Wildlife Services Killed 1.3 Million Native Animals in 2017, Including Coyotes, Bears, Wolves

ecowatch.com
Wildlife Services Killed 1.3 Million Native Animals in 2017, Including Coyotes, Bears, Wolves
Center for Biological Diversity
3-4 minutes

Coyote at Seedskadee NWR. Tom Koerner / USFWS

The arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture known as Wildlife Services killed more than 1.3 million native animals during 2017, according to new data released by the agency last week.

The multimillion-dollar federal wildlife-killing program targets wolves, coyotes, cougars, birds and other wild animals for destruction—primarily to benefit the agriculture industry. Of the 2.3 million animals killed in total last year, more than 1.3 million were native wildlife species.

“The Department of Agriculture needs to get out of the wildlife-slaughter business,” said Collette Adkins, a biologist and attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “There’s just no scientific basis for continuing to shoot, poison and strangle more than a million animals every year. Even pets and endangered species are being killed by mistake, as collateral damage.”

According to the latest report, the federal program last year killed 357 gray wolves; 69,041 adult coyotes, plus an unknown number of coyote pups in 393 destroyed dens; 624,845 red-winged blackbirds; 552 black bears; 319 mountain lions; 1,001 bobcats; 675 river otters, including 587 killed “unintentionally”; 3,827 foxes, plus an unknown number of fox pups in 128 dens; and 23,646 beavers.

The program also killed 15,933 prairie dogs outright, as well as an unknown number killed in more than 38,452 burrows that were destroyed or fumigated. These figures almost certainly underestimate the actual number of animals killed, as program insiders have revealed that Wildlife Services kills many more animals than it reports.

According to the new data, the wildlife-killing program unintentionally killed nearly 3,000 animals last year, including wolves, badgers, bears, bobcats, foxes, muskrats, otters, porcupines, raccoons and turtles. Its killing of nontarget birds included chickadees, bluebirds, cardinals, ducks, eagles, grouse, hawks, herons, swans and owls. Dozens of domestic animals, including pets and livestock, were also killed. Such data reveals the indiscriminate nature of painful leghold traps, strangulation snares, poisons and other methods used by federal agents.

“The barbaric, outdated tactics Wildlife Services uses to destroy America’s animals need to end,” Adkins added. “Wolves, bears and other carnivores help balance the web of life where they live. Our government needs to end its pointless cycle of violence.

The wildlife-killing program contributed to the decline of gray wolves, Mexican wolves, black-footed ferrets, black-tailed prairie dogs and other imperiled species during the first half of the 1900s and continues to impede their recovery today.

https://www.ecowatch.com/wildlife-services-kills-native-animals-2562879506.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e12c646d61-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e12c646d61-86074753

One of World’s Most Endangered Wolf Species Could Go Extinct in 8 Years

ecowatch.com
One of World’s Most Endangered Wolf Species Could Go Extinct in 8 Years
Olivia Rosane
3-4 minutes

A Species Status Assessment (SSA) released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Tuesday revealed that there are only 44 red wolves left in North Carolina, the only place they exist in the wild, and that they could go extinct within eight years.

The SSA was released along with a Five-Year Status Review, which the FWS undertakes for every species offered protections under the Endangered Species Act to determine if they should retain their endangered status. Given the population’s vulnerabilities, the FWS recommended that red wolves remain listed as endangered. According to the FWS website, red wolves are one of the most endangered wolf species in the world.

“Time is running out for red wolves. We need to move fast if we’re going to keep them from disappearing forever,” biologist and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity Collette Adkins said in a press release. “For starters, we need immediate measures in place to stop people from killing them.”

The 2007 Five-Year Status Review found that there were 114 red wolves in the wild as of 2006. But the most recent status review said those numbers had gone down due to an increase in human-caused deaths from gunshots, car collisions, poisoning and illegal activity.

The SSA further explained how human-caused mortality was interacting with the spread of coyotes in North Carolina to threaten the population. When half of a breeding pair of wolves dies or is killed, the wolf left behind has to scramble for a mate and sometimes ends up breeding with a coyote, producing offspring that are no longer counted as red wolves. While there were four times the number of red wolf litters compared to mixed litters produced from 2001 to 2013, more than half of the hybrid litters came about because a red wolf lost its mate.

The SSA further pointed out that the habitat of red wolves on North Carolina’s Albemarle Peninsula is at risk of shrinking from sea level rise due to climate change.

In a sad twist, the status review also revealed that the red wolf’s range was historically more extensive than previously thought, extending from Edwards Plateau in Texas in the west, to the southern Midwest in the north, to southern Pennsylvania and southeastern New York in the east.

The historic range of the red wolf compared with its current habitat.Jose Barrios / USFWS

According to the FWS website, the red wolf was first listed as endangered in 1967 and declared extinct in the wild in 1980 due to habitat loss and predator control. The FWS found a surviving population along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana in the 1970s and captured many to start a captive breeding program. Red wolves were reintroduced into the wild in North Carolina in 1986. There is debate as to whether the red wolf is actually a separate species or a hybrid, something the FWS is working to determine within the year.

According to an FWS press release, there are currently more than 200 red wolves in captivity. The FWS will release new proposed rules for managing the wild population by the summer.

https://www.ecowatch.com/red-wolf-endangered-2563600067.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e12c646d61-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e12c646d61-86074753

Try not to laugh Donkey edition

Justice for Elephant Starved, Beaten, and Killed

 

Lamxi the elephant was malnourished and beaten for 30 years of her life. When she was no longer useful to her abusers, they apparently left her alone to die in a small brick shed. Demand that these people are found and prosecuted for their heinous crime against this beautiful elephant.

