The senseless scourge of rhino poaching continues to grow, with poaching levels at 15-year highs.

Part of the reason according to WWF is rising demand in Asia, where the horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine, but Mongabay points out an undoubted contributing factor. Rhino horn is now worth more than gold...


(Hat-tip Matthew McDermott
A kilogram of rhino horn now goes for $60,000 on the black market, whereas that much gold is currently worth a bit over $40,600. That's $1610 an ounce for the rhino horn.

Back in July, WWF reported that from 2000-2005, about three rhinos were killed per month in Africa as a whole, with that figure rising to 12 per month in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

At least in the case of Zimbabwe, an utter lack of law enforcement, not helped by virtually no funding for rangers to protect rhinos, and weak penalties for poachers who are caught doesn't help the situation.

In fact, 25% of Zimbabwe's rhinos have be killed just in the past three years, as evidence mounts that poachers are linking up with international crime syndicates to sell the horn.

Poaching in Asia isn't much better, with at least ten rhinos being killed in India and seven in Nepal since the start of 2009.

There are only five remaining rhino species left in the world and, according to the UCN, three are classified as critically endangered (Javan, Sumatran, and black rhino), the white rhino is listed as 'near threatened', while the Indian rhino is 'vulnerable'.

Learn more (and get involved) here.

Tags: africa, animals, crime, endangered species, extinction, greed, india, loathsome people, poaching, wildlife
From: Chicago
Mood: Damned, Dirty Apes

From rhinos to redwoods, this decade has spelled the end for myriad species of plants and animals. Many have not been sighted in their natural habitat for some time, while others, quite sadly, have been declared officially extinct...



Once one of the most common large mammals of northern Africa, the Scimitar-horned oryx
(Oryx dammah) was overhunted for its meat, hide and magnificent horns. Combined with
habitat loss and other factors, the species simply crashed, and by the end of
the 20th century, none were known to remain in the wild.

And so it goes...
P.S. The backbone of all life on Earth, including our own, is biodiversity – the intricate network of animals, plants and the places where they live. To learn more about what you can do to help conserve and protect this most basic element of life itself, please visit the IUCN web site, and help spread the word.

Tags: animals, ecological disaster, environment, extinction, overpopulation, poaching, pollution, wildlife
From: Chicago
Mood: Ashamed
Now Playing: 'Am I Losing You' - Jim Reeves

A $15,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and/or conviction in the shooting death of a Florida panther, one of the world's rarest big cats...


The dead female panther was found near the Hendry Correctional Institute on private property bordering the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) special agents and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigators are jointly investigating the case.

There are only about 100 Florida panthers left in the world, protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, making it unlawful for a person to ‘take' one without a permit. ("Take" is defined as "to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect or attempt to engage in any such conduct.")

If convicted, the federal penalty is up to one year of imprisonment, $100,000 fine per individual or $200,000 per organization. In addition, State of Florida makes it a third degree felony to kill or wound any species designated as endangered or threatened, carrrying a penalty is up to five years in jail and/or up to a $5,000 fine.

"The FWC encourages anyone with information that leads to an arrest in this case to come forward, so we can bring the person or persons responsible for this crime to justice," said FWC Capt. Jeff Ardelean. "It is our agency's mission to protect and preserve the rare and magnificent panther, the state's official animal, for future generations."

Anyone with information regarding this case should call the USFWS's Office of Law Enforcement at (239) 561-8144. Those wishing to stay anonymous should call the FWC's Wildlife Alert Line at 1-888-404-3922.

You can help up the bounty here, as the Defenders of Wildlife is currently matching all contributions made toward the reward fund.

Tags: animals, crime, endangered species, extinction, florida everglades, justice, loathsome people, poaching
From: Chicago
Mood: Pissed

Fans of the critically endangered right whale had plenty to celebrate this Mother's Day, as the sea-moms gave birth to a record 39 calves over the Spring...


The New England Aquarium reports that the birth surge breaks the old record of 31, and shows much improvement from 2000, when only one calf was born.

Each birthing season is critically important because right whales number fewer than 400, and are among the most endangered species of marine life in the world.

Having a calf is no easy task for the 50-foot-long whales, who give birth off the Florida and Georgia coasts. The moms travel nearly 1,000 miles down the East Coast to warmer waters for their babies, who weigh roughly 2,400 pounds at birth. And the moms can lose up to 30,000 pounds in the first year they are nursing. And because females do not become sexually mature until ten years of age (and give birth to a single calf after a yearlong pregnancy), populations grow slowly.

Right whales were named by whalers who identified them as the "right" whale to kill on a hunt, highly valued for their plentiful oil and baleen, which were used for corsets, buggy whips, and other contrivances. Because of their thick blubber, right whales also float accommodatingly after they have been killed. Populations of these whales were hunted to the brink of extinction during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

The species was finally granted full, international protection in 1949, but despite almost 60 years of protection, recovery has been questionable. Only in the past 15 years is there evidence of a population recovery in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is still not known if the species will survive at all in the Northern Hemisphere. Although not presently hunted, current conservation problems include collisions with ships, conflicts with fishing activities, pollution, habitat destruction and oil drilling.

Tags: ecology, environment, extinction, greed, hunting, marine life, whales, whaling
From: Chicago
Mood: Uncertain

In just a short time, one of the rarest sharks in the world went from swimming in Philippine waters to simmering in coconut milk...


The 13-foot-long megamouth shark (Megachasma pelagios), captured by mackerel fishermen off the city of Donsol, was only the 41st such specimen ever found, according to WWF-Philippines.

The fisherman brought the creature — which died while struggling in the fishermen's net — to local project manager Elson Aca of WWF, an international conservation nonprofit. Aca immediately identified it as a megamouth shark and encouraged the fishers not to eat it. But the draw of the delicacy was too great: The 1,102-pound shark was butchered for a shark-meat dish called kinuout.

"It is essential that we continue working with the government and local community on the sustainable management of Donsol's fisheries resources for the benefit of whale sharks, megamouth sharks, and the local community," Lee said.

The megamouth shark species, discovered in 1976 off Oahu, Hawaii, was so bizarre that scientists had to create a new family and genus to classify it. With its giant mouth but tiny teeth, megamouth, like the whale shark, is a filter feeder that preys on tiny animals and appears to be no danger to humans. The shark is so rare that the International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the megamouth species as "data deficient."

Tags: endangered species, environment, extinction, fishing, greed, marine life, sharks
From: Chicago
Mood: Damned, Dirty Apes

Yet another chicken, coming home to roost (hat-tip papananook)...


You know the fish aren't jumpin' when the very people who make their living reeling in chinook salmon are proposing a ban on ocean fishing for a second straight year.

That is exactly what happened Monday at the annual Pacific Fishery Management Council meetings in Seattle, where the gory details of the catastrophic decline of California's salmon has become woefully apparent.

Fishing-industry representatives on a council advisory panel looked at the dismal state of the fall run of Sacramento River salmon and proposed closing the 2009 ocean salmon fishing season, except, perhaps, for a bit of recreational fishing near the Oregon border.

"It is pretty simple in California," said Peter Dygert, a fishery biologist for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service. "Both the recreational and commercial trollers on the advisory panel have proposed no fishing.

“This is grim news for the state of California,” Don Hansen, chairman of the council, said in a statement. “We won’t be able to talk about this without using the word ‘disaster.’”

( The rest of the story... )

Tags: ecology, environment, extinction, fishing, greed, marine life, overfishing
From: Chicago
Mood: Damned, Dirty Apes

Poachers on the hunt for ivory have stepped up their use of poison arrows and spears to kill elephants in southern Kenya, according to conservationists who say the techniques are harder to trace than gun attacks...


(Hat-tip National Geographic)
The surge is part of a nationwide increase in attacks on the animals, according to a report issued earlier this month by the Amboseli Trust for Elephants.

Since the start of 2008, 19 elephants have been killed and another 25 wounded by spears, arrows, and bullets in the Amboseli region near Mount Kilimanjaro, the report says. Of those killed, ten animals had had their tusks removed—the first time in many years that ivory has been taken from Amboseli elephants.

In the last six weeks, poachers have also killed five elephants in the nearby Tsavo National Park region. Some were felled by gunfire, others by poisoned arrows.

Conservation groups fear that the rise in poaching is a result of a UN decision to allow the first ivory auction in a decade in 2008, an event that yielded more than a million U.S. dollars from Chinese and Japanese bidders.

