The plight of dolphins captured for aquariums or amusement parks has become a more visible issue ever since the academy award-winning film The Cove detailed the brutality involved in dolphin and whale captures in Japan. Orcas (killer whales) and the mental and physical impact of their living conditions in aquatic parks have become an issue following the unfortunate death of a Sea World orca trainer, drowned by a temperamental whale.
Now, Patrick Schmitt of Change.org is trying to focus attention on a group of dolphins that were recently captured for a proposed hotel in Singapore. Twenty-seven dolphins were taken near the Solomon Islands, but two have already died while waiting for the resort hotel to be completed. Even when completed, the arrangements for the dolphins will be less than ideal.
Here is Patrick's call to arms:
27 dolphins were captured from the waters off the Solomon Islands -- 2 have died so far. 25 remain in captivity, and the longer they stay there, the odds increase dramatically that they'll die before they can be freed.
These dolphins have been taken from their natural habitat and held captive, their lives endangered by a hotel chain. Tell Resorts World that these dolphins should be free -- not pent up in tanks to entertain guests.
The dolphin tank at the hotel in question (Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore) hasn't even been built yet. Since half of all captured dolphins die within their first two years of captivity, it would seem that Resorts World simply captured more dolphins than necessary to see how many of them would still be around by the time they were needed.
In the wild, dolphins have a life expectancy of 45 years, and they can swim 40-100 miles a day. They spend half their time hunting for food, which is important for their mental stimulation.
In tanks, dolphins swim around in circles. They can't hunt. They're exposed to bacteria that have been known to cause blindness and death. We need to tell Resorts World to free the "Sentosa 25."
Ric O'Barry used to train Flipper –– yes, that Flipper –– but he's now a staunch anti-captivity activist. O'Barry wrote an open letter to the CEO of Resorts World Sentosa which read, "We know the people of Singapore love dolphins. Most Singaporeans would object to keeping dolphins in captivity if they knew the dangers to the dolphins and the horrific capture practices of the Solomon Islands and other dolphin capture countries."
Here's the good news: Resorts World is sensitive to public pressure. Two years ago, the company abandoned plans for a whale shark exhibit after community outcry. 25 dolphins are depending on us to achieve the same result today.
Please sign the petition to tell Resorts World Sentosa to free the 25 dolphins being held captive in the Philippines.
Here's a mixed bag of good news/bad news from the Center for Biological Diversity. It ranges from progress on protecting endangered species that have been in political limbo for years, to threatened leopard frogs, to further recognition of the bluefin tuna's precarious status.
There's a dilemma we often face. Sometimes we feel we need to prioritize and possibly protect one animal but let another suffer for the sake of economic development or some other pressing reason. We hope that we can evaluate each situation objectively, but it can be a slippery slope. The problem is what that one loss might represent: a weakening in our obligation to protect natural resources that can lead to rationalizing one species extinction after another.
We must be steadfast in our personal choices and remain vigilant in preserving the political safeguards and regulations that provide conservation and protection.
839 Species Move Toward Protection The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week agreed to a legal settlement that might result in federal protection for 839 plants and animals spiraling toward extinction. The agreement could lead to final protection decisions for 251 species that have been stuck on the federal warranted-but-precluded "candidate" list, many for decades; the Center for Biological Diversity filed scientific petitions to list 192 of these. It may also spur the Fish and Wildlife Service to process listing petitions for 588 additional species, of which the Center petitioned and/or filed suit to protect 511. In all, the Center's endangered species campaign brought 84 percent of all the species included in the agreement to this point of protection.
The species include the Rio Grande cutthroat trout and yellow-billed cuckoo, which the Center petitioned to protect in 1998 and has filed multiple lawsuits over; the Pacific fisher, which we petitioned to protect in 2000; the yellow-billed loon and Kittlitz's murrelet, which we petitioned for in 2001 and 2004; and the Oregon spotted frog, which we petitioned to protect in 2004.