Source: Justice for Elephant Starved, Beaten, and Killed

The tragic lives of India’s mistreated captive elephants

bbc.co.uk
The tragic lives of India’s mistreated captive elephants
By Soutik Biswas India correspondent
6-8 minutes
Rajeshwari is dead
Image caption Rajeshwari died days after an animal lover sought the court’s permission to put her down

For more than a month, Rajeshwari, a 42-year-old temple elephant in India, lay desultorily on a patch of sand, her forelimb and femur broken and her body ravaged by sores.

An animal lover went to the court, seeking to put her down. The court said the pachyderm could be “euthanised” after the vets examined her. On Saturday afternoon, she died anyway.

Rajeshwari had led a hard life since she was sold to the temple in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in 1990. She would stand on stone floors for long hours to bless devotees and perform rituals like pouring or bringing water to the deities.

In 2004, she fell from an open truck on the way to a “rejuvenation” camp for captive elephants and broke her leg. She lived in pain ever since with a misshapen limb. Recently, she broke her femur when authorities used an earthmover to flip her and treat her. After that, say activists who visited the temple to check on her condition, the largely disabled pachyderm just wasted to death.

‘Smoking’ elephant in India baffles experts
India award for burning elephant photo
India wild elephant saved in dramatic rescue

Rajeshwari’s tragic story mirrors the sorry state of many of 4,000 captive elephants in India, mostly in the states of Assam, Kerala, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. India, according to a World Animal Protection report, is widely considered the “birthplace of taming elephants for use by humans” – a practice which began thousands of years ago. (In comparison, India has 27,000 elephants in the wild.)

In southern India, pachyderms are rented out during religious festivals for noisy parades and processions, including weddings and shop and hotel openings. They travel long distances in open vehicles and walk on tarred roads in the scorching sun for hours. (They have often gone on the run at temple festivals and killed devotees.)

Image copyright AFP
Image caption Elephants are used for religious processions in Kerala

Elsewhere, chained and saddled elephants are used for rides, sometimes carting tourists up and down steep forts, or entertaining tourists who wish to touch, bathe and ride them. They are also hired by political parties for campaign processions, and by companies for promoting their goods in trade fairs. They are rented out for tourism in the national parks, used for anti-depredation squads, logging activities and lately even for begging on highways.

According to media reports, more than 70 captive elephants have died under “unnatural conditions and at a young age” in private custody in just three states – Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Rajasthan – between 2015 and 2017. Some 12 captive elephants have died this year in Kerala alone. “Most of these deaths are due to torture, abuse, overwork or faulty management practices,” says Suparna Ganguly, president of the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre.
‘Gross ignorance’

It’s not surprising to see why.

Lack of space and habitat to exercise and graze in natural surroundings means elephants lodged in captivity are shackled for long hours in concrete sheds with stone floors. This is enough to make the animal sick. They usually get foot rot, a condition where their feet develop abscesses and thinning pads, sometimes leading to severe infection. When outside, constant exposure to the glare of sun can affect their eyesight. Ms Ganguly blames this on “gross ignorance on part of the keepers and managers”.

Then there’s the poor diet. Elephants are slow eaters, and in the wild typically eat more than 100 kinds of roots, shoots, grasses, foliage and tubers. In captivity, their diets are severely restricted. In parts of northern India, for example, the animals have access only to glucose-rich dried sugarcane fodder. Vets say many of them suffer from intestinal infection, septicaemia and lung-related infections. The life expectancy of captive elephants in Kerala, according to a report, has dipped to below 40 years from 70-75 years a couple of decades ago.

Image copyright AFP
Image caption Elephants kept in captivity are used for tourist rides in Assam

There’s not even enough places to shelter rescued and ailing elephants. There are five of them in India – including three private rescue centres – that house some 40 elephants, not enough considering the high population of captive animals.

Tamil Nadu holds month-long rejuvenation camps for temple elephants, where the animals can rest, get treated and interact with other elephants in a natural environment. Elephants are trucked into these camps from distant places and many elephants have had accidents resulting in deaths due to their inability to cope with road transport or because they fall down from trucks.

India’s Supreme Court has outlawed the sale and exhibition of elephants at a well-known animal fair, and directed authorities to ban the use of elephants in religious functions to reduce their demand. More than 350 captive elephants in Kerala and Rajasthan are “illegal” – they don’t have any ownership papers. Despite adequate laws – including a powerful animal protection law and guidelines to protect captive elephants – not enough is being done to protect them, say activists.
Lucrative trade

One reason is captive elephants are a lucrative trade. The owner of an elephant in Kerala, for example, can easily make up to 70,000 rupees ($1053; £754) for a single day’s appearance at a religious festival during the busy season.

“For the first time in the history of India’s captive elephant business, the murky underworld of elephant trade has been split wide open – decades of elephant trafficking, the ghastly nexus between poachers capturing young elephants and their collusion with private trade coupled with neglect, corruption and apathy on part of government departments have led to the unacceptable conditions today,” says Ms Ganguly.

The top court is expected to pass further – and final orders – on protection of the mistreated elephants soon. There may be hope yet.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-asia-india-43862182

Baby Elephant Throwing a Tantrum

World’s First Collapsible, Reusable Straw Fits Right On Your Keychain

 

 

ecowatch.com
World’s First Collapsible, Reusable Straw Fits Right On Your Keychain
Lorraine Chow
3 minutes

Straws suck—literally and figuratively. Americans throw away 500 million of these single-use plastics everyday day, clogging landfills, polluting oceans and causing harm to aquatic creatures.