"Since the one-off ivory sales from southern Africa countries late last year, we have noted an unprecedented rise of elephant poaching incidents in Tsavo," Jonathan Kirui, Tsavo National Park's assistant director, said in a statement released Monday. "Our security team is on full alert and is going full force to ensure that the poachers are deterred."

Officials with the Amboseli trust think poachers are using a poison made from acocanthera shrubs, which are common in Kenya. The plant's toxin is frighteningly effective and there is no antidote, the report says.

"When you shoot an elephant—that loud bang—people will hear it," said Patrick Omondi, head of species conservation at the Kenya Wildlife Service. "You shoot this elephant with a poisoned arrow, then they follow the elephant until it dies, and then they pluck out the ivory," Omondi said. "It's a soft way of killing."

In 2008 the Kenya Wildlife Service reported 98 elephants killed for their ivory, double the 2007 figure, Omondi said. Officials link the rise in attacks to demand from Chinese workers constructing a road near Amboseli National Park and to lucrative trade across the border into Tanzania. In a recent interview with a local East African newspaper, Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Bo denied the smuggling allegations.

Tags: africa, crime, elephants, environment, extinction, greed, poaching, wildlife
From: Chicago
Mood: Disgruntled

Y'see this cute li'l fella here?


That's a Worcester's Buttonquail (Turnix worcesteri), native exclusively to the island of Luzon in the Phillipines, and thought to be extinct since about 1902 or so. So scientifically extinct, in fact, that - until this photograph was published - he and his kind were previously identifiable to modern wildlife biologists only by drawings based on (long-gone) museum specimens.

Pretty amazing discovery, am I right?

So, where do you think this picture was taken, hm?

At a Filipino poultry market, just before he was sold and eaten.

*headdesk*
P.S. Leading environmental scientists say they have concrete evidence that the planet is undergoing the largest mass extinction in 65 million years, due largely in part to human overpopulation, pollution, habitat loss and global warming. One of them, Professor Norman Myers, says the Earth is experiencing its "Sixth Extinction," and predicts that up to five million species will be lost this century. Says Myers:

"We are well into the opening phase of a mass extinction of species. There are about 10 million species on earth. If we carry on as we are, we could lose half of all those 10 million species."

In 1993, world-renowned Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson estimated that our planet was losing 30,000 species per year... approximately three species per hour. And that was 16 years ago.

Tags: animals, ecology, environment, extinction, greed, jesus fucking christ, science
From: Chicago
Mood: Bring Me A Plague
Now Playing: 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' - Johnny Cash

As a high school basketball player, Sarah Palin was dubbed "Sarah Barracuda," a nickname that was revived on the campaign trail last year, when she served as John McCain's (albeit inept) enforcer. Now the "Barracuda" is picking a fight with one of the biggest mammals in the sea...


(Hat-tip Blue Marble)
In mid-January, the state of Alaska announced plans to mount a legal challenge to the listing of the Cook Inlet beluga whale under the Endangered Species Act. (Placing the belugas on the endangered list requires a review of federally funded or permitted activities that could affect the health of the whales, the establishment of a recovery plan, and the designation of "critical habitat.")

This marks the second time in a year that Palin's administration has squared off with the federal government over an ESA listing. Over the summer, her administration sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne after his agency conferred threatened status on the polar bear.

In 1994, there were some 650 belugas living off the coast of Anchorage, but their numbers were nearly halved by 1997. This sharp decline was largely attributed to overharvesting by Native hunters, and by 2005 this already small whale population reached an all-time low of 278, by one government estimate. Presently, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimate the number of Cook Inlet belugas at 375.

In 2000, the whales were protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but government scientists eventually concluded that this wasn't enough. "In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering,” James Balsiger, the acting assistant administrator for the NOAA’s Fisheries Service, said in October, announcing that the whales had received endangered species protection.

Palin begs to differ. Her administration argues that that the belugas are faring just fine under the protections in place, and the population is even beginning to show signs of recovering. For this reason, the state of Alaska contends that additional regulation is unnecessary. “The State of Alaska has worked cooperatively with the federal government to protect and conserve beluga whales in Cook Inlet,” Palin said last week. “This listing decision didn’t take those efforts into account as required by law.”

At the heart of Palin's objections are concerns that additional safeguards will interfere with oil and gas development, among other lucrative projects. “I am especially concerned that an unnecessary federal listing and designation of critical habitat would do serious long-term damage to the vibrant economy of the Cook Inlet area,” Palin said in 2007. Similar fears led Palin's administration to launch a legal challenge in August to the listing of polar bears as a threatened species. (And it was no surprise when a host of business groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, followed her lead. The cases have have been consolidated, and the litigation is ongoing.)

Objecting to ESA protections on economic grounds is one thing, but Palin's team has in the past sought to cast doubt on the science underlying the listings. Fighting back against efforts to list the polar bear, for instance, her administration cited the work of global warming skeptics, one of whom acknowledged receiving funding from the American Petroleum Institute and ExxonMobil for his work.

In this latest legal challenge, Palin's administration has attacked the accuracy of beluga population estimates, citing the "questionable use of computer population modeling." And it has challenged "the contention that the belugas in Cook Inlet are a separate and distinct population from other belugas." Meanwhile, the state's claim that Cook Inlet beluga's are recovering is at odds with the judgments of federal scientists, whose "systematic surveys," according to the whale's ESA listing, "indicate this population is not recovering."

In September, the Center for Biological Diversity, which waged a decade long fight to win protection for the Cook Inlet beluga and petitioned to secure ESA safeguards for the polar bear, awarded Palin with its "2008 Rubber Dodo Award" — given annually to those the organization deems a threat to imperiled plants and animals. “Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear,” said the organization's executive director, Kieran Suckling, at the time. “Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee.” He added: “Palin’s insistence that Arctic melting is ‘uncertain’ is like someone debating the theory of gravity as they plunge off a cliff. It’s hopeless, reckless, and extremely cynical.”

Her latest ESA attack has drawn more sharp words from the group, and other conservation organizations, which are watching Palin's next moves closely. Brendan Cummings, the Center for Biological Diversity's oceans program director, says he expects Palin to go forward with her suit in March, once the clock runs out on the 60-day Notice of Intent to Sue filed by her administration. "We will move to intervene in the court case to defend the listing rule," he says. "As a purely legal matter, and as a question of sound science, Palin’s challenges (both beluga and polar bear) have no merit. But we have to treat any lawsuit as a serious threat." Cummings accuses Palin of being "willing to sacrifice endangered whales on the alter of oil company profits.” The Barracuda, he contends, "must be suffering from an Ahab complex."

Tags: ecology, environment, extinction, gop lizard queens, greed, marine life, oil, republican scum, whales
From: Chicago
Mood: Cunt

Hat-tip papananook...


A crew member of Japan'€™s whale-hunting fleet was missing and presumed dead after he apparently fell overboard in freezing Antarctic waters south of New Zealand.

Japan's coast guard requested New Zealand'€™s help after the whaling vessel Kyoshin Maru No. 2 reported that 30-year-old Hajime Shirasaki had fallen overboard. However, authorities decided that no boats or planes could reach the remote waters several thousand kilometers south of New Zealand in time to save the sailor, who had by then been missing for at least six hours.

"We were able to establish the missing man was only wearing overalls when he went into the water," said Mike Roberts of New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre, who added that the maximum survival time in the Antarctic waters, with temperatures as low as 32°F, was one hour.

Shirasaki's death would be the second fatality in Japan'€™s whaling fleet in two years. Japanese vessels are continuing their search, and whale hunting operations have been temporarily suspended. Japan hopes to kill 935 minke and 50 fin whales in this year's hunting season.

Tags: environment, extinction, fuck japan, marine life, sea shepherd, whales
From: Chicago

For the last 12 years, a single, solitary whale whose migratory patterns and vocalizations match no known living species has been tracked across the Northeast Pacific.

Its vocalizations have also subtly deepened over the years, indicating that the creature is maturing and aging. And, during the entire 12-year span that it has been tracked, it has been calling out for contact from others of its own kind...

It has never received an answer.
Read more here, here and here.

Tags: endangered species, environment, extinction, marine life, science, whales
From: Chicago
Mood: Haunted

Premiering tonight (9 PM E/P) on Animal Planet...


P.S. Show Captain Watson & his crew some love.

