Animal control officer under investigation for beating dog

February 2014: Very Rare Blue Aurora in Norway

boldcorsicanflame's Blog

BLUE AURORAS: Northern Lights are usually green, and sometimes red. Those are the colors produced by oxygen when it is excited by electrons raining down from space. On Feb. 22nd, Micha Bäuml of Straumfjord, Norway, witnessed an appariton of aurora-blue

“All of a sudden the sky exploded,” says Micha. “The aurora looked like a giant flame.”

In auroras, blue is a sign of nitrogen. Energetic particles striking ionized molecular nitrogen (N₂⁺) at very high altitudes produces a cold azure glow of the type captured in Micha’s photo. Why it overwhelmed the usual hues of oxygen on Feb 22nd is unknown. Auroras still have the capacity to surprise.

Any auroras tonight, blue or otherwise, will be a bit of a surprise. Geomagnetic conditions are quiet. NOAA forecasters estimate a scant 5% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on March 3rd. Aurora alerts: text, voice

http://www.spaceweather.com

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U.S. moves towards Atlantic oil exploration, stirring debate over sea life

Protect Animals from Inhumane Pet Stores

Vegan Lynx

Sign the petition here.

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Save Lemurs, Earth’s Most Endangered Mammals

Vegan Lynx

Sign the petition here.

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The Deafening Sound of Hearing Here

The Deafening Sound of Freedom

Hearing here on land is different than hearing in the sea. The higher density of water allows sound to travel much more efficiently; to be more specific, it travels about four times more efficiently. So it is natural that hearing would operate differently in the ocean than on land. The change in the environment favors certain adaptations over others. This causes evolution. If you trace the evolution of the internal ear of whales through its various ancestors, you can observe the evolutionary pattern from land to sea. Such auditory transitions have not occurred in humans, meaning that our hearing is far less useful underwater. In fact, it is often difficult for human divers to identify what direction sound is coming from underwater.

It is well understood that in addition to allowing us to hear, our ears play a critical role in stabilizing us. They help us keep our balance. It…

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Albania’s Hunting Ban: Birds and Mammals Get a Two-Year Break

Our Compass

Wikimedia Commons

Source National Geographic
By Mel White

Vast numbers of European birds and other wildlife will be spared from illegal slaughter, thanks to a two-year moratorium on all hunting enacted by the government of Albania.

The Balkan country, which lies along a major migratory flyway, encompasses wetlands and other habitats that provide crucial refueling stops for millions of migrating birds. But poor law enforcement, a surge in gun ownership, and an influx of foreign hunters had made Albania essentially a year-round shooting range. Targets were not just game species but also eagles, cranes, shorebirds, and even small songbirds.

“Albania was a death trap for migrating birds,” said Gabriel Schwaderer, executive director of the conservation organization EuroNatur.

It wasn’t just birds that suffered, according to Schwaderer. To study the critically endangered Balkan lynx, EuroNatur set up automatic cameras in mountainous areas, documenting all passing animals. Mammals such as…

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There’s Ivory in Paradise

Our Compass

BACKGROUND

Hawaii legislature considers banning all ivory sales!

Did you know Hawaii is the second largest seller of ivory in the U.S.? Let’s make Hawaii a true paradise, where all ivory sales are outlawed!

Take a moment to read THIS LETTER from WildlifeDirect. Then send your own (using the sample below) to the following emails:

WHOM TO CONTACT

EDBtestimony@capitol.hawaii.gov ; reptsuji@capitol.hawaii.gov ; repward@capitol.hawaii.gov ; reprhoads@capitol.hawaii.gov

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Sir/Madam,

RE: PLEASE SUPPORT EW HB2183 and SB2024 to prohibit any person to import, sell, offer for sell or possess with intent to sell any ivory product in Hawaii.

I am writing to you to ask for help. There is a global crisis surrounding the illegal ivory trade. The elephant, a keystone species vital to Africa, is on the verge of extinction. Terrorist organizations are profiting from the ivory trade, using the funds from the ivory to cover the expenses of their…

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Airgun Oil Exploration Wrongs Right Whales (East Coast, USA)

The ocean update

Photo © Sandy Dubpernel – May 13, 2003

March 2^nd, 2014 (David Biello). The U.S. government has given industry permission to use of lethally loud seismic devices up and down the East Coast. David Biello reports.