And while reusable straws made of bamboo or metal already exist on the market, the Santa Fe-based team at FinalStraw have invented the world’s first collapsible, reusable straw you can conveniently attach to your keychain so you won’t forget to bring your own when you’re on the go.

The FinalStraw consists of a foldable stainless steel straw, a tiny squeegee to keep the straw clean and a recycled plastic case that’s no bigger than a smartphone.

To help reduce plastic straw use, every FinalStraw also includes five information cards for you to leave with your bill at restaurants that still serve plastic straws. According to the campaign, “we hope to make the public more aware of the devastating effects of plastic pollution and use that awareness to pressure restaurants to stop serving straws.”

A lot of buzz has already generated around the project. A feature on BuzzFeed Video has generated 9.4 million views and counting. A successful Kickstarter, now with more than 11,000 backers, easily blew past the team’s initial $12,500 goal. More than $500,000 has been raised so far with more than 20 days to go.

“The success of our Kickstarter just goes to show that people want reusables, they just need to be convenient and make sense,” FinalStraw co-founder Emma Cohen told EcoWatch in an email.

The start-up recently partnered with the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s The Last Plastic Straw Movement for a limited edition Earth Day straw, where part of the proceeds were donated to the organization.

Now that they’ve hit their fundraising goal, Cohen said the team is looking forward to teaming up with more organizations to give back to the community and to continue making more sleek, convenient reusable to-go ware.

“Our mission is to make sure we provide people with the highest quality, socially responsible and coolest reusables possible,” she said.

FinalStraw costs $20 on Kickstarter and comes with a lifetime warranty. The estimated delivery is November 2018.

https://www.ecowatch.com/finalstraw-collapsible-straw-2562955647.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e12c646d61-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e12c646d61-86074753

Baby Elephant Takes The Quick Route Downhill

When to Expect Hummingbirds in Your Yard This Spring

audubon.org
When to Expect Hummingbirds in Your Yard This Spring
By Geoffrey S. LeBaron
5-6 minutes

As warmer weather approaches, multitudes of migrant birds are on track for arrival in North America. Among them are those favorite avian gems, hummingbirds. The spring arrival—or year-round presence—of hummingbirds in yards varies across the country, but current studies point out some new potential challenges to migrating hummingbirds, such as changing bloom times of nectar plants and an earlier arrival of spring on their wintering and breeding grounds. Here we’ve gathered general guidelines to current hummingbird migration patterns for various sections of the country, as well some tips on the different feeding strategies you can use to attract them to your yard. Additionally, you can also learn more about how to help hummingbirds below.
Eastern United States

Over most of the eastern two-thirds of North America, from central Canada southward, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird reigns supreme. Predominantly a neotropical migrant, it winters from southern Mexico to Costa Rica. Each spring, this species arrives in numbers along the Gulf Coast by early March, filtering northward over the next two months until arriving in northern states and southern provinces by late April or early May. Migrating males usually arrive a week or so before females at any given location. Climate change is affecting the migration of Ruby-throats, though. As conditions warm on the wintering grounds, data indicate that they leave their winter homes earlier on their way to the Gulf Coast. Interestingly, it also appears that hummingbirds then hang around in the Gulf Coast for longer than normal, perhaps to recuperate from their trip across the Gulf of Mexico.

Migrating hummingbirds start to visit flowering plants and nectar feeders in March and usually stick around through May. To have resources ready for northward migrants in regions where hummingbirds are absent in the winter, it’s best to put nectar out by early March if you live in the Southeast, and by late April if you live in the Northeast.
Southeastern United States

The Southeastern coast, from Cape Hatteras southward, in Florida, and especially around the Gulf Coast, is different from the rest of the eastern United States. Here hummingbirds are likely to be present year-round, with both higher diversity and greater numbers of birds present in winter! As such, supplying nectar sources and insect-laded gardens is appropriate year-round in these regions. In coastal Texas and Louisiana, hummingbirds may visit feeders in the late winter and early spring.
Mountainous West

In the mountainous West, a variety of hummingbirds, including Broad-tailed, Black-chinned, Rufous, and Calliope, arrive in spring as the first flowers bloom. Starting in early March, these species will appear in yards near the Mexican border, and by early to mid-May will be found in the northern Rockies. Rufous Hummingbirds winter primarily in southern Mexico and breed as far north as southeastern Alaska. These hardy little birds can survive sub-freezing temperatures on practically any night of the year, but they can’t go without nectar and small insects, none of which are available in the winter in this region. Climate change and earlier blooming times for wildflowers may be affecting all of these species, as they do not appear to be shifting their arrival times to match the early blossoming times of their favorite food sources. Nectar feeders and selected wildflower plantings in yards can help these species fuel up for their continued migration and upcoming breeding season.
Southwest and West Coast

In the Southwest and in the West to British Columbia, hummingbirds are present year-round. In southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, many sought-after species, including Blue-throated, Magnificent, Broad-billed, and White-eared hummingbirds, frequent backyard nectar feeders, and even-rarer visitors can also make an appearance.

Hummingbird lovers on the West Coast from California to British are also fortunate. Large numbers of hummingbirds, especially Anna’s to the north and Allen’s to the south, are likely to be found in good numbers in hummingbird-friendly yards year-round. Migrant Rufous Hummingbirds also move northward early—as far north as Oregon by the end of February—on their way to their coastal Alaskan breeding grounds.
Two Ways to Help Hummingbirds

Grow Native Plants: Growing plants that are indigenous to your area is a great way to both attract and help the hummingbirds you love. Native plants provide shelter and food, including a healthy environment for insects, part of the hummingbird diet important during breeding season. Get a list of native plants customized for your area by visiting our handy Plants for Birds database.

