paul's quarrel with Covance? It is the world's biggest breeder of dogs for use in experimentation and the largest importer of primates into the U.S. Damning video footage shot inside Covance's Vienna, Virginia, laboratory shows workers striking monkeys, throwing them against cage doors, shouting curses at the terrified animals, and psychologically tormenting them. Juvenile monkeys, desperate for physical contact, tugged at the gloves of PETA's investigator as—ironically—the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends" echoed out from the radio. Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" also reverberated through the desolate cinderblock-walled rooms in which the monkeys would live, suffer, and die as, crazed from their barren surroundings, they frantically rocked back and forth in their cages.


Covance Responsible for Ebola Outbreak
In 1989, when Covance was known as "Hazleton Research Products," the deadly Ebola virus was discovered in sick monkeys brought in by the company from the Philippines. A tactical medical military team outfitted in biohazard suits entered the lab, killed all the animals, and sealed the facility. After Hazleton vacated the premises, the facility, which had been built for $12 million, sat on the market for years; eventually, the building was demolished and the land was given away.

Even today, Covance continues to import primates—more than 12,000 in 2005, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service—and continues to harbor sick monkeys. While breeding monkeys in the U.S. would reduce the public safety risk, importing monkeys from countries like China, the Philippines, and Vietnam saves Covance money—and at Covance, public safety and animal welfare take a back seat to profits.

Read Paul McCartney's letter to Governor Napolitano.

Find out how you can join Paul McCartney to spread the word about Covance.

PETA Protests KFC for Torturing Chickens

Winter weather got you down? While most people are huddled by the fire drinking hot cocoa during the winter chill, PETA’s dedicated volunteers are tying on their bikinis and snapping on their earmuffs to get the message out that for more than 850 million chickens each year, KFC means Kentucky Fried Cruelty.

PETA’s chilly campaign was kicked off by Lauren Anderson during a freezing lunch-time protest in Anchorage, Alaska, last October. Activists across North America soon followed: In Reno, Nevada, activist Michelle Cho braved a state-of-emergency snowstorm; Nicole Matthews took her message that “KFC Tortures Chicks” to KFCs throughout the Midwest and Southeast; and Ashley Fruno fearlessly fought below-freezing temperatures throughout Western Canada.

What’s got these gutsy gals in a flap over KFC? Chickens are excluded from the only federal law that protects farmed animals, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which means that KFC can torture the chickens who end up in its buckets in ways that would result in felony cruelty-to-animals charges if other animals were the victims. Among other horrific abuses, they are drugged and bred to grow so large that many become crippled from the weight of their massive upper bodies. Many have their throats slit while they are still conscious and are scalded to death in defeathering tanks. KFC ignored recommendations for animal welfare improvements made by members of its own advisory panel, including five who have since resigned after being ignored for years. Former KFC advisor Adele Douglass told the Chicago Tribune that KFC “never had any meetings. They never asked any advice, and then they touted to the press that they had this animal-welfare advisory committee. I felt like I was being used.”

PETA’s campaign has enlisted the support of many celebrities, including Nobel Peace Prize winner His Holiness the Dalai Lama, rock icons Sir Paul McCartney and Chrissie Hynde, actors Pamela Anderson and Bea Arthur, civil rights leaders The Rev. Al Sharpton, Alice Walker, Kweisi Mfume, Dick Gregory, and Dr. Cornel West, and even former KFC spokesperson and Seinfeld star Jason Alexander.

You Can Help!
Don’t eat at KFC until it agrees to stop abusing animals.

U.K. BANS SOME WILDLIFE IN CIRCUS

Circuses are to be banned from using some wild animals - marking a victory for campaigners and the Daily Mirror.

Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw said travelling circuses were not meeting welfare needs.

The Mirror told this year how a lorry taking a rare white rhino and hippo from France to Ireland was rerouted, crashed, broke down and ran out of food.

Captive Animals Protection Society said: "It was crucial in the Government making this decision." Animal Defenders International said: "This is wonderful news."

After tigers, elephants are now endangered: Wildlife group

New Delhi - After the reduction in the number of tigers in Sariska, poachers are now targeting elephants in the Terai region, a group active in the wildlife protection claimed today.

After the formation of the State of Uttaranchal as per Forest Department's records, 90 elephants have been killed, Himalayan Chipko Foundation said.

"At this rate we won't have any elephants in Uttaranchal in the next 25 years," it said in a release.

The foundation said the foothills of the Himalayas and the Terai region still have dense forests which are ideal habitat for elephants.

However, poachers have steadily strengthened their operation in Uttaranchal and Terai region, it said.

The foundation claimed that in Jim Corbett National Park, more than seven bulls had been killed. "Their trunks were severed and tusks removed after brutally cutting the face," it claimed adding "unfortunately in the Forest Department's records the cause of death is not known in many cases."

Though ivory trade has been banned in many countries, it still has a "clandestine market" catering to the rich, it said adding "Pieces of art are also made of the bones of elephants".