Unfortunately, while the Center was working to reach a better, more certain agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service secretly convinced another conservation group, which had petitioned for very few of the species, to sign this weaker deal, full of loopholes and containing harmful language that will help the agency reject the protection of other equally imperiled species in the future. The Center is considering options to fix the flawed agreement and ensure that the species we pushed this close to protection are actually brought over the finish line.
We'll keep you updated in the coming weeks on our efforts to secure full protection for these species. Thank you for your vital help and support getting these rare, important plants and animals this far.
Southwest Frog Defended From Open-pit Copper Mine The Southwest's stocky, charcoal-spotted Chiricahua leopard frog now inhabits less than 20 percent of its former range -- yet in the feds' new proposal for protecting its much-needed remaining habitat, areas important for the frog's recovery are glaringly absent. The Center for Biological Diversity filed comments Thursday to remedy that.
Long threatened by grazing, disease, groundwater pumping and pollution, the Chiricahua leopard frog is now imminently threatened in southern Arizona's Santa Rita Mountains, where the proposed Rosemont open-pit copper mine could obliterate the sensitive amphibian. The mine site was left out of the feds' proposal for protected "critical habitat" even though frogs live there, making the area critical to protect. Worse, the feds' proposal downplays scientific evidence that the frog's northern populations may be a different species, meaning that southern populations -- like those in the Santa Ritas -- may be even rarer than previously thought.
Read more in our press release and learn about our campaign to save the Chiricahua leopard frog.
Scientists Declare Bluefin Tuna Endangered -- Join Our Bluefin Boycott The list of those who say bluefin tuna urgently need protection continues to grow. This week a committee of Canadian scientists and government representatives declared that the bluefin should be listed as an endangered species; we couldn't agree more. Last year the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned to have the Atlantic bluefin protected under the Endangered Species Act. In November, after international regulators failed to take action, we launched a nationwide boycott of bluefin.
One of the most remarkable marine creatures in the world, the warm-blooded bluefin tuna is a fierce ocean predator, can reach up to 10 feet in length and 1,200 pounds in weight, and can swim at up to 50 miles per hour, crossing the ocean in just weeks. But it can't outswim overfishing, which is driving it extinct at alarming rates, and the BP Gulf oil spill has helped make Atlantic bluefin more endangered than ever.
When reporting on conservation issues, it's easy to become overwhelmed with all of the challenges and problems threatening so many species across the planet. So, when there is good news - particularly coming from an international consortium when so many of these groups have failed, wallowing in backroom politics - it can be quite an uplift for the soul.
In October, I reported on a meeting to be held this month on behalf of the tiger. Thirteen countries, within whose borders the dwindling number of tigers can be found, came together in St. Petersburg, Russia to discuss the fate of the tiger and what can be done. The end result was a declaration to double the number of tigers in the wild (currently at a shocking 3,200) by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger on the Chinese calendar.
The participating countries have agreed to lay out a strategy and set up the infrastructure necessary to address reduced habitat, protect migration routes, and eliminate poaching through enforcement and incentives to provide potential poachers with economic alternatives. All of this can amount to empty promises if the funding is not there to support it. And that proved to be another bit of good news.
The Wildlife Conservation Society, along with several other groups, have collectively pledged $50 million over 10 years, and the World Bank has pledged a similar amount in addition to promising to procure additional funding from other governments and corporations. And for those of you who cynically question the pro-conservation efforts of celebrities as nothing more than riding a trend for some extra attention, take note of the level of commitment from Leonardo DiCaprio. The popular actor, who has been involved in a variety of conservation and environmental causes, arrived in St. Petersburg to put his money where his mouth is, donating $1 million to this new effort to save the tiger.
As reported in the BBC News, "'There was clearly a loud roar from St Petersburg this week on behalf of the last remaining tigers on our planet,' commented John Robinson, chief conservation officer with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). 'World leaders rarely find agreements at conferences and summits but the beloved tiger has proven to be a uniting force. And as we save the tiger, we have new hopes to save the world's biodiversity.'" Learn more at the Wildlife Conservation Society website.