Tags: captain paul watson, environment, extinction, fuck japan, marine life, sea shepherd, whales, whaling
From: Chicago
Mood: Yes We Can

(Hat-tip Chris in Paris)
Despite a resounding court defeat this summer, the Bush administration is trying - once again - to remove northern Rockie wolves from protection under the ESA - this time by "re-opening" its same, spurious 2007 de-listing proposal for "public comment."

"We think the wolves no longer need the protection of the Endangered Species Act," said Ed Bangs of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). "We're asking the public to weigh in to that..."it's possible we could get (de-listing) done in a couple of months or less."

"This is the Bush administration's last-gasp attempt to remove protections for wolves," said Louisa Wilcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "The bottom line is that there simply are not enough wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains to justify delisting this population yet... (the proposal) reverses course in yet another attempt to undo one of the great conservation success stories."

"It looks like they're launching an all-out run to ram the same flawed package back through," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife, and a director of USFWS during the Clinton administration.

Wildlife biologists say the region needs between 2000-3000 wolves to ensure a full recovery. Bush's people contend that only 10 packs each in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming - about 300 wolves in all - are needed for recovery.

The public comment period is scheduled to end November 28th. You can get directly involved here if you care to.

Tags: animals, bush legacy, environment, extinction, wolves
From: Chicago
Mood: determined

Hat-tip pure_doxyk...


From majestic African elephants to tiny and often unappreciated rodents, one in four mammal species on Earth is being pushed to extinction, according to the Global Mammal Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of the world's mammals.

Writing in the October 10 issue of Science, and unveiling a "Red List" of endangered mammal species at the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, the researchers who worked on the exhaustive study say that from 25-36% of species may be in danger of extinction...

( Read it & weep... )

Tags: animals, ecological disaster, ecology, environment, extinction, habitat loss, pollution, science
From: Chicago
Mood: Pity
Now Playing: Praying for a Virus

...There are only 1,500 left in India's reserves and jungles —
down from 3,600 six years ago and 100,000 a century ago."


(Hat-tip Raw Story)
The fishermen were hauling in the first net of the morning when the tiger pounced.

Kumaresh Mondal managed to run a few steps before the 450-pound beast knocked him down with a leap, tore into his throat, and dragged his limp body into the dense mangrove forest.

"I tried to chase the tiger, but I couldn't find any path," said Monoranjan Mondal, another of the four men fishing that day in March. "There were no tracks, no broken branches. ... He just took him away."

The Sundarbans, a tangle of unforgiving islands at the mouth of the Ganges River, are home to perhaps the world's largest population of wild tigers — as well as millions of the poorest people in India and Bangladesh. Despite decades of attempts to keep the tigers at bay, they still kill about two dozen people every year.

Now, experts fear environmental changes and shrinking land could lead to more tiger-human conflicts, with disastrous results for both... ( Read the rest )

Please Help Save the Bengal Tiger

Tags: animals, ecological disaster, environment, extinction, greed, habitat loss, india, poaching, poverty
From: Chicago
Mood: Damned, Dirty Apes

Via momus...



Fatal "Mystery Virus" on the Loose
DATELINE INDIA: Rural Kanpur is battling its most frightening scourge in decades — a mystery disease that has left a long line of corpses in its trail, and doesn’t seem anywhere finished.

What started from one village two weeks ago has now spread to 350 and has so far claimed 160 lives. Thousands more are bed-ridden. On an average, 15 to 20 people have been dying every day, with Saturday recording the highest daily toll of 24 victims.

The district’s health department is apparently clueless about the nature of the disease. At the outset, the diagnosis was viral fever. Then, doctors concluded that it was falciparum malaria. But after two weeks, they have ruled out both and still don’t have an answer. Specialists from the Infectious Disease and Surveillance Programme in New Delhi have collected the blood samples of a few patients, and hope to make their findings known in a few days.

But the fear of the unknown has resulted in a mass exodus of villagers. Pulandar and Dhar villages under Malasa block are the worst affected. About 1,000 people in these two villages alone are battling the disease. Dhar has taken the maximum number of casualties. The village has lost about 30 people but only one doctor has visited it so far. That was 15 days ago.

“A lot of people can still be saved; we need doctors,” said one villager in Pulandar. “Everyone here is waiting for doctors to come and examine people; but they aren’t coming and we are counting our dead.”

As for Dhar, it still remains a picture of neglect and apathy. Heaps of garbage continue to pile up everywhere, houses are surrounded by stinking filth and roads are waterlogged — perfect breeding grounds for diseases like malaria... and this new, unknown one.

If this thing gets loose and/or mutates, we could be looking at a whopper of a plague, kids. Stay tuned.

P.S. Y'might want to keep this site handy.

Tags: cool links, disease, extinction, india
From: Chicago
Mood: Captivated
Now Playing: 'Bring Out Your Dead' - Strung Out

Hat-tip jesus_h_biscuit...



Pandemic II
Pretty simple. You create your own virus, bacteria or parasite, and wipe out the human race with it.

I made one called "Pandora's Locket," and I must say, she's one merciless bitch. ☺

Tags: death, disaster, disease, extinction
From: Chicago
Mood: Amused

(Hat-tip TruthDig & Georgianne)
While National Geographic continues to rank among the world's best, mainstream sources for educating people about the gut-churning horrors of humankind, they also bring us some encouraging news once in awhile...

Like this.
Now that the "secret paradise" has been revealed, let's see how long it takes for the commercial poachers, loggers, miners and rebel "soldiers" to move in and wipe out our last-living ancestors, shall we?

You can help Jack Hanna & the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project here,
and/or Dian Fossey's Gorilla Fund International here.
P.S. Wait, what?...

Tags: africa, animals, endangered species, environment, extinction, fox news, gorillas, poaching
From: Chicago
Mood: Cautiously Pessimistic
Now Playing: 'Crash' - The Primitives

(Hat-tip Raw Story)
Orangutan populations continue to plummet on the only two islands where they still live in the wild, and they could become the first great ape species to go extinct if urgent action isn't taken, a new study says.

The declines in Indonesia and Malaysia since 2004 are mostly because of illegal logging and the expansion of palm oil plantations, Serge Wich, a scientist at the Great Ape Trust, whose survey found the orangutan population on Indonesia's Sumatra island dropped almost 14% in thee last 4 years alone. It also concluded that the populations on Borneo island, which is shared by Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, have fallen by 10 percent.

In their study, Wich and his 15 colleagues said the declines in Borneo were occurring at an "alarming rate" but that they were most concerned about Sumatra, where the numbers show the population is in "rapid decline."

"Unless extraordinary efforts are made soon, it could become the first great ape species to go extinct," researchers wrote.

The number of orangutans on Sumatra has fallen from 7,500 to 6,600 while the number on Borneo has fallen from 54,000 to around 49,600, according to the survey on the endangered apes, which appears in this month's science journal Oryx.

"It's disappointing that there are still declines even though there have been quite a lot of conservation efforts over the past 30 years," Wich said.

Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top two palm oil producers, have aggressively pushed to expand plantations amid a rising demand for biofuels which are considered cleaner burning and cheaper than petrol.

Michelle Desilets, founding director of the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation, praised the study for offering the first comprehensive look at the species population.

"What matters is that the rate of decline is increasing, and unless something is done, the wild orangutan is on a quick spiral towards extinction, whether in two years, five years or 10 years," Desilets said.

In their paper, the researchers recommended that law enforcement be boosted to help reduce the hunting of orangutans for food and trade. Environmental awareness at the local level must also be increased.

"It is essential that funding for environmental services reaches the local level and that there is strong law enforcement," the study says. "Developing a mechanism to ensure these occur is the challenge for the conservation of the orangutans."

The study is the latest in a long line of research that has predicted the orangutans demise. In May, the Center for Orangutan Protection said just 20,000 of the endangered primates remain in the tropical jungle of Central Kalimantan on Borneo island, down from 31,300 in 2004. Based on that estimate, it concluded orangutans there could be extinct by 2011.

Learn more here.

Tags: animals, ecology, environment, extinction, greed, logging
From: Chicago
Mood: Discouraged

Too many fuckin' mouths to feed...


...and yet:


"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of
the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
- Winston Churchill, November 10th, 1942
P.S. http://www.StopMcCain08.com

Tags: dumb americans, environment, extinction, food, ouch, overpopulation, starvation, youtube
From: Chicago
Mood: Fine
Now Playing: The End Of The World (As We Know It) - REM

(Hat-tip Raw Story)
According to officials from Nairobi-based Wildlife Direct, rebels and villagers have slaughtered at least 14 elephants in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the past two weeks.