Lucky Breakthrough in Dog Abuse Case

By Paul Huggins
DAILY Staff Writer
phuggins@decaturdaily.com

Decatur police will show evidence to a Morgan County grand jury next week that investigators believe will lead to the arrest of the person who abused Lucky.

Lt. Nadis Carlisle said tips from callers helped with the discovery of Lucky's owner and that the dog's original name was Rocky. He declined to give any details, such as whether the suspect had dog-fighting items, saying he didn't want to affect the grand jury proceedings.

He did say the department's findings bring closure to the two-week-old case. Presenting the case to the grand jury instead of arresting the suspect this week was the advice of the Morgan County district attorney's office, he added.

If convicted, the suspect could face one to 10 years in prison.

Lucky was found Feb. 22 in a trash bin near Wilson Morgan Park with a mangled leg and a duct-taped snout. Officials suspect he was used as bait for training pit bull fighters.

The dog continues to recover and could be ready for adoption in about three weeks.

Veterinarian Dr. Steve Osborne, who amputated Lucky's leg last week, immediately put up a $500 reward for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of Lucky's abuser. Donations from around the country have increased the reward to more than $15,000.

Carlisle said he couldn't say at this time whether the reward was the key to finding the suspect.

"I can't say that it didn't," he said.

Sgt. Rick Archer, head of the homicide/robbery unit, said solving the case was merely a matter of sifting through the overwhelming number of tips reported by citizens.

"Every day, I would have two dozen calls," he said, noting that many were related to dog fighting and not specifically to Lucky.

Russell said the story of Lucky shows what the community can do when it works together, adding that he hopes the same spirit will continue as the city pursues more animal cruelty cases and improves the shelter.

In the past year, the shelter hired an animal control officer and is in the midst of training him to investigate animal cruelty cases. In addition, the city plans to begin a capital campaign this year to build a new shelter.

40% of Land Set Aside for Wildlife in Botswana

KASANE - Botswana is one of the few countries in the world that still have abundant and diverse wildlife and forest resources, says Chobes District Commissioner Gaewetse Koketso.

Koketso was officiating at a two-day workshop for stakeholders consultative eco-tourism in Kasane recently.

He said almost 40 per cent of the total land area has been set aside for conservation and sustainable utilisation of the resources in recognition of their importance.

He said before the establishment of forest reserves in the Chobe area, forest resource studies were conducted in 1934 and 1966 which resulted in discussions and recommendations regarding the best possible land use in the Chobe District.

He said during one of the discussions between the then forestry department and game department the forestry department wished to apply multiple land use (i.e. game and forestry) in the forest areas but this was rejected by the game department.

Koketso said there were also differences in policy concerning burning forests as a management tool.

He said the forestry department was in favour of early burning while the game department preferred late burning for different reasons.

The District Commissioner said this matter was eventually resolved by a decision to declare the bulk of the then Chobe Game Reserve as a national park that precluded exploitation, adding that it was followed by the declaration of Kasane Forest Reserve and later other forest reserves that allowed timber concessions.

Koketso said as a result forest reserves have come to be viewed as a source of nothing else but timber.

He said in 1991 and 1992 the Ministry of Agriculture conducted a comprehensive forest reserve inventory in all the gazetted forest areas.

He said the study evaluated different possibilities, including combining sustained forest production and environmental conservation with other forms of land use.

Koketso said the resultant management plans aimed at contributing to improve social economic conditions in the Chobe through multiple use and sustained yield management based in public participation.

He said tourism is an important employment generator that attracts revenue through the provision of diverse sources such as accommodation, transport, nature centred entertainment and financial services.

He added that Chobe District was a popular tourist destination and this was so because of the abundance of fauna and flora, which are not common in other countries.

The objectives of the workshop, among others, were to examine ways and means of enhancing participation of the local community, tour operators, and other stakeholders in promoting sustainability of forest practices in forest reserves.

The other aim was to promote collaboration between the government and stakeholders so as to ensure sound administration and development of eco-tourism in the forest reserve.

Help Stop Canada's Cruel Seal Hunt!

The largest commercial slaughter of marine mammals on the planet is set to begin again in Canada next month.




By the end of the hunt, more than 300,000 seals are expected to be clubbed or shot to death by fishermen who hunt seals off-season to pick up extra cash by selling their skins. Almost all of their victims will be babies -- some as young as 12 days old.

Polls consistently show that most Canadians oppose the hunt, but still the Canadian government and fishing industry refuse to end it. But there is new hope on the ice. Canada has a new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, and a new party in power. With enough public support, they may consider ending this terrible hunt forever.

Sign this petition now and send it to anyone who cares about protecting the lives of Canada's seals

British Columbia Protects 5 Million Rainforest Acres

Earlier this month, the government of British Columbia committed to protect five million acres (This is equivalent to an area approximately the size of New Jersey) of rainforest from logging.

This incredible victory is the result of a decade-long campaign that was hard fought by activists around the world to help save the Great Bear.

Never before have logging companies, corporations, environmental groups, aboriginal groups, local communities and activists all come together to save a rainforest -- and now, we've proven that it's possible.

To find out more, visit www.forestethics.org.