Over the years, government wildlife agencies have found themselves in the difficult situation of dealing with encroaching predators. Environmental changes to habitat or food supply or urban development have often pushed predators like coyotes into greater proximity with other animals and humans. It's not the predator's fault, but what to do when a coyote is feeding on local pets or commercial livestock?
Catching the animals in traps or hunting them to anesthetize and then relocate them can be logistically complex and sometimes meets with limited success as the predator often returns because the conditions that brought about the encroachment have not changed.
Poison has been a measure of last resort, but it brings with it tremendous risk to other unintended victims including endangered species like wolves and condors, not to mention domesticated pets and even humans. The Defenders of Wildlife is bringing the issue to the EPA as the poisons that have been used are extremely toxic and there is a question as to how well the placement and management of bait traps has been handled. The non-profit group - which focuses primarily on wolves, bears, and other threatened predatory mammals - has initiated a campaign to get the EPA to halt the use of two of the most common toxic compounds used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services: sodium cyanide and sodium monofluoroacetate (known as Compound 1080).
Here is an excerpt from their write-in campaign: "As someone who is concerned about the safety of people, pets and wildlife, I strongly urge your agency to ban sodium cyanide and sodium monofluoroacetate (commonly called Compound 1080).
Sodium cyanide and sodium monofluoroacetate are considered to be some of the deadliest toxins known to humanity. Yet, Wildlife Services, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), regularly uses these two poisons to kill coyotes and other predators. In 2009, the two poisons killed an average of 1.5 animals every hour. In many instances, these deadly poisons are deployed on public lands.
But these poisons don't just threaten their intended targets. They can also poison any threatened or endangered species, people or pets that happen to come into contact with them.
Sodium cyanide is used in M-44 trigger traps, which kill more than 10,000 animals each year, including domesticated dogs and a whole host of other non-target species including kit foxes, ringtails, javelinas, and swift foxes. M-44s have also killed California condors and wolves.
Compound 1080 is classified as a chemical weapon in several countries. It is deployed in poison collars placed on sheep and goats and is highly toxic to birds and mammals. Carcasses with Compound 1080 must be handled as hazardous waste and, if ingested, can kill wolves and other animals. Compound 1080 has even been used to illegally kill wolves and people's pets.
The continued availability of these poisons poses a threat to people, pets and homeland security. Government reports have concluded that Wildlife Services has been unable to account for stockpiles of the toxins, which leaves the hazardous materials vulnerable to undetected theft and unauthorized use.
There are effective alternatives to these poisons, including a wide range of proactive, nonlethal methods for protecting livestock such as fencing, guard animals, fladry, non-lethal ammunition and improved animal husbandry.
For the safety of our people, our pets and our wildlife, I strongly urge you to ban the use of sodium cyanide and Compound 1080."
You can visit the Defenders of Wildlife website to learn more about this situation and how you can participate in voicing concern of the use of these poisons.
Yin-Yang news about biodiversity: the United Nation's Convention on Biological Diversity recently released its third Global Biodiveristy Outlook report and the results were not good. Eight years ago, targets were set to improve both plant and animal biodiversity and not only were those targets not met, but the report determined that the rate of extinction of plant and animal life is happening 1000 times faster than expected.
The report examines global biodiversity which includes ecosystems such as coral reefs, tropical rainforests, and other ecosystems in addition to specific threatened plant and animal life.
But on a more positive note and speaking of threatened animal life, a recent field study of tigers in the Kaziranga National park in northeast India revealed the largest concentration of these highly endangered cats. Using camera traps, the study, conducted in the first quarter of 2009, photographed tigers at a rate of 32 per 100 sq. km - that's compared to the rate of 3-12 tigers found throughout India's reserve parks and nearly twice that of the previous record of 19.6 tigers found in another reserve.
The success of the tiger population in this one reserve is being attributed to the reserve's grassland features and available food sources like deer and wild boar. Hopefully, the reserve's ability to resist poaching is also playing a role. Unfortunately, tigers are illegally hunted for their hides and, in particular, for their genitals - a homeopathic freeze-dried aphrodisiac that commands a high price in many Asian countries.