Since April 14, FLDR militiamen killed four; Congolese word FARDC and Mai-Mai rebels killed eight, and local villagers killed two elephants in Virunga National Park.

"This is the worst month we have seen in a long time in terms of recorded elephant deaths," said Alexandre Wathaut, the provincial director for the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN). "ICCN is making official representations to the Congolese military and to the militia for this slaughter to stop. We call on the international community to engage in solving the region's political problems, for the sake of the local population as well as for Virunga's unique wildlife."

Wildlife Direct chief Emmanuel de Merode said relaxing of global ivory trading rules and arrival of Chinese merchants in the lawless Great Lakes region has worsened poaching.

"The upsurge in elephant killings in Virunga is part of a widespread slaughter across the Congo Basin, and is being driven by developments on the international scene: the liberalisation of the ivory trade, being pushed by South Africa, and the increased presence of Chinese operators on the ground, who feed a massive domestic demand for ivory in their home country," he added.

Elephant populations in Virunga National Park have fallen from 3,500 in 1959 to about 350 in 1996. The death of 14 elephants therefore has a considerable impact on the viability of the local elephant population.

The killings were announced on Thursday as South Africa lifted a 13-year moratorium on elephant culling, raising concern of a return to the international trade in ivory seen in the 1970s and 1980s. The South African government earlier this year authorized the killing of elephants from May 1 as "a last resort" in limiting the numbers of the African elephant that have more than doubled since culling was halted in 1995.

Apart from elephants, rare mountain gorillas were killed last year in Virunga, one of Africa's largest parks, where local and foreign militias as well as Congolese soldiers, poachers and illegal miners regularly cross. All in all there are only 1,100 rangers protecting five national parks - four of which are classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites -in eastern DRC. Some 150 rangers have been killed while on duty in the past decade.

Tags: africa, animals, congo, elephants, environment, extinction, poaching
From: Chicago
Mood: Discouraged

...in the disastrous Bush/Cheney legacy:


(Hat-tip Leonard Doyle)
The North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered mammals on the planet, is in danger of extinction largely because the Bush administration has, so far, refused to impose measures to protect the creatures from being hit by ships near busy U.S. ports.

Plans for a speed limit on shipping during the whales’ migration season are bogged down in bureaucracy, which environmentalists say Cheney’s office is orchestrating.

For more than a year, the White House has refused to implement the proposed 10-knot (11.5mph) speed limit, which scientists say will help prevent ships from hitting the slow-moving whales as they migrate up the East coast of America. “The Bush administration is blocking legislation, delaying regulations and disabling enforcement efforts to protect the right whale,” said Vicki Cornish, of the Ocean Conservancy.

Only 350 or so right whales remain in existence. The North Atlantic species, which grows to more than 60ft long, is black with distinctive white markings on its back. It was hunted to the brink of extinction for its oil and baleen in the 19th-century whaling boom. Hunting was finally banned in 1935, when only 400 or so whales remained. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration now believes the entire species could be pushed to extinction by the death of a single pregnant female.

Between 2002 and 2006, 17 right whales - six of them adult females - were hit by ships and died. Since then, several calves have been killed by ships or becoming entangled in fishing gear.

Most of the females migrate along the Atlantic coast, from the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia to Cape Cod and nursing grounds off Florida. Mothers do not feed while calving but must produce thousands of gallons of milk to feed their calves. The exhausted slow-moving whales are especially vulnerable on their return north.


To prevent more right whale deaths, the U.S. Fisheries Service wants to impose speed limits on ships within 30 miles of various ports. Under U.S. law, the government should by now have implemented new regulations forcing ships to slow to less than 10 knots when migrating whales are spotted at certain times of the year.

But pressure from shipping companies and the State of Georgia, which argues that the measure would cause "economic hardship," have led the Bush administration to try to run down the clock on the new regulations. The US Navy also objects to the speed limit and even whale-watching companies oppose it, saying it would prevent them from getting swiftly offshore to where whales are gathered. Pleasure boat owners also object because an 800-berth marina is being built near one of the whales’ main calving areas off Georgia.

The most vocal objections have come from the World Shipping Council, made up mostly of European and Asian shipping lines. It claims there is insufficient proof that reducing a ship’s speed will prevent it from hitting a whale. The Georgia Ports Authority said it was unfair to blame shipping for whale deaths when “at best, it may be responsible for less than [half] of collisions”.

But Ms Cornish argued: “What they are saying is, the faster the ships go, the sooner they are in and out of the way. So why not have speeding cars in front of a school, so they are in and out of the way before they hit a child?”

The White House is supposed to review proposed law changes within 90 days but, in the case of the whale “ship strike” rule, it has taken more than a year to act. A spokeswoman could not explain the delay, other than to say that it was a case of “due diligence.”

Learn more (and lend a helping hand) here.

Tags: bush cronies, bush legacy, dick cheney, disgrace, environment, extinction, greed, marine life, whales
From: Chicago
Mood: Assholes

(Hat-tip Stephanie Mencimer)
Y'know, I love it when the Bush administration channels Ronald Reagan. The linguistic twists alone are nothing short of priceless, like this one, from yesterday's WaPo.

In a story about how the new anti-immigrant fence along the Mexican border is threatening countless species of endangered wildlife by disrupting migration patterns and cutting off water sources, Homeland Security spokesperson Amy Kudwa — undoubtedly with a straight face — suggested that the new fence might actually improve the environment by "reducing the trash left by immigrants crossing the border."

Yeah, Amy... just like golf course ponds are wetlands, and the "Clear Skies Initiative" actually clears the skies.

Tags: bush legacy, ecological disaster, endangered species, environment, extinction, homeland security, immigration, mexico
From: Chicago
Mood: Bastards
Now Playing: 'Stupify' - Disturbed

Update on Sea Shepherd's phenomenal "Operation Migaloo" anti-whaling campaign (hat-tip iptv_tech):


SSCS founder Captain Paul Watson displays the bullet
that allegedly struck him during a violent confrontation
with the outlaw whaling ship Nisshin Maru
As Japan's illegal commerical whaling season draws to a close, its fiercest opponent, Captain Paul Watson, claims to have been shot in the chest when a clash between his vessel, the Steve Irwin and the Japanese whaler Nisshin Maru turned violent earlier this month.

Watson, who escaped serious injury in the incident, said that the Kevlar vest he was wearing may well have saved his life.

Japanese authorities denied that the whalers fired any gunshots, and said that they had simply thrown sound-emitting "warning balls" (AKA "thunder flash" grenades) at the Irwin after activists hurled bottles of butyric acid, bags of white powder and an "unidentified white liquid" at them.

"We challenge them to go to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and let them examine the bullet," said Glenn Inwood, spokesman for Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research. "The media is being fooled by a clever con-artist who bought a Kevlar jacket, shot it at close range and took it with him to the Antarctic just to pull it from his bag of public relations tricks at the right time."

A veteran anti-whaling campaigner and founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS), Watson said that he felt a "thud" in his chest during the showdown, and later found a bullet lodged in his protective vest. According to witnesses, the bullet struck just above Watson's heart and mangled a metal anti-poaching badge on his sweater underneath. SSCS volunteer Dr. David Page was videotaped prying the bullet from the vest.

In response to Inwood's accusations of a P.R. stunt, Watson said he would cooperate fully with any AFP investigation, including turning over the bullet and the vest for examination.

Two SSCS crew members were also injured during the clash, including Ashley Dunn, 35, who suffered a hip injury while trying to get out of the way of the grenades, and Ralph Lowe, 33, whose back was injured when one of the grenade exploded behind him.

The Japanese fleet has been sailing Antarctica's Southern Ocean since November with the goal of killing 935 minke and 50 fin whales as part of its annual “scientific program.” This year, the outlaw fleet has faced unprecedented resistance, not only in the form of international censure (which ultimately forced Japan to halt its plan to kill 50 humpback whales), but also tireless harassment by Watson and his all-volunteer crew.

Japan blames SSCS "sabotage" for cutting their expected whale harvest by almost half. According to Kyodo News Service, Japanese officials glumly predict that this year's kill will number only 500-600, due in large part to a mid-season suspension of operations caused by direct SSCS interference. As the "scientific" operation is partly financed by revenues from the sale of the whales' meat, the shortage is expected to deal a significant financial blow to the whalers as well.

Now, with less than two weeks left in the season (and after successfully saving an estimated 500 whales from the Japanese harpoons), the Steve Irwin is ending this year's campaign due to lack of fuel.