Become a Community Scientist: You can protect hummingbirds by helping crowdsource invaluable data using Audubon’s free Hummingbirds at Home app or website. You just submit your observations on when hummingbirds feed on nectar-bearing plants in your yard or community. To get started, go to hummingbirdsathome.org

http://www.audubon.org/news/when-expect-hummingbirds-your-yard-spring?ms=digital-eng-email-ea-x-20180428_hummingbird_medium&utm_source=ea&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20180428_hummingbird&utm_content=medium

Petition: Ask Trump administration to ban the import of hunting trophies | Four Paws

https://help.four-paws.org/en-US/ask-trump-administration-ban-import-hunting-trophies?refsid=3012255

Petition: Nearly 200 Animals Abandoned and Left to Fend for Themselves

by: Amil J
target: Mr. Shri Thanedar

37,171 SUPPORTERS
40,000 GOAL

Shri Thanedar, currently a candidate in Michigan’s gubernatorial race, was the owner of an animal testing facility that went bankrupt. When it shuttered its doors, the candidate left the 170 dogs and monkeys inside to fend for themselves.

According to news reports, after it closed, ex-employees continued to bring the 118 beagles food and water by jumping the fence. And the monkeys’ former caregivers reached out to an animal rescue organization to let them know about the 55 long-tailed macaque monkeys that were also left at the complex.

If it weren’t for the efforts of ex-employees from the clinic, and animal rights activists, it is quite possible they would have perished.

For his part, Mr. Thanedar says that when he owned the testing facility the animals were never harmed and always in good care.

But if he cared so much about their well-being, how could he just abandon them without helping to find them new homes?

Every day countless animals from dogs and cats to rabbits and pigs are abandoned in our America. Sometimes they are lucky and kind people take them in, other times they are forced to live in the wild and still others die. Despite being illegal, animal abandonment is a huge problem. Rescue organizations work hard to help those animals left in the cold and find them new loving forever homes. In this case, they helped save nearly 200 dogs and monkeys.

We owe them a debt of gratitude for the job they do.

That’s why Mr. Thanedar should admit that he was wrong for abandoning those animals and donate to an animal rescue organization who helps find animals like the 170 dogs and monkeys new homes when they are no longer wanted.

Please sign the petition.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/346/739/067/this-gubernatorial-candidate-abandoned-nearly-200-animals-and-left-them-to-fend-for-themselves/

Copyright © 2018 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved

Petition update · Victory! Kansas dog tracks will stay closed! · Change.org

change.org
Petition update · Victory! Kansas dog tracks will stay closed! · Change.org
1 minutePetition update

Apr 28, 2018 — After a four and one-half hour debate, the Kansas Senate rejected a bill to bring back dog racing to state. The Woodlands, Wichita and Camptown Greyhound Parks will remain closed. #Woofs to everyone who helped protect the dogs!

https://www.change.org/p/12970654/u/22688430?utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_campaign=315965&sfmc_tk=Y65ELrEVwnOSO7%2bDYTtOcXWuI0K2dOett2Dc%2f858BbKRRQ%2b%2foxAij%2b%2bnf2Vjgnn9&j=315965&sfmc_sub=61374949&l=32_HTML&u=56896700&mid=7259882&jb=3

Abilene’s “Greyhound Racing Hall of Fame” must now be called the “Greyhound Racing Hall of Shame” #DyingIndustry #TimeToMoveOn #KeepDogsSafe Read more at https://g2kww.org/2JC3m7M

Attention Ex-Wives & Girlfriends of Wisconsin Hound Hunters! Wolf Patrol will pay $1000 for Videos of Your Ex’s Hunting Violations!

Wolf Patrol

In February 2018, Wolf Patrol began a campaign targeting Wisconsin hound hunters whose own videos published on Facebook depict graphic and illegal animal cruelty, which has led to a Department of Natural Resources criminal investigation. We are now soliciting the public for other video and photographic evidence of animal cruelty committed against Wisconsin’s wildlife over the last three years.

Wolf Patrol will pay $1,000 for any video or photograph depicting Wisconsin hound hunters engaged in illegal activity, such as allowing hounds to maul and kill coyotes, raccoons and other wildlife. If the video or photos you provide result in a criminal conviction, you will then receive your $1,000. Only videos not previously reported will receive a reward and you may remain anonymous.

Wolf Patrol is not an anti-hunting organization, but we are opposed to the animal cruelty committed by some hunters using hounds to hunt coyotes, raccoons and other wildlife…

View original post 116 more words

Senators Call for Study on the Critically Endangered Right Whale

markey.senate.gov
Senators Call for Study on the Critically Endangered Right Whale
Thursday, April 26, 2018
2-3 minutes

Washington (April 26, 2018) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, sent a letter this week with 11 of his Senate colleagues requesting that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conduct an urgent assessment of the impacts to the North Atlantic right whale from fisheries in Canada. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, NOAA Fisheries conducts studies that inform whether the Department of Commerce will take action against foreign fisheries that do not protect marine mammals. Over the past decades, fishing communities across New England have taken steps to reduce impacts on marine mammals. Unfortunately, last year the significant majority of observed right whale deaths were in Canadian waters. This year, Canada’s Minister of Oceans and Fisheries did announce new steps to address the right whale crisis. However, NOAA has not yet assessed if those efforts will be sufficient under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“Now is the right time to do the right thing for the North Atlantic right whale,” write the Senators in their letter to NOAA Acting Administrator Dr. Timothy Gaulludet. “We need a rapid but sound assessment that can direct any next steps that will need to be taken to save this critically endangered mammal.”