Read about the biodiversity report in the Guardian.co.uk. Read about the tiger study (with pictures) in the BBC Earth News.
If you do not currently subscribe to the National Geographic magazine or peruse it's web site, here's a good reason to: the January, 2010 issue has an excellent, informative, but ultimately disturbing article written by Bryan Christy about the wildlife trade - both legal and illegal - in Asia.
Christy details the rise and ongoing operation of one of Asia's most successful and notorious wildlife dealers and his operation that entails collusion - or at least a blind indifference - from government officials. We're talking about the very people who are expected to enforce the laws and regulations to curtail the illegal activities of the very same wildlife dealers.
And the illegal wildlife trade also exists supported by a complex structure of fronts and third-parties including zoos or animal parks and captive breeding facilities - all used to deter suspicion while endangered or highly regulated flora and fauna are smuggled through, sometimes with documentation to support their supposed "legal" status.
But the corruption and demand for exotic wildlife based on centuries-old beliefs in homeopathic medicine that pervades these poor or developing countries is not the only issue. Market demand in the legal wildlife trade for life animals and animal parts is certainly fueled by Asian customers and but also by the biggest customer of all: the United States.
Sadly, Asia's wildlife trade is big business: over 13 million live animals were legally exported from Southeast Asia from 2000 through 2007, over 30 million animal parts (dead stony corals and reptile skins are prime examples). The scope of legal trade in wildlife is disconcerting enough - and actually greater than the illegal trade - but endangered species command such high prices on the black market that the illegal trade remains a highly profitable activity.
Kudos to National Geographic - an organization not only dedicated to wildlife preservation but one that must regularly deal with many of the agencies under suspicion - for tackling this subject head-on.
On a lighter note, the same January issue has a great photo article about anemonefish, also known as clownfish, or "Nemo, Nemo!" if you have small children. Accompanied by striking images from Nat Geo's resident underwater photographer, David Doubilet, James Prosek writes about the symbiotic relationship these colorful reef dwellers have with their anemone hosts and their current status in the wild and as a popular home aquarium fish.
If you want to learn more abut the legal and illegal trade in exotic or endangered wildlife, visit these web sites:
It has been some time since I posted any news updates on Tigers. These beautiful cats are emblematic of the problem of poaching and the illegal trade in endangered species. While their habitat has been encroached upon through development or deforestation, illegal hunting seems to be the biggest threat to their existence. And the scarcer they become, the more valuable and tempting they are to the poacher.
Their current numbers across their entire range from Nepal to Malaysia is estimated at only 3,000. By contrast, in the 1950s there were 3,000 in the Malaysian Peninsula alone (a population that has now been reduced to around 500). While a complete tiger skin has value in the black market, of particular value are the male genitalia - freeze-dried and sold as an aphrodisiac in Asian markets.
Organizations like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and WildAid put a lot of their resources towards working with governments to clamp down on poaching and the illegal trade. Here is a video of a recent rescue in Malaysia of a young tiger caught in a poacher's wire snare. The tiger is being cared for at the local zoo and veterinarians hopefully will be able to save its leg. Read more.
This is an issue that requires action on a governmental and international level for more resources and better enforcement. Recently, over 250 scientists, experts, and government delegates convened in Nepal to discuss the situation and make recommendations. The Kathmandu Global Tiger Workshop cited the need for greater protection, support of a tiger resolution with CITES, and a review of development projects that could impact the tiger's habitat.
“These are a good start but the momentum from Kathmandu needs to be carried forward all the way to the Tiger Summit during the Year of the Tiger 2010 and beyond,” said Mike Baltzer, head of WWF’s Tiger Initiative. “The tiger range countries are clearly committed to saving their wild tigers and the world needs to extend unstinting support to this mission because once tigers are gone, they’re gone forever.”Excerpt from a WWF press release.
Most of you are probably not shopping for a tiger skin rug or some frozen tiger penis to spark up your romance. What you can do is support the efforts of groups like World Wildlife Fund or WildAid who are keeping the issue alive with governments and international organizations while also addressing the issue with local citizenry and the populations where the demand for ancient homeopathic medicines still flourish.
