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Rescuers save dolphin stranded on Par beach (UK)

The ocean update

Rescuers have returned a dolphin washed up on a south Cornwall beach to the sea.

The juvenile bottlenose dolphin was discovered at Par beach at about 10am yesterday.

Saturday, January 11st, 2014 (CG_Caroline). The 4 – 5 ft mammal was found floating upside down by two ladies who leapt into the water to save it from drowning.

David Smethurst, who captured this photograph of the rescue, said the women spent more than two hours in the water keeping the stranded dolphin upright.

Others also rushed to help the dolphin, while one of the ladies kept the mammal calm by talking to it.

A vet and volunteers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) were scrambled to the beach.

An examination showed the animal was uninjured and it was placed on a stretcher and returned to the sea.

Mr Smethurst said: “It took it a while to get its confidence…

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Riverhead Foundation : True’s Beaked Whale Calf Died Before Mother ((New York, USA)

The ocean update

January 10^th, 2014 (Taylor K. Vecsey). The two rare True’s beaked whales found dead one day apart on neighboring beaches in the Town of Southampton were likely mother and calf, the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation concluded in its findings.

In a report released on Friday, the organization that responded to the strandings of the rare species said the male calf, found dead on a Bridgehampton beach on Monday, died two to three days before the lactating adult female, which washed up on a Southampton Village beach on Sunday. Though the female washed up first, she is believed to have been seen thrashing about on Flying Point Beach earlier on Sunday morning, before being found dead further west.

Both were in poor condition, and the calf was malnourished. Biologists performed necropsies on both at the Long Island Aquarium and Exhibition Center.

True’s beaked whales have an unusual distribution in…

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New Research Finds Extreme Longevity in Great White Sharks

The ocean update

January 10^th, 2014. A new study published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE has found that great white sharks live significantly longer than previously though.

Sharks are long-lived animals that grow slowly and do not produce many young. In many parts of the world they are fished commercially, requiring age and growth data for conservation and management efforts.

Validation of age in shark species is also critical in understanding their longevity as well as in estimating vital rates such as age at maturity, lifetime fecundity or fertility, growth rates, and differences in growth between males and females.

Sharks are typically aged by counting alternating opaque and translucent band pairs deposited in sequence in their vertebrae. It is unclear whether these band pairs are deposited annually, making it difficult to accurately estimate age or provide estimates for longevity for many shark species.

In the first successful radiocarbon age…

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Rare whale strands itself, must be murdered (Florida, USA)

The ocean update

Necropsy pending for euthanized beaked whale

January 10th, 2014 (Jennifer Portman). Beachcombers on Cape San Blas this week were greeted by a unique, if ultimately sad, sighting of an elusive whale species often found only in the deepest seas.

On Thursday morning, marine mammal experts with Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City responded to a call of a whale near shore. Under a permit from NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, the marine park handles sea mammal and sea turtle strandings from Walton County to St. Marks.

Secret Holmes-Douglas, Gulf World’s director of animal care and training at the marine center, said it appeared the 13-foot long female whale was a Blainville beaked whale, which live in tropical and temperate seas worldwide, typically in deep, offshore waters of the continental shelf.

“In my 18 years, this is only the third one that has washed up on our shores,” said Holmes-Douglas said…

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Dead sperm whale found on South Fla. Beach (Florida, USA)

The ocean update

January 10^th, 2014. BOCA RATON, Fla. — A large, dead sperm whale washed up Friday on a South Florida beach, and federal biologists were attempting to determine what caused its death.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Katie Johnson said the immature male whale is between 33 and 35 feet long and weighs as much as 15 tons. Male sperm whales can weigh up to 45 tons.

Boca Raton police said the whale was found Friday morning near Spanish River Park and winds blew it onto the beach. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologists intended to perform a necropsy on the whale after tides were low enough to make it safe.

“There aren’t any apparent signs as to what led to this whale’s death,” Johnson said in an email.

Tractors from the city of Boca Raton were trying to pull the whale up onto the beach so it…

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URGENT: Any Washington DC friends out there?

Our Compass

This will be in Washington DC

EMERGENCY PROTEST RALLY SUNDAY

PLEASE JOIN US for an EMERGENCY
PROTEST RALLY to
SAVE the DEER who live in
ROCK CREEK NATIONAL PARK
this SUNDAY, JAN. 12 at 12 noon through the evening hours.

We will gather at the “Rock Creek Park” sign located in a triangle of grass at the corner of Military Road, NW, where it intersects with Oregon Ave. and Glover Rd., NW.This is the same location where the series of protests were held last March.

(Plans for a protest motorcade are currently being explored but this form of protest cannot be undertaken quickly in the District of Columbia. Legal review is necessary and permits may have to be obtained.)