"We have no alternative but to retreat... We have just enough fuel to make it back to port," Watson said in a statement on the SSCS website. "We've done everything we can do down here for this season, and it has been an enormous success..."

Watson added that — with the support of donors from around the globe — he hopes to acquire a second vessel in time for the next whaling season so he and his crew can more closely shadow (and confront) the whalers without breaking off the pursuit to refuel.

Yet, as one protest season ends for Watson and his crew, another one is just beginning.

"As our ship returns to Melbourne, we are satisfied knowing we have saved so many lives, and feel remorse for the ones we couldn't," said Watson. "Now we prepare for our Seal Defense Campaign, and hope that our efforts for the whales have not been in vain."

You can help Watson gear up for next year's campaign by donating whatever you can afford... and spreading the word.

Tags: environment, extinction, fuck japan, greed, marine life, overfishing, paul watson, sea shepherd, whales, whaling
From: Chicago
Mood: Same Time Next Year
Now Playing: 'Sky High' - Jigsaw

(Hat-tip Dave Lindorff )
While Clinton and Obama tussle over integrity, experience and readiness... while the McCain camp brays about patriotism, toughness and traditional values... there's an ever-growing list of global catastrophes on the near horizon, all of which are simply being ignored.

To name but a few:

Famine: According to the U.N., there is a global food shortage quickly approaching, spurred on by the declining availability of water, the erosion and urbanization of cropland and the substitution of ethanol-producing crops for food crops. By this time next year, we could start to see mass starvation in Asia, Africa and elsewhere on an unprecedented scale, with no grain stocks in reserve to relieve the crisis.

Collapse of the U.S. Dollar: With the world's reserve currency plunging and the U.S. trade deficit soaring (leaving the Federal Reserve with no ability to stem the fall), it's only a matter of time before the US becomes a broken economy, unable to fund its deficits any longer. Already, shop owners in New York are accepting Euros and Canadian dollars for goods, seeing those bills as a better store of value than the Greenback. The OPEC nations, for sure, will not be far behind; Iran has already set in motion plans to accept only payment in Euros for her oil.

Loss of Arctic Ice Sheet: It is increasingly apparent that it's only a matter of time before the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in the summer. Greenland is losing its huge cap of ice, too, at an accelerating rate far beyond the outer limit imagined by U.N. scientists only last year. At present, we could be looking at sea rises measured in meters in a matter of a few, short years instead of decades as previously projected. There is also growing evidence that the Western Antarctic Ice Shelf is melting at an increasing rate, adding to the already-enormous risk.

Fishery Collapse: Fish stocks in most of the world's key fisheries (a primary source of protein for much of the world) are nearing total collapse, and the habitats - thanks to the scouring of sea bottoms by giant industrial fishing fleets - are being destroyed forever. Add to that the acidification of the oceans (thanks to airborne and river-borne pollutants) - a process which is destroying the plankton at the bottom of the oceanic food chain - and we have another major food crisis on our hands... not to mention the loss of the world's primary carbon sink.

Climate Disruptions: The oceans are warming, with a concomitant risk of ever-worse El Nino phenomena in the Pacific, and the slowing/shrinking of the Gulf Stream (and other ocean currents) critical to the global weather patterns upon which the world's current population centers depend. This doesn't just mean more severe storms along America's coasts. It means growing drought across the nation's midsection, a loss of snowpack in the Rockies (critical to irrigation in the western U.S.), and catastrophic droughts in Africa, Asia, South Asia, South America, Spain and southern Europe.

Mass Extinctions: It's not just polar bears and black rhinos. Everything from songbirds to whales, from sea otters to penguins, from the whole class of amphibians to honeybees, are facing extinction. In fact, there are predictions from knowledgeable, cool-headed ecologists that, in short order, we could see the mass extinction of perhaps half the species on the planet - a tragic and dangerous event only seen several times in the half-billion years of life on Earth.

Resource Wars/Mass Migrations: The U.S., obsessed with controlling events in the world through its use of military power, has been run into a corner. The American military is now stymied in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and is at this point incapable of responding to yet another military crisis. Yet the world - for all the above reasons - is heading full-speed towards an era of global resource wars, as overcrowded, developing countries full of starving people begin to press outward to claim lands with needed water, soil and other resources. Desperate migrants will also predictably be fleeing to safer havens, the U.S. included... and no mere border fence is going to stop this inexorable flow of humanity.

There are responses which might be taken to confront (or at least prepare for) each of these crises, but they will require innovative and inspirational leadership of a kind not seen in American politics in generations. They will require, too, a massive shift in thinking on the part of the American people, who will have to shed their parochial isolationist and triumphalist mindset, and begin to see themselves as part of global humanity (instead of a blessed breed above it).

Yet astonishingly (and depressingly), not one of the candidates - Democrat or Republican - is addressing any of these critical issues, or even attempting to speak to American voters about the potential catastrophes that lie ahead. Equally astonishingly - given that we are about to hand our children and grandchildren a devastated planet and a grim, violent future - nobody seems to be demanding that they address these issues.

That being the case, what is the likelihood that our next government - Democrat or Republican - will take any kind of action on any of them?

Tags: '08 elections, climate change, disaster, dumb americans, economy, environment, extinction, global warming, greed, no end in sight, overfishing, politics, starvation
From: Chicago
Mood: Frustrated
Now Playing: 'Snowblind' - Black Sabbath

Encouraging news from the Antarctic (please pass it on) -


(Hat-tip Captain Paul Watson)
After twelve days of repairs, refueling and re-supplying (made possible by contributions from folks like you & me), the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin is returning to the Southern Ocean on Valentine's Day to resume its mission of stopping the Japanese whaling fleet from killing 985 whales for "scientific research purposes."

“A special thank-you to Australia,” said SSCS Captain Paul Watson. “You helped to send the Steve Irwin back to sea as a Valentine’s Day gift to the whales.”

Regular readers of this blog may recall that In January, Sea Shepherd's efforts were responsible for successfully shutting down Japan's whaling operations for more than three weeks, costing the Japanese over two million dollars in fuel, saving an untold number of whales from slaughter and (further) exposing the illegal hunt to international scrutiny and criticism. The Steve Irwin intends to continue harassing and intervening against the Japanese fleet for the next four to five weeks, until the end of whaling season in March.

The ship dropped off 16 volunteer crewmembers in Melbourne on February 2nd, and 19 new volunteers have joined on. Eleven of the original crewmembers will remain onboard for the next phase. The current crew represent 10 different nations, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the U.S., Sweden, South Africa, the Netherlands, the U.K., Spain and Japan itself. After this season, Watson and the Sea Shepherd team will be working to secure a 2nd ship and mounting a non-stop pursuit for the 2008/2009 whaling season.

I urge everyone on my FL to become SSCS members, or - if money is tight - donate whatever you can afford to the fight. Even a few bucks can make a difference.

( 14 More Things You Can Do Today )

Tags: ecology, environment, extinction, fuck japan, marine life, oceans, paul watson, sea shepherd, whales, whaling
From: Chicago
Mood: Determined
Now Playing: 'Fight or Fall' - Thin Lizzy

P.S. Fuck you, Japan.


Australian government photos and video show the bodies of a female
minke whale - and her calf - being hauled aboard the Yushin Maru 2
Stepping up its campaign against Japan's whaling in Antarctic waters, the Aussie government today released grisly surveillance images of a mother whale and her bleeding calf being winched aboard a Japanese hunting ship after being harpooned to death.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the "distressing" pictures would help build global opposition to whaling: "It is explicitly clear from these images that this is the indiscriminate killing of whales, where you have a whale and its calf killed in this way," Garrett told reporters in Sydney.

Australian Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said that the images represent evidence that could be used against Japan in an international court of law: "They will help us to back up the Australian government's argument in an international court case, the details of which are still to be worked out, to suggest that whaling should be stopped," he told reporters.

The Institute of Cetacean Research, the Japanese government-affiliated organization that oversees the hunt, posted a statement on its Web site headlined: "Australian Customs Photos Mislead the Public.": "The Government of Australia photographs and the media reports have created a dangerous emotional propaganda that could cause serious damage to the relationship between our two countries," institute director Minoru Morimoto said in the statement.