A copy of the letter can be found here. https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-call-for-study-on-the-critically-endangered-right-whale.

Also signing the letter are Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

###

https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-call-for-study-on-the-critically-endangered-right-whale

Petition update · Victory! No Goliath Grouper Hunt! · Change.org

60K supporters
Petition update
Victory! No Goliath Grouper Hunt!

Apr 26, 2018 — The FWC Commissioners are keeping protections in place for goliath groupers. So many wonderful groups and people came together to take a stand and protect these giants. The FWC mentioned this petition in the beginning of the meeting! Your signatures made a difference.
Thank you!

https://www.change.org/p/12298096/u/22683083?utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_campaign=314609&sfmc_tk=Y65ELrEVwnOSO7%2bDYTtOcffZq0Yxg%2bvGvsr%2fy7seVHszd6wxYam%2bU%2baI3qXlefnP&j=314609&sfmc_sub=61374949&l=32_HTML&u=56698642&mid=7259882&jb=31

https://www.change.org/p/the-florida-fish-and-wildlife-conservation-commission-fwc-protect-the-critically-endangered-goliath-grouper?recruiter=44240641&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=314609

https://www.change.org/p/12298096/u/22683083?utm_medium=email&utm_source=petition_update&utm_campaign=314609&sfmc_tk=Y65ELrEVwnOSO7%2bDYTtOcffZq0Yxg%2bvGvsr%2fy7seVHszd6wxYam%2bU%2baI3qXlefnP&j=314609&sfmc_sub=61374949&l=32_HTML&u=56698642&mid=7259882&jb=31Tap and hold the link to copy it
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Tell Castle’s Bears to End Demeaning Tricks and Release Bears to Sanctuaries.

Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

 

Bears don’t ride bicycles, do handstands, or balance on balls in nature.

Yet Castle’s Bears dresses them in ridiculous costumes, muzzles them, yanks them around on leashes, and forces them to perform demeaning and possibly painful tricks for many Shrine circuses.

 

 or watch via this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=bNCCa7sZK3g

 

Instead of roaming, swimming, and foraging in the wild, the bears at Castle’s Bears are forced to perform demeaning tricks such as riding bicycles, doing handstands, and balancing on balls.

Last year, one was filmed urinating in apparent distress when forced to walk on his or her front legs.

Please join us in urging Castle’s Bears to release the bears to reputable sanctuaries.

        http://peta.vg/27g2

Take Action

https://support.peta.org/page/5100/action/1?utm_source=PETA::Website%20Link&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=0418::ent::PETA::Website%20Link::Tell%20Castle’s%20Bears%20to%20End%20Demeaning%20Tricks::::PETA.org&en_txn7=Ty::tw%20share%20castle’s%20bears

Below – Bears in the wild, where they should be !

View original post

The psychological impact of an $11 Facebook subscription

ViralNews.blog

Would being asked to pay Facebook to remove ads attain you appreciate their value or resent them even more? As Facebook considers offering an ad-free subscription option, there are deeper questions than how much fund it could earn. Facebook has the opportunity to let us decide how we compensate it for social networking. But selection doesn’t always stimulate people happy.

In February I explored the idea of how Facebook could disarm data privacy backlash and boost well-being by letting us pay a monthly subscription fee instead of selling our attention to advertisers. The big takeaways were 😛 TAGEND

Mark Zuckerberg insists that Facebook will remain free to everyone, including those who can’t afford a monthly fee, so subscriptions would be an opt-in alternative to ads rather than a replacing that forces everyone to pay

, including those who can’t afford a monthly fee, so subscriptions would be an opt-in alternative…

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Russia: Stray Dogs and Football Just Dont Seem To Mix.

Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Stray dogs and football just don’t seem to get along.

Photo – Daily Mail (UK)

Please have a look at our recent post re stray dogs being killed in Morocco:

 

https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/2018/04/25/morocco-stray-dogs-are-shot-for-world-cup/

 

The reason for the shooting of the dogs is an upcoming visit from the FIFA, where the city should deliver a good picture. Namely, Morocco wants the 2026 World Cup to be held in the North African country.  Sadly, stray dogs are seen as a blight on the landscape – so Morocco wants to get rid of them – by shooting.

 

We have a petition link for Moroccan stray dogs – you can visit it here:

https://www.change.org/p/king-mohammed-vi-help-stray-dogs-cats-living-in-harsh-conditions-from-morocco?recruiter=451614178&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page

 

Unfortunately, Morocco is not the only place where stray dogs and the football elite seem to clash.   The World Cup is being held in Russia this year, 2018.

 

Russia is planning a mass slaughter of stray…

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China: Bear Bile Farming To End In China By 2022 ?

Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

Proposal introduced to end Bear Bile farming in China

 

From Animals Asia

At the National People’s Congress and the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference meetings in March 2018 (Beijing); a proposal was raised to end bear bile farming in China by 2022 similar to the proposal put forth in Vietnam last year.

 

7 steps were proposed, including:

 

• Banning the breeding of black bears by 2022

• Banning bear farming by 2022

• Eliminating everything to do with the bear industry by 2035

• Speeding up research and approval of synthetic bear bile products

• Working with international conventions such as CITES to improve the protection level of the black bear.