By exploding compressed air underwater, scientists map the subsurface of the seafloor. The process can reveal new deposits of fossil fuels and other important information—and now industry has permission to use airguns off the U.S. east coast. Which means more dead whales.

Cetaceans and other marine life rely on their ears to navigate. Air guns deafen them, if not kill them outright, as the U.S. Department of Interior admits. The sound is 250 decibels or more, much louder than a jet engine. Dozens of melon-headed whales washed up dead on Madagascar beaches following similar seismic air gun testing by ExxonMobil in 2008.

At new risk are cetaceans like the North Atlantic right whales…

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Could the Keystone pipeline give you cancer?

Grist

Last week, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), head of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, announced that she had some “dramatic new information” to share. The information: Heavy crude from tar sands isn’t just going to bring us back to the hot mess of the Cretaceous, it’s also going to make us sick. Or some of us, anyway.

The information is dramatic, though not new. Every time you’re around crude, heavy or light, it’s not great for you. Anyone who uses the EPA’s website to search for pollution near their zip code is going to find a lot of old gas stations and auto body shops. The health risks Boxer highlighted — asthma, respiratory ailments, increased risks of heart disease and cancer — are ones that community activists near oil refineries, power plants, and drilling operations have been warning about for years. But extraction of heavy crude

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“SAVE THE RIZZOLI BOOKSTORE”, HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ICON OF NEW YORK CITY / SIGN THE PETITION

ROBERTO ALBORGHETTI

The Rizzoli Bookstore building is an icon of New York City architecture and one of the most beautiful commercial spaces in America. It is an impressive example of adaptive reuse of a former piano showroom into a retail space and one of the few remaining examples of architecturally significant bookstores in an era where bookstores are increasingly threatened. Recently, Vornado and Le Frak Realty have announced plans to demolish the building in order to build a new high-rise (International Business Times article)

 The Landmarks Preservation Commission, whose mission is “to be responsible for protecting New York City’s architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings,” has declined to grant landmark status to the building on the grounds that the property “lacks the architectural significance necessary to meet the criteria for designation,” despite the Community Board voting unanimously in favor of designating 31 W 57TH Street a landmark in 2007 (Link to…

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You should be worried about the high levels of weed killer in air and water

Grist

Yeah yeah, the main chemical in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer (glyphosate) has been found in air and rain. The year 2011 called and it wants its scary news back, right? Except, uh, there’s way more of this toxic chemical than we thought, PLUS it’s worse for anything that enjoys breathing than was previously estimated. Womp womp.

The hard numbers: According to a forthcoming study, 75 percent of air and rain samples from a 12-year study of the Mississippi Delta had Roundup in them. (The study will be published soon in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.) That’s kind of a disturbingly high amount, especially since Roundup is only supposed to go on WEEDS, not things that go in our bodies. Inhabitat explains the worrisome cycle:

[I]n recent years, studies have found that the herbicide is even more toxic than originally thought, but no change in regulation has…

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Spanking = Violence – A Family Tradition – a very important article

HumanSinShadow.wordpress.com

Spanking = Violence – A Family Tradition

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Spanking = Violence – A Family Tradition

Video

Corporal punishment and verbal insults increase the risk for cancer, heart disease, and asthma in adulthood. It is well established that spanking is correlated to negative outcomes later on, such as depression, adolescent alcohol/drug abuse, suicide, and domestic violence.

January 20, 2014

“You Caused This!”