Hideki Moronuki, chief of the Japanese Fishing Agency's whaling section, went so far as to flatly deny that the photographs depicted a whale calf: "The fleet is engaged in random sampling, which means they are taking both large and small whales. This is not a parent and calf," Moronuki said, going on to criticize the Australian Customs vessel for coming too close to the Yushin Maru to take the photographs, and calling it "the sort of dangerous action that Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace have engaged in."


For the last two months, the Australian government has been tracking the Japanese fleet, monitoring its activities and gathering evidence in a diplomatic attempt to end Japan's rogue whaling. Last month, the fleet was forced to temporarily suspend the hunt after confrontations with both Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd. Sadly, both protest groups' vessels have since run out of the fuel & supplies required to continue pursuing their well-funded adversaries, and the Japanese mission of killing 900-1000 minke and fin whales is back on track.

Hat's off to the Aussies... with the hope they'll continue to follow through. Meantime, here's a few small (but important) things you do to keep the battle going, right from your sofa:

• Call or e-mail Australian Ambassador Dennis Richardson & his staff (as well as the ACCI) and thank them for their nation's stand on Japanese whaling.

• Donate a few bucks to Operation Migaloo, and help keep Capt. Watson's rag-tag armada gassed up and seaworthy. His volunteer crew is (quite literally) at your service.

• Urge Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to halt construction of a new, seven-figure "whaling factory" vessel, and put an end to his country's ecologically (and economically) unsound whaling industry.

• Check out Greenpeace's latest anti-whaling campaign news, and sign-up for their Whale Mail updates.

• Visit the Ocean Alliance Web site; check out their campaigns & initiatives, and participate.

• Create your own Whale Defender info and fundraising page.

• Stop by here and here.

"If the great beast are gone, men would surely
die of a great lonliness of spirit."
- Chief Seattle, 1884

Tags: australia, ecology, environment, extinction, fuck japan, greenpeace, marine life, oceans, sea shepherd, whales, whaling
From: Chicago
Mood: Damned, Dirty Apes
Now Playing: 'A Gringo Like Me' - Ennio Morricone

The fight continues -



The two Sea Shepherd activists who boarded the Japanese whaling ship Yushin Maru 2 on Tuesday are now back onboard their ship after being picked up by a Australian Customs vessel Friday morning.

Sea Shepherd crew members Benjamin Potts and Giles Lane had intentionally boarded the ship to deliver a letter to its captain demanding a halt to Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. Both men reported that, although they were roughed up when they first boarded the whaling ship, that they were treated well during their time onboard.

"I am unharmed and ready to continue disrupting the whaling of the Japanese fleet in the Southern Ocean," said Lane. "It was worth the risk and time in order to inform them of their illegal activities and stop them killing whales [...] It's important to remember that this is not about us. It's about stopping this cruel and illegal whale hunt."

"It did not take long before the whalers realized that they made a huge public relations mistake in keeping us on their ship," said Potts. "We made it clear to them that Sea Shepherd was committed to stopping their illegal whaling activities... I'm pleased that everything worked out and that no-one was hurt, and also that we were successful in placing the world's attention on the illegal slaughter of whales in a whale sanctuary in the Australian Antarctic Territory."

According to reports, the hunt was shut down while the tense standoff continued.

"All whaling activities have come to a halt," said Captain Paul Watson onboard the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin. "No whales have been killed since January 11th. The Japanese whaling fleet has been denied a solid week of whaling activity. Our task now is to make that two weeks and then three weeks."

The two crew members boarded the Yushin Maru 2 on Watson's orders to deliver a letter that read:

My name is Giles David Lane. I am a British citizen and an unpaid volunteer on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel Steve Irwin.

I have come onboard your ship because you have refused to acknowledge communication from our ship pertaining to your illegal activities in the waters of the Australian Antarctic Territorial Economic Exclusion Zone.

I am not boarding your ship with the intent to commit a crime, to rob you or to inflict injury upon your crew and yourself or damage to your ship. My reason for boarding is to deliver the message that you are in violation of international conservation law and in violation of the laws of Australia. It is my intent to deliver this message and then to request that you allow me to disembark from your vessel without harm or seizure.

The Institute for Cetacean Research (ICR) which "manages" Japanese whaling operations (and, coincidentally, is funded by Kyodo Senpaku, a private corporation that processes and sells whale products), said the two men were not harmed during their two days aboard the whaling ship.

"The men were treated well, were provided a cabin and privacy. There were invited to eat their meals in the vessel's dining room, but instead chose to take their meals in private. They have been looked after and in no way have they been harmed," said ICR Director General Minoru Morimoto.

The Australian government was requested to step in when Watson declined to accept the conditions for transfer of his two crew members set by the Japanese master. According to Watson, the master requested that the two men be picked up in an inflatable boat, and that the Steve Irwin stand off at least 10 miles, not fly its helicopter, and not "take any violent action or video/photo shooting activities against us."

"Using hostages to make demands is the hallmark of terrorism, and Sea Shepherd has no interest in negotiating with terrorist groups," said Watson on Wednesday. "The hostages must be released unconditionally."

Morimoto said the Yushin Maru 2 would now "rejoin the other research vessels" to continue whaling, and urged the Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace "not to interfere further in Japan's research program, which is working to improve knowledge of Antarctic whale species and improve development of a commercial whaling regime."

Watson countered by pointing out that it is the Japanese who are acting illegally.

"The Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin will continue to pursue illegal Japanese whaling activities for as long as possible," he said. "Every day that we stop the whalers is a victory," he said. "We will continue to intervene, harass, block, and obstruct the whalers at every opportunity."

During the standoff, ICR mouthpiece Glenn Inwood described the Sea Shepherd group as pirates.

"It is completely illegal to board anyone's vessel... on the high seas," he said, "so this can be seen as nothing more than an act of piracy."

"I find it very strange that people who are holding hostages are calling us the pirates," Watson responded.

P.S. An Australian federal court ruled Tuesday that whaling in the Australian Sanctuary is illegal, and ordered the Japanese to stop killing whales within 200 nautical miles of Australia's Antarctic territory. Japan, however, does not accept Australia's territorial claim, and the court ruling seems more symbolic than anything else.

Even if the Aussies were to forcibly restrain the hunting vessels (risking an international showdown), plenty of the estimated 1,000 fin and minke whales in the Japanese crosshairs can easily be found just outside the 200-mile boundary.

Please visit the Sea Shepherd web site to make a small donation and support these heroes of the high seas. You can also tell Japanese ambassador Ryozo Kato how you feel about his nation's "scientific research" at (202) 238-6700.

Tags: ecology, environment, extinction, marine life, overfishing, paul watson, sea shepherd, whales, whaling
From: Chicago
Mood: Sink the Fuckers

My fellow Sea Shepherd supporters will be happy to know that Operation Migaloo is well underway, with Captain Paul Watson and his crew of 41 international volunteers currently sailing the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary in search of a face-off with the outlaw Japanese whaling fleet.

With limited resources and no governmental support of any kind, Watson has pledged to "enforce international conservation regulations on the high seas" vs. Japan's goal of killing more than 1,000 whales - a purely commercial hunt (in direct violation of an international whaling moratorium), thinly disguised as "scientific research."

As the whalers seek to hunt down and kill the whales, Watson says, Sea Shepherd will be hunting the whalers with the objective of directly intervening in the slaughter.


"Basically we're going down there to stop them," said Sea Shepherd's Jonny Vasic. "We're not going down there to protest; we're going down to directly intervene and put an end to this criminal behaviour. We've been known to ram a vessel that's engaged in illegal activity as a last-ditch effort to get them to stop... we don't have a problem with economic destruction when it's engaged in illegal activity.”

You can follow the crew's blog here, and - if you can - help support the mission by making a donation, no matter how small. It'd make a helluve welcome Christmas gift for the crew.

UPDATE: It appears the international attention/negative publicity the Japs are getting from this year's hunt have forced them to temporarily de-list critically endangered humpback whales from their target quota "due to concern about the negative impact on relations with Australia..."

Good news for the humpback - for now - but no help to the 1,000+ minke and fin whales that remain on the hit list.

Tags: captain paul watson, endangered species, extinction, overfishing, sea shepherd, whales, whaling
From: Chicago
Mood: Determined
Now Playing: 'Godzilla' - Blue Oyster Cult

Thanks to Al Gore and a dedicated group of international scientists boosting global warming into worldwide consciousness, this has been a banner year for environmental reporting. And now, Alternet has narrowed down hundreds and hundreds of its environment stories to the Top 10 Most Read of 2007.