 

It is significant that these proposals are being raised at high level gatherings in China.

The fact alone that the motion was allowed to be made public is very encouraging.

 

Paws crossed that this will progress into actual…

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Sambo: exploited for 15 years and finally dies, while she hauls tourists through Angkor Wat!

Serbian Animals Voice (SAV)

For 15 years, the elephant cow Sambo worked as a tourist attraction in Cambodia, until she suddenly overturned and died last Friday. According to the attending veterinarian Sambo suffered a heart attack “due to high temperatures, exhaustion and lack of wind cooling”. This is reported by the Cambodian newspaper “Phnom Penh Post”. For 40 minutes the elephant cow apparently had to carry two tourists through the temple complex Angkor Wat that day – without interruptions and in the scorching heat of 40 degrees.

The load was apparently too much for Sambo, who is said to have been between 40 and 45 years old. On the way from one temple to another, she just collapsed, the report said.
Recordings posted on Facebook show the lifeless body of the elephant lady on the roadside. As media reports, several eyewitnesses are said to have cried when they saw the majestic animal in that…

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Petition · King Mohammed VI: Help Stray Dogs & Cats living in Harsh Conditions From Morocco · Change.org

Help Stray Dogs & Cats living in Harsh Conditions From Morocco
Marisol Murad started this petition to King Mohammed VI

Your Royal Highness,

I witnessed a large population of stray dogs and cats living under extremely harsh conditions. Attached is one photo taken during February 2018 near Ouarzazate in the Atlas Mountains region showing a stray dog’s life conditions.

These sentient animals are always starving and often harmed , and are continually exposed to extreme weather conditions, without having access to shelter.

I wanted to seek your Majesty King Mohammed VI’s involvement in the following resolutions:

1.Support the prompt deployment of the Trap-Neuter-Release Pilot Program in Rabat, and oversee the expansion of the program throughout the country in the near future. This program aims to reduce the population of stray dogs and cats by inhibiting continual reproduction of these animals. Furthermore, this program promotes the health of these animals and the general population through the implementation of general check-ups and vaccinations of the former.

2.Endorse a National Domestic Animal Sterilization Program through which veterinarians promote the sterilization of pets to prevent unwanted reproduction of the animals and an increase in the stray dogs and cats population. Subsidies to cover the cost of this procedure would enable low-income pet owners to sterilize their pets and contribute to the solution of this problem.

1. Endorse education programs for both adults and children that promote treating dogs, cats and sentient beings with the respect, love, and dignity any living creature deserves, emphasizing the importance of keeping these animals inside homes as pets.

2. Condemn dog shootings, and impose legislation to prohibit this activity.

3. Endorse the installation of eating dispensers throughout the cities with food for dogs and cats. Two different options:

· A machine that is currently working in some countries such as Turkey where once someone deposits their bottle at the top, food is released at the bottom. “The Pugedon Smart Recycling Boxes” operate at no charge to the city, and the recycled bottles cover the cost of the food. Above is a link to a video where you can see the machine.

http://time.com/3024554/recycle-plastic-bottles-in-this-machine-and-it-will-dispense-food-to-stray-dogs/

· A dispenser created with recycled material that is also currently working in Brazil.

1. Further recommend the support of programs that allow stray dogs and cats from Morocco to be rescued and adopted by agencies throughout the world.

Thank you for your time. Respectfully;

Citizens of the World

https://www.change.org/p/king-mohammed-vi-help-stray-dogs-cats-living-in-harsh-conditions-from-morocco?recruiter=451614178&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page

© 2018, Change.org, Inc.Certified B Corporation

Petition: This Zoo Let Visitors Throw Bricks at Their Animals – Shut it Down Now

by: Care2 Team
target: City of Fuzhou, China

122,058 SUPPORTERS
130,000 GOAL
Sometimes you read a news story so ridiculous you just know it can’t be true. Like the one about zoogoers who threw bricks at a kangaroo just to get its attention.

But the whole story is even worse. The Fuzhou Zoo in Fujian knew visitors were prone to throwing projectiles at their kangaroos. Apparently, they weren’t satisfied with watching them just lay about, like kangaroos are known to do, rather they wanted to see the marsupial’s signature move, the hop.

So earlier this year, when visitors began throwing bricks at a female kangaroo to get it to hop, it was no surprise. Pictures show the aftermath of the senseless attack; the female’s foot had been so smashed it was almost severed. But that wasn’t all, she had suffered internal injuries so severe that within days she was dead.

A few weeks later, at the same zoo, park visitors injured another kangaroo!

The Fuzhou Zoo is clearly not fit to house the animals in its care. They knew of the very serious danger their kangaroos faced every day from heartless visitors, but instead of taking measures to protect them, they chose to look the other way.

It is time the zoo is shut down. This is not a zoo, it’s a house of horrors for poor defenseless animals.

Sign the petition and ask the city of Fuzhou to shut down this zoo today. Visitors to the zoo were known to try to provoke the Australian marsupials to get them to display their signature hopping mode.
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/721/080/722/this-zoo-let-visitors-throw-bricks-at-their-animals.-help-shut-it-down./

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It May Finally Become Illegal To Kill Dogs And Cats For Food In The US

care2.com
It May Finally Become Illegal To Kill Dogs And Cats For Food In The US
4-5 minutes

You’ve probably heard about the horrible Yulin Dog Meat Festival held every year in China. And the dog meat trade in South Korea got a lot of publicity recently, thanks to Olympic athletes like Meagan Duhamel and Gus Kenworthy making headlines when they rescued dogs that would otherwise have been someone’s dinner.