Spanking = Violence – A Family Tradition

Video Presentation By Robbyn Peters Bennett at TEDxBellingham

Robbyn Peters Bennett, LMHC, CMHS is a psychotherapist, educator, and child advocate who specializes in the treatment of trauma-related mental health problems resulting from the effects of early childhood stress, abuse and neglect. She is the founder of Stopspanking.org, a non-profit dedicated to educating the public on the dangers of spanking. She is on the steering committee of The U.S. Alliance to End…

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Canadian Vet Seeks Reproductive Alternative to Wild Horse Cull

Straight from the Horse's Heart

By: Kathryn McMackin as published in the Cochrane Eagle

“The beauty of this particular contraceptive is that it doesn’t disrupt cycling or the horses’ behaviors, which is very important for the herd,”

photo by Terry Fitch of Wild Horse Freedom Federation

As the debate continues surrounding the government-appointed wild horse cull in Alberta, one veterinarian has been researching a more sustainable solution to manage the free-ranging horse population: a safe method of contraception.

Dr. Judith Samson-French is no stranger to utilizing contraception as a management tool — she’s used it for years to control the feral dog population on First Nations communities. Through the Dogs With No Names project, she’s found success by administering a contraceptive implant in female dogs that renders them infertile.

A similar method can be used for wild horses, she said.

Jay Kirkpatrick is the director of the Science and Conservation Centre at ZooMontana in…

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American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign

Big Cats Fall Prey To Dog Disease

Ann Novek( Luure)--With the Sky as the Ceiling and the Heart Outdoors

In Brief

Challenge

Sumatra has a declining tiger population of around 500, under threat from all sides and increasingly vulnerable to disease outbreak as their population fragments. Reports from human-tiger conflict cases suggest wild tigers are behaving strangely, apparently losing their fear of people and straying into villages – symptoms worryingly consistent with infection with potentially deadly Canine Distemper Virus (CDV).
No relevant veterinary testing has yet been conducted in Sumatra but there are parallels with recent tiger behaviour in the Russian Far East in which CDV infection has been firmly established. Anecdotal evidence suggests the problem may be widespread in Sumatra and potentially in other tiger countries.

Objective

WVI’s overall objective is to develop a network of vets and field staff dealing with tigers across their range state, that are able to deal with tigers in a conflict situation and to assess and mitigate any diseases that are affecting…

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Why Doesn’t EIA Support ” Shoot-to-kill” Policies For Poachers

Ann Novek( Luure)--With the Sky as the Ceiling and the Heart Outdoors

Why doesn’t EIA support ‘shoot-to-kill’ policies for poachers?

We would never condone shooting people on sight, especially when they’re not the drivers of the illegal trade.

The tusks of a poached elephant offered for sale in Zambia (c) EIA

The unfortunate reality is that there will probably always be those poor and desperate enough to attempt to poach elephants, rhino and other species, regardless of the likely prospect of summary execution.

The ivory trade, and the trades in tiger parts & skins and illegally logged timber, are major forms of transnational organised crime, run by powerful criminal syndicates.

But most poachers, like most loggers, are local to the area in which they operate and are generally driven by poverty – shoot them and the local economic realities will only see more rise in their place.

The real people to go after, the ones who plan, fund and facilitate…

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Bill Could Ban Drift Gillnets

Ann Novek( Luure)--With the Sky as the Ceiling and the Heart Outdoors

By

                        FILE – In this June 27, 2000, file photo, a leatherback turtle is seen in Manzanilla, Trinidad and Tobago. Conservationists said Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011, they got a rare glimpse of a 6-foot (2-meter) -long leatherback, the world’s most endangered sea turtle, together with dozens of eggs in western Indonesia. (AP Photo/Shirley Bahadur, File)                                                     — AP

FILE – In this June 27, 2000, file photo, a leatherback turtle is seen in Manzanilla, Trinidad and Tobago. Conservationists said Thursday, Feb. 17, 2011, they got a rare glimpse of a 6-foot (2-meter) -long leatherback, the world’s most endangered sea turtle, together with dozens of eggs in western Indonesia. (AP Photo/Shirley Bahadur, File)                         / AP

A new state bill would outlaw drift gillnets, a fishing method that opponents say indiscriminately kills marine life.

Drift gillnets are vast sheets of mesh hung vertically in the ocean to catch thresher sharks and swordfish. …

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BORN TO DIE in a UK laboratory‏

Free Tania the Elephant from Her Lonely Enclosure‏

Yes, There Are Paid Government Trolls On Social Media, Blogs, Forums And Websites