The list represents a great sampling of the site's content, from the top 100 ways global warming will change your life to anti-environmental homeowners associations to the biofuel hoax (including a few fun pieces mixed in)... read 'em here.

Tags: alternative energy, animals, climate change, deforestation, ecology, environment, extinction, global warming, ocean pollution, pollution
From: Chicago
Mood: Determined

(Hat-tip David Fahrenthold, via Blogfish)
The Chesapeake Bay's famous blue crabs - feisty crustaceans that are both a regional symbol and a multimillion-dollar catch - are hovering at historically low population levels, scientists say, as pollution, climate change and overfishing threaten the bay's "ultimate survivor."

This fall, a committee of federal and state scientists found that the crab's population was at its second-lowest level in the past 17 years, having fallen to about one-third the population of just 15 years ago. They forecast that the current crabbing season (which ends Dec. 15th) in Maryland, will produce one of the lowest harvests since 1945.

This year's numbers are particularly distressing, scientists say, because they signal that a baywide effort to save the crab begun in 2001 is falling short. Governments promised to clean the Chesapeake's waters by 2010. But that effort is far off track, leaving "dead zones" where crabs can't breathe.

Maryland and Virginia have changed their laws to cut back the bay's crab harvest. But watermen have repeatedly been allowed to take too many of the valuable shellfish, scientists say. The watermen, meanwhile, say they're being unfairly blamed.

"Now it appears that even the hardy blue crab is approaching its breaking point," said Howard R. Ernst, a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy and a critic of government efforts to protect the Chesapeake. If the crab's population drops further, Ernst said, "what we ultimately lose is not only a resource, but a unique and irreplaceable cultural heritage."

The Chesapeake has a long roster of collapsed species, including many of its best-loved icons. First, the sturgeon was mercilessly fished for meat and roe. Shad went next, netted and blocked off by dams. Oysters have been nearly wiped out by overharvesting and disease. Rockfish dropped off dramatically but then came back, the bay's best - but just about only - success story.

Through it all, the number of blue crabs held relatively steady, helped by their relatively high tolerance for dirty water and their astonishing fertility (i.e. a female can produce more than 6 million eggs a year, allowing the population to rebuild quickly). But in the 1990s, the crab's population began to fall off rapidly. Since 2000, it has been at a historically low ebb.

There were about 852 million crabs in the bay in 1993, but there are now about 273 million, according to the committee of federal and state scientists, which issued a report in September. Over the past 17 years, only 2001 - an earlier point in the current slump - had a lower figure. The crab harvest, which exceeded 100 million pounds at its peak in the 1960s, fell to just 48.9 million pounds last year.

"We've gone where we've never been before," said Douglas Lipton, a University of Maryland professor who has studied the Chesapeake fishing industry. "Nobody can prove... that the resource can come back from that abundance."

And the immediate future doesn't look much better. The number of crabs less than a year old - a crucial indicator of how the population will look in the next year or two - fell to its lowest level in 15 years last winter.

( Read more )

This little ditty comes to mind for some reason...

Tags: ecology, environment, extinction, marine life, ocean pollution, oceans, overfishing, pollution
From: Chicago
Mood: Crabby
Now Playing: 'The Eddystone Light' - Peter, Paul & Mary

(Hat-tip National Geographic)
In 1780, Alaska's first Norway rat climbed ashore on a rugged, uninhabited island in the Aleutian chain after a rodent-infested Japanese ship ran aground there.

Since then, "Rat Island," as it was dubbed by a sea captain in the 1800s, has gone eerily silent. The sounds of birds are missing. That's because the rats feed on eggs, chicks, and adult seabirds, which come to the mostly treeless island to nest on the ground or in crevices in the volcanic rock.

"As far as bird life, it is a dead zone," said Steve Ebbert, a biologist at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

Now, state and federal wildlife biologists are gearing up for an all-out assault on the rats of Rat Island, hoping to exterminate them with poison. If successful, it will be the third-largest island in the world to be made rat-free.

Rats have been the scourge of islands worldwide. According to the group Island Conservation, rats are to blame for between 40-60% percent of all seabird and reptile extinctions, with 90% of those occurring on islands.

"Rats are one of the worst invasive species around," said Gregg Howald, Island Conservation's program manager, which is working with the U.S. government on a plan for Rat Island. "Norway rats typically have four to six litters a year, each containing 6 to 12 babies. One pair can produce a population of more than 5,000 in one year."

The state is joining forces with federal wildlife biologists in a multi-pronged attack to drive the rats from Alaska. Regulations went into effect this fall requiring mariners to check for rats and try to eradicate them if found. Violators face a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. Corporations could be fined up to $200,000.

The state also is distributing 15,000 "Stop Rats!" pamphlets, instructing mariners to kill every rat found on board, have traps set at all times, keep trash and food in rat-proof containers and use mooring line guards. Sailors are also urged never to throw a live rat over the side, because the mammals are excellent swimmers.

The offensive against the rats of Rat Island could begin as early as next October, and involves the use of a blood thinner that will cause the rodents to bleed to death. Once the rats are gone, wildlife biologists expect the return of birds to be dramatic. After black rats were wiped out in 2002 on Anacapa Island off the California coast, murrelets were back in force by the following April, and Cassin's auklets were nesting there for the first time.

"Over time, you see an incredible response," Howald said.

Tags: alaska, animals, ecology, endangered species, environment, extinction, invasive species
From: Chicago
Now Playing: 'I Want You' - Fiona Apple & Elvis Costello

"Elephants are symbols of might and memory, harmony and
patience, power and compassion. We are equivocal about them,
as we are about anything which evokes strong feelings in us. We
love and fear them, kill and revere them, see them as beasts of
the moon with crescent tusks or as buffoons in baggy pants."

( Image Gallery )

Tags: animals, ecology, elephants, environment, extinction, photography, photos
From: Dallas-Bound
Mood: Packing

(Hat-tip Richard Gray)
A staple of the human diet for thousands of years, oysters, scallops, clams and mussels are now being threatened by rising levels of carbon dioxide, with some waters expected to become corrosive enough to cause the shells of many species to actually dissolve.

Citing the build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a chief factor in causing the oceans to grow more acidic, biologist warn that, by the end of the century, a wide array of shellfish will simply disappear. This loss, in turn, will have a devastating effect on the ocean environment as whole, as other creatures that depend on shellfish will find food increasingly scarce.

( Read the rest... )

Tags: climate change, ecology, environment, extinction, global warming, oceans
From: Chicago
Mood: Damned Dirty Apes

(Hat-tip James Randerson)



"Beware the beast, man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among
God's primates, he kills for sport or lust or greed... Let him not breed
in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours..."
- Dr. Zaius, Planet of the Apes

Sri Lanka's slender loris has been seen just four times since 1937. Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey was not found in an exhaustive six-year study ending in 1999, and there have been no definite sightings since. Vietnam's golden-headed langur and the Hainan gibbon in China both number in the mere dozens.

These are the primate species on the last edge of extinction and - according to a report commissioned by three leading conservation charities - scores of others of our closest relatives are poised to suffer the same fate. The report names the top 25 species most in need of help, but concludes that 114 primate species are also close to extinction.


The 25 species most at risk include two of our genetically-closest great ape cousins, the Cross River gorilla of Cameroon and Nigeria and the Sumatran orang-utan.

The document was compiled by 60 leading primatologists from the world conservation union, the International Primatological Society, and lists 11 species from Asia, seven from Africa, four from Madagascar and three from South America.

"You could fit all the surviving members of these 25 species in a single football stadium... hat's how few of them remain on Earth today," said Conservation International president Russell Mittermeier. "The situation is worst in Asia, where tropical forest destruction and the hunting and trading of monkeys puts many species at terrible risk. Even newly-discovered species are severely threatened from loss of habitat and could soon disappear."


"Overall the problems are increasing," said Eckhard Heymann from the German Primate Centre in Goettingen, one of the report's authors, citing threats such as habitat loss due to logging for timber and/or oil and mineral extraction, plus rampant bushmeat hunting. The two issues are directly related because roads cut through tropical forests for logging trucks help give bushmeat hunters easier routes to wildlife.

Yet another threat is widespread habitat destruction to make space for biofuel plantations such as oil palm. While developed economies around the world are pledging to use more "sustainable energy sources," the domino effect on tropical wildlife is devastating. "It is creating a huge market and now, in several countries, politicians are thinking of converting tropical forest areas to palm plantations," Heymann said.