What you may not be aware of is the disturbing fact that the killing of dogs (and cats) for food happens right here in the United States.

While killing dogs and cats in commercial slaughterhouses is against the law in the US, it’s otherwise legal to kill them for food in 44 states. Only California, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, New York and Virginia have laws prohibiting it.

“With the work of our international arm, which tries to stop this practice that’s especially common in parts of Asia, we’ve had instances when these countries say, ‘Well, why are you talking to us when this is still legal in your own country?’” Marty Irby, senior adviser to the Humane Society Legislative Fund, told McClatchy’s Kate Irby.

A year ago, U.S. representative Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.) introduced the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act of 2017, an amendment to the federal Animal Welfare Act. The act, which has 239 co-sponsors, would prohibit people from knowingly slaughtering a dog or cat for human consumption.

It would also ban people from knowingly transporting, possessing, buying, selling, or donating a dog or cat to be slaughtered for human consumption, or dog or cat parts for human consumption. Violators could face a fine and/or up to a year in prison.

More recently, Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) introduced an amendment to the 2018 Farm Bill that’s just been passed by the House Agriculture Committee. Like the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act, this amendment would prohibit people from “knowingly slaughtering a dog or cat for human consumption” and from knowingly participating in the other activities related to the pet meat trade.

The punishment for violators is a $2,500 fine and up to a year in prison.

“Adopting this policy signals that the United States will not tolerate the disturbing practice in our country,” Denham said, according to Politico.

Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) voted against Denham’s amendment, Politico reports. He said he doesn’t condone eating dogs and cats, but it’s traditional in other countries and he found it “a little tough” to imprison those who do it in the U.S.

It should come as no surprise that Steve King (R-Iowa) also voted against the amendment, since he has a history of opposing animal welfare laws (and once said dogfighting should be legal).

Unfortunately, the Farm Bill also includes a terrible amendment King himself introduced that would eliminate states’ rights to protect animals, warned Kitty Block, acting president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States.

The Farm Bill, which authorizes all federal agriculture programs including food stamps and farm subsidies, is expected to become law by Sept. 30, 2018, when some existing programs start expiring, Bloomberg reports.

Before then, the Farm Bill is bound to get some tweaking. While Denham’s amendment needs to stay, King’s troubling amendment definitely needs to go.
Take Action

Tell Congress that you support the ban of cat and dog meat. Sign the Care2 petition supporting the Dog and Cat Meat Prohibition Act.

If there’s an issue you care about in your community or the world, you can start your own Care2 petition. Care2′s community of activists will join you in your cause and help you make a difference.

https://www.care2.com/causes/it-may-finally-become-illegal-to-kill-dogs-and-cats-for-food-in-the-us.html

Photo credit: rohitink

Egg of extinct elephant bird was mislabeled as fake for decades, museum realizes

ViralNews.blog

A rare elephant bird egg that curators lately realized is an actual egg from the extinct animal, had already been mislabeled as a model.( The Buffalo Museum of Science via AP)

A museum in Buffalo, N.Y ., recently discovered that a rare elephant bird egg in its collect had been mislabeled as a model for decades.

A collects director at the Buffalo Museum of Science was updating its catalog to a digital system when she detected the ?realistic? cream-colored egg among its collecting of more than 1,000 eggs, the Buffalo News reported.

“When I insured the egg, it was so much bigger than any other eggs in our collection, ” Paige Langle, collections director of zoology, told the times. “It had so much detailing and pitting, and the colouring was beautiful. It looked too realistic to be a model.?

Buffalo Science Museum indicates off rare egg that was mislabeled…

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Presenting Humane PA’s 2018 State Primary Endorsements!

Humane PA

Humane PA is pleased to present its recommendations for Pennsylvania state offices in the upcoming primary election on Tuesday, May 15th:

Humane PA 2018 Endorsements

In a  statewide poll, 86 percent of Pennsylvania voters polled support their legislators’ efforts to ensure the humane treatment of animals. Our aim is to make sure that Pennsylvania voters who care about the treatment of animals know which candidates will support a humane agenda and deserve their vote at the polls!

How do we chose who to endorse?

Before we endorse candidates, we give them the opportunity to let us know where they stand on animal cruelty so we can measure their responses and commitment to stand strong for the humane treatment of animals against their opponent(s). Our endorsement process is not taken lightly and we spend a great deal of time reviewing and evaluating an incumbent candidate’s voting record and leadership on animal bills…

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New rules sprung on lobster fishermen to protect endangered whales (New Brunswick, Canada)

The ocean update

New measures have been announced by the federal government to protect the endangered whales from potential entanglement in lobster fishing gear. (CBC)

Season won’t open at all in one area off northern coast of New Brunswick

April 24^th, 2018 (Gabrielle Fhamy). Parts of the water off the coast of New Brunswick will be closed to lobster fishing this season to protect the North Atlantic right whale, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has told lobster fishermen.

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Petition: Don’t Let Police Officers Shoot Feral Cats!

by: Care2 Team
target: Mayor/Council – City of Jefferson, Iowa

40,409 SUPPORTERS
45,000 GOAL
The police of Jefferson, Iowa shoot to kill. The target? Feral cats.

The cats are considered a pest in the city of 4,500. But the way they are going about trying to fix it is downright cruel.

According to city ordinance, residents can request a police-monitored cat trap which police officers can then collect. If a cat has been trapped and is deemed unadoptable, officers can shoot them on the spot.