In the meantime, WE MUST ACT NOW to PROTEST WHILE THE KILLING IS GOING ON!

Please pass the word!

This year, the National Park Service began shooting the deer who live…

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Is there any way you can take the helmet off the Hermit Crab?

Rare horses released in the wild in Spain to manage ecosystem

Tuesday's Horse

Isn’t it rich that the BLM and their wild horse hating counterparts are always crowing how Mustangs must be removed because they are destroying the ecosystem. We know that this is a lie and a manipulation on their part to continue their seek and destroy mission.

We have reported numerous examples of how countries around the world are returning wild horses to help manage ecosystems and restore diversity — that includes encouraging the survival of other wild species. Privately managed cattle on public lands do not qualify as wildlife or threatened. They have never suffered at the hands of the Mustangs. The reverse certainly cannot be said.

Wild horse herds on public lands in the US continue to be decimated and eliminated at the hands of the federal government mainly at the incitement of cattle ranchers or other special interest commercial groups, such as miners and frackers for example.

Here’s…

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Ten of the Healthiest Human Foods for Dogs

Michelle Neff

Dogs love veggies too! Callie loves bananas and blueberries and recently I wondered what other ‘human’ foods I could give her, so I did some research and wanted to share the list. 🙂

1. Cantaloupe 

Believe it or not, the same fruit salad staple that humans have come to know and love is just as good for dogs. They’re full of vitamins that will help with your canine’s eyesight, as well as lots of vitamin A and lots of beta carotene, which helps reduce the risk of cancer and prevents cell damage. It’s also a good source of vitamins B-6 and C, fiber, folate, niacin and potassium.

2. Green Beans
Getting your dog to eat his green beans will probably be easier than getting your kids to do the same. Green beans are good for your pooch because of their omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A, C, and K. They’re…

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Number of the Day: 200 (As in, $200,000 Raised by Actor Kellan Lutz for Bulgarian Dog Shelter!)

The Paw Report

Paws up for the cast of Hercules! Back in November, actor Kellan Lutz (Twilight) announced that he wanted to raise $200,000 for a Bulgarian NGO that desperately needed the money to help stray animals. Lutz had been filming on-location in Bulgaria for his new film, Hercules. The dogs of Sofia, Bulgaria were once pets, but now abandoned and left in the streets.  “After seeing the many stray dogs in Bulgaria, myself & the cast of Hercules couldn’t stand by and not do something to help ‘Animal Rescue Sofia,'” said Lutz.

I’m happy to share the news that Kellan achieved the goal!

Not only did the cast and crew raise a lot of money, which will allow ARS to build their much-needed new facility, but they are also raising awareness on how important animal adoption is — no matter where you are in the world, there…

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Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, It Has Been Said

Organikos

One of the myriad arguments in favor of wilderness conservation is that we do not know what we are losing when wild places are lost to development. Case in point with this story and image via National Geographic newswatch service:

Six months ago, visitors to the Peruvian Amazon discovered a mysterious picket fence structure nicknamed Silkhenge. Despite watching the structure for several days, naturalists at the Tambopata Research Center couldn’t figure out what type of animal (or fungus) was building it.

When scientist Troy Alexander first announced his find, all he had to show for his discovery was a series of intriguing photographs. He had no idea what Amazonian critter could have created the circular hideaway with a spoke-like outer wall.

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Happy Weekend: Elephant Vs. Croc

Tutu’s Torch

Walking with the Alligators

Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, February 1, 2009
Picture credit: Remy Steinegger

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”

 

After the unshakeable darkness of the Rhino post yesterday,  this morning a saved story on my desktop has to come to rescue me from the mire.

These terrible stories take a huge personal toll on me and writing them often takes days to recover from.

So, it is a relief to be writing a feel good  story, even if it is not Sunday, it is necessary.

This is about a man for whom I have the highest regard,  who speaks up when others remain silent on not so safe issues for such an esteemed member of the Clergy.

Desmond Tutu’s  support of gay rights and other main stream issues, have likely sealed his fate and any possibility of him ever being considered for Pope, which I…

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American Attitudes Toward Wolves

Creek Cat

American Attitudes Towards Wolves_V Folgerman Redacted

I’ve been looking for research on how the American mindset has come to hate predator animals with such intensity that many support torture by trap, and complete extinction of some species like wolves. There are many species that have been on constant attack from humans, but in America it seems to be the predator species, like wolves, mountain lions, bobcats and coyotes. There are others that aren’t predators, like beavers, that have had their populations decimated in the past. But, since the removal of wolves from the endangered species act in 2011, we’ve opened hunting seasons for wolves in six states. In two years the states of MI, MN, MT, ID, WY, and WI have attacked wolves with a fervor. I’d venture to say that their state fish and wildlife agencies have gone bonkers. It seems to have been a bloodlust and I need…

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