The oil palm industry particularly affects orang-utan populations. Although they still number in the low thousands, they are disappearing at a faster rate than any other primate species on the planet.


Among the most critically endangered species in the world:

Madagascar
• Greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus)
• White-collared lemur (Eulemur albocollaris)
• Sahamalaza Peninsula sportive lemur (Lepilemur sahamalazensis)
• Silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus)

Nigeria, Cameroon
• Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli)

Ivory Coast, Ghana
• Miss Waldron's red colobus (Procolobus badius)
Roloway monkey (Cercopithecus diana roloway)

Tanzania
• Rondo dwarf galago (Galagoides rondoensis)
• Kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji)

Kenya
• Tana River red colobus (Procolobus rufomitratus)

Equatorial Guinea
• Pennant's red colobus (Procolobus pennantii pennantii)

Colombia, Venezuela
• Variegated spider monkey (Ateles hybridus)

Colombia, Ecuador
• Brown-headed spider monkey (Ateles fusciceps)

Peru
• Peruvian yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Oreonax flavicauda)

Bangladesh, India, Burma
• Western Hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock)

Sri Lanka
• Horton Plains slender loris (Loris tardigradus nycticeboides)
• Western purple-faced langur (Semnopithecus vetulus nestor)

Indonesia
• Pig-tailed langur (Simias concolor)
• Sumatran orang-utan (Pongo abelii)
• Siau Island tarsier (Tarsius sp.)

Vietnam
• Delacour's langur (Trachypithecus delacouri)
• Golden-headed langur (Trachypithecus poliocephalus poliocephalus)
• Grey-shanked douc (Pygathrix cinerea)
• Tonkin snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus avunculus)

China
• Hainan black-crested gibbon (Nomascus hainanus)

(x-posted to environment)

Tags: alternative energy, animals, bushmeat, climate change, deforestation, ecology, environment, extinction, hunting, monkeys, overpopulation, poaching, pollution
From: Chicago
Mood: Do Something
Now Playing: 'Some Velvet Morning' - Nancy Sinatra

...dead fish, no fish.


(Hat-tip Raw Story)
According to a study released by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) today, more than one third of all European freshwater fish species are threatened with extinction.

Twelve of 522 known species are already extinct, largely due to increased water use, pollution and overfishing, according to the report. Irrigation, flood control and power generation dams have also had a major impact on fish populations (leading to the localized extinction of numerous migratory species), as has the human-introduction of destructive, non-native species (and the diseases they carry).


Among the most threatened species:

• European eel (Anguilla anguilla), the only European fish which leaves to spawn at sea, and which is now at just 5% of its average level in the 1970s

• Gizani (Ladigesocypris ghigii), an endangered freshwater fish endemic to the Greek island of Rhodes

• Jarabugo (Anaecypris hispanica), a Spanish minnow which has declined by at least 30% in the past 10 years

• Chornaya gudgeon (Gobio delyamurei), a newly-discovered Crimean fish.

The Houting (Coregonus oxyrinchus), a once-plentiful breed of whitefish, it hasn't been seen for more than 60 years, and is presumed to be extinct.


"With 200 fish species in Europe facing a high risk of going extinct, we must act now to avoid a tragedy," said IUCN program officer Will Darwall. "Many of these species, not considered as 'charismatic' or with any apparent 'value' to people, rarely attract the funds needed for their conservation - they risk disappearing with only a dedicated few noticing the loss," he added. "These species are... critical to the freshwater ecosystems upon which we do depend, such as for water purification and flood control. Many of them can be saved through relatively simple measures. All we need is the public and political will to make it happen."

The IUCN said the biggest single threat comes from severe water shortages in Mediterranean areas, which are increasingly leading to dried rivers in summer months as climate change progresses.



Visit the IUCN website here.
x-posted to environment

Tags: animals, climate change, ecology, environment, extinction, fish populations crash, fishing, global warming, overfishing, overpopulation
From: Chicago
Mood: Oy Vey Iz Mir
Now Playing: 'Tennessee Waltz' - Connie Francis

(Hat-tip Raw Story)
According to a report by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), Italy, France, Japan and Spain are the world's most flagrant violators of international quotas for bluefin tuna fishing.

Countries are assigned fishing quotas by the ICCAT to help avert the eventual extinction of the fish, which is highly prized for Japanese sushi and sashimi. Despite these limits, Italy fished 7,500 tons more than allowed, followed by France with 3,770 more and Japan with 3,550 tons, said the report, titled "The Plunder of the BlueFin Tuna in the Mediterranean Sea."

The 708-page study was compiled by Roberto Mielgo Bregazzi, a consultant who has previously carried out research for the WWF. He cited official data and information from industry insiders:

"Given the unsustainable rates of capture, both legal and illegal, the species will disappear."

In September, the European Commission banned bluefin fishing in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean for the rest of the year because quotas for 2007 had already been met. Sadly, the ICCAT has no way of enforcing its quotas, relying solely on the "goodwill" of member countries.

You can do your part to help save the last of the bluefins right here.

Tags: animals, bluefin tuna extinction, ecology, environment, extinction, france, italy, japan, overfishing, spain
From: Chicago
Mood: Hopeless
Now Playing: 'Waiting for an Alibi' - Thin Lizzy

(Hat-tip James Kanter)
According to a major report issued by the U.N., the human population is growing/living far beyond its means and inflicting damage on the environment that could pass points of no return.

Climate change, the rate of extinction of species and the challenge of feeding a growing population are among the threats putting humanity at risk, the UN Environment Program said in its fourth Global Environmental Outlook since 1997.

"The human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns," Achim Steiner, the executive director of the program, said in a telephone interview. Efficient use of resources and reducing waste now are "among the greatest challenges at the beginning of 21st century," he said.

( Read the rest )

Tags: climate change, ecology, endangered species, environment, extinction, global warming, overpopulation
From: Chicago
Mood: Idiots
Now Playing: Bears Pre-Game

(Hat-tip Susie Madrak)
100 ways that global warming will change your (and your children's, and your grandchildren's) life...

( A sampling )

Tags: climate change, ecology, environment, extinction, global warming, pollution
From: Chicago
Mood: Discouraged

(Hat-tip Katharine Mieszkowski)
In Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, an oasis of open grasslands and oak savanna in central California, California condor No. 245 spent her last moments in the wild. In late July, biologists captured the giant bird and took her to the Los Angeles County Zoo, where a blood sample revealed that she suffered from severe lead poisoning. No. 245 had one of the highest blood lead levels that biologists had ever seen in a California condor, registering 10 times the amount of lead that requires treatment in the bird and 56 times the amount that calls for treatment in a human child.

Despite receiving emergency chelation therapy, which aims to speed the body's expulsion of the heavy metal, Condor No. 245 languished in the zoo, expressing little interest in the carcasses of rats and rabbits provided by zookeepers. On Aug. 15, she died.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 30 condors have died from lead poisoning in the past 10 years, an alarming figure, given that the condors have clawed their way back from near extinction in the '80s. "Lead stops peristalsis - the automated swallowing response - in condors, and inhibits all their digestive functions," says ornithologist Gary Langham, director of bird conservation for Audubon California. "That is a really slow and difficult way to die."

Biologists have pinpointed the condors' fatal exposure to fragments of lead ammunition lodged in the remains of an animal carcass. After gutting game like wild pigs and deer, and taking the parts they want, hunters leave the remaining viscera or "gut pile" in the woods. California condors, the largest land-based bird in North America, are "obligate scavengers," meaning that despite the birds' intimidating appearance, they cannot kill. The condor, a giant vulture, can only feed on the carrion that other killers have left, making them "nature's garbage disposal," as one hunter puts it.

Kelly Sorenson, executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, a nonprofit group that works to preserve the birds, says, "I don't think we have any hope of condors sustaining themselves in the wild without a complete switch from lead to nonlead ammunition."

That sounds like a simple solution. But a California bill proposing just that faces stiff opposition from the National Rifle Association and a host of Republican lawmakers in the state. Along with hunting groups like Gun Owners of California, they argue that efforts to restrict hunters' use of lead bullets in the condors' range are nothing less than the first shots in a battle to ban hunting in California altogether. The fate of the bill currently rests with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a prospect that has conservationists worried...

( Read the rest )

You can register your support for AB 821, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act, at http://www.savethecondor.com/bill.html, and by visiting http://projectgutpile.org/.

Tags: animals, california condors, ecology, environment, extinction, hunting, lead poisoning
From: Chicago
Mood: Spread The Word