At the moment, city police kill at least one cat per month!

Aside from being inhumane to shoot cats, the Jefferson’s “trap-and-kill” method of animal control is actually counterproductive. According to experts, shooting and killing the cats just opens up space for other feral cats to take their place. However, if the city implemented a trap-neuter-return (TNR) program, the existing colony would cease to breed, keep new cats from entering the colony, and the colony would slowly, over time, die out.

After an outcry from city residents, the city council has decided to put the practice “under review.” However, that does not guarantee that they will decide to end it.

We must make sure that Jefferson city officials end their trap-and-kill and instead implement a more humane cat control program like TNR.

Please sign the petition and tell Jefferson police to stop shooting cats.

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/328/855/024/police-officers-in-jefferson-iowa-can-shoot-cats-tell-them-this-isnt-ok/?TAP=1732

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Private Livestock grazing on federal public lands is a privilege — not a right

Straight from the Horse's Heart

By Erik Molvar as published on The Hill

Welfare Ranching is EXACTLY that!!!

Recently, the Hage family of central Nevada has become the poster boy for ranchers supposedly victimized by federal law enforcement. But far from being victims of a repressive federal bureaucracy, the Hage family demonstrates the vulnerability of our western public lands to the livestock industry.

The Hage family have played significant role in the “Sagebrush Rebellion,” a political movement aimed at utilizing western public lands for the benefit of the livestock industry.

The Hage family cattle were impounded in 1991 for repeatedly trespassing and overgrazing on Forest Service lands. That year, Wayne Hage Sr. sued the federal government for suspending his grazing lease, arguing that he had purchased the local water rights and therefore possessed a sort of squatter’s right to graze on neighboring public lands.

Wayne Hage Jr. picked up where his father left off…

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These New Yorkers have had it with plastic. So they’re getting very creative.

ViralNews.blog

What happens when you blend politics and activism with bodega proprietors and artists? An environmental motion to stop plastic purse utilize.

Vote With Your Tote was launched by a pro bono team of creatives and environmental experts in New York City.

Their goal is to combat the city’s growing toxic waste problem by reducing the use of plastic bags. Each year, NYC residents use and discard approximately 10 billion single-use plastic grocery pouch, a whopping $12.5 million disposal expense .

“Plastic bags are just a terrible kind of garbage … it becomes litter on our streets and an eyesore, ” said Brad Lander, NYC council member and deputy leader for policy. ” People across racial and economic lines care about their neighborhood, and reducing toxic waste is meaningful to them . People who live in public housing love and care about their neighborhood, and that’s important for people to…

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The Guardian view on friendly bacteria: an ally against plastic | Editorial | Opinion

Plastic bottles at a dump in Northern Thailand. And bacterium that can consume even one kind of plastic could become a desperately-needed ally.’ photograph: Rungroj Yongrit?EPA

 

Sun22Apr201813:20EDT

Thanks to a genetically engineered enzyme, a bug that eats plastic bottles developed a much bigger appetite for our rubbish. It is a hopeful sign
Plastic bottles at a dump in northern Thailand
Plastic bottles at a dump in northern Thailand. ‘A bacterium that can consume even one kind of plastic could become a desperately needed ally.’ Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit?EPA

Evolution never sleeps. Before 1970 there can have been no significant bacteria that ate plastic, because there was not enough of that plastic in the world to sustain a population. But in 2016 a group of Japanese scientists discovered a new species, Ideonella sakaiensis, in the samples they were sifting from a bottle-recycling plant, that was able to attack and eat PET, the plastic used in most bottles, almost all of which ends up in landfill or dumped at sea, where it may last for centuries. Everything that rots in nature does so because it is being eaten by bacteria. Most plastics – among them PET – were considered totally impervious to bacterial attack, making them almost indestructible unless burned or crushed. So a bacterium that can consume even one kind of plastic could become a desperately needed ally in the struggle to stop the oceans being choked with plastic waste.

What has captured the imagination of the world is that a subsequent group of scientists, who were trying to understand on a molecular level how I sakaiensis breaks down and digests plastic bottles, found the enzymes that it uses and made a slightly different version of one to see what would happen. The new enzyme is much more efficient than the version found in nature, and works on more kinds of plastic. This kind of molecular tweaking of substances, already found in nature, is at the root of another recent scientific breakthrough, the Crispr-Cas9 technique for genetic engineering. It offers some hope that we can use technology to moderate and even to some extent to reverse the impacts that earlier technologies, such as those that make it easy to manufacture billions of tons of plastic, have had on the world around us.

This is going to be essential. The mass production and use of plastics has had such an effect on the Earth that some scientists, speculating wildly that there will still be people around to care about such things in the unimaginably distant future, have proposed the detection of plastic deposits as the best signal of the Anthropocene, the era in which human activity becomes the most powerful factor affecting life on Earth. One of the things this story shows is that our environment is not static and never has been. It is a dynamic system, in which changes of every sort have unintended consequences – PET was widely adopted partly because it seemed to have no ill effects on human health, at a time when no one asked how we would ever get rid of it – and every action produces an unexpected reaction, so that some bacteria learn to be resistant to antibiotics while others learn to feed off plastics. Even plastics have their uses to clean up pollution: they are used as sponges to clean up oil spills, although Australian scientists have just discovered a blend of sulphur and cooking oil that promises to work even better. There is no simpler world to which we can retreat – and for the sake of our children, we will simply have to manage these things better than our parents’ generations did.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/22/the-guardian-view-on-friendly-bacteria-an-ally-against-plastic