What you see in the picture above are not wild cats in a cage, but the severed heads or pelts of cheetahs, ocelots and other rare and endangered cats - all confiscated and in storage in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' main storage facility in Colorado. It is a sobering place, a bold reminder of man's greed and perverted sense of dominion over animals - perverted because as we threatened our natural resources, we threaten ourselves.
The worldwide trade in exotic and endangered animals is as important an issue as global warming or pollution/commercial development as to its worldwide impact on species. In 1973, the U.S. Endangered Species Act was passed and two years later the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was ratified but while these laws and governing bodies have done much to regulate, enforce, and protect endangered species, the slaughter continues.
And why? Well, the dilemma with many endangered species is that, to the poacher, the value increases as the more endangered it becomes and in impoverished areas where much of the illegal poaching takes place, the temptation to put food on their table is too great.
Terry Grosz, former regional director of enforcement for the Fish and Wildlife Service explains, "Given the poverty and corruption that exist in other parts of the world, there will always be pressure to resort to the illegal wildlife trade. People have to eat. When people are hungry, this is what they do."
But what supports the market for these products? There is a market based on greed and status. Do we really need a tiger head or a set of white shark jaws above our mantle? Or a stuffed gorilla hand to use as an ashtray? Or how about a caiman, standing on hind legs and holding a silver tray like some reptilian butler? Man's superiority? Only in his capacity for evil.
Another pervasive motivation that drives the market is the cultural history in ancient homeopathic medicine. Rhino horns, tiger penis (freeze-dried for your convenience), black bear gallbladder bile, and many more - all for everything from libido to hangovers and more, and at times more challenging to address than the status souvenir buyer.
But it must be addressed. Scientists have been making estimates of as much 15% to over 30% of the planet's animal and plant species could be bound for extinction by 2050. Naturalist E.O. Wilson says we may be heading to a new epoch - the current Age of Mammals, or Cenozoic Period, would be followed by the Eremozoic Period, a Greek prefix denoting loneliness.
Support organizations that are working towards curtailing the illegal killing and trading of exotic and endangered animals: CITES, WildAid, Center for Biological Diversity, and there's many more. They need your help . . . and so do the plants and animals of Earth.
"Wildlife dies without a sound," says Grosz. "We're the only guys who can give them a voice." Join them.
In the U.S., outgoing administrations participate in a time-honored tradition of last minute skulduggery that has ranged from taking the White House linen and gluing the computer keys to issuing executive pardons and orders or rulings of dubious merit - Democrats and Republicans alike have been guilty.
Questionable orders can be overturned under the Congressional Review Act. However, the effectiveness of the act is hampered by the requirement that the order or regulation being overturned must be done in its entirety - and many bad rulings are attached to a good one, thereby providing a protective shield.
Whether you are an advocate or critic of the past administration, it can be a fair statement that its record on the environment has not been stellar. A concerted effort was made to avoid recognizing scientific advice and reports as required for determining species status under the Endangered Species Act if doing so would mean recognizing the existence of global warming (I have noted this in previous postings). In its closing days, the current administration has been generating a series of executive orders and/or rulings that roll back many environmental safeguards. Here are a few:
Federal agencies would no longer be required to have government scientists assess the impact on imperiled species before giving the go-ahead to logging, mining, drilling, or other development.
The rule would also prohibit federal agencies from taking climate change into account when weighing the impact of projects that increase greenhouse emissions.
Finalized a rule that allows the coal industry to dump waste from mountaintop mining into neighboring streams and valleys
A rule relaxes air pollution standards near national parks, allowing coal plants to be built next to many of our most spectacular vistas - a rule established over the objections of 9 out of 10 EPA regional administrators.
Opening up 2 million acres of mountainous lands in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming for mining oil shale, even though the technique consumes considerable water resources (and the administration has admitted it doesn't know if the technology is viable).
A new regulation will allow animal waste from factory farms to seep, unmonitored, into our waterways. The regulation leaves it up to the farms themselves to decide whether their pollution is dangerous enough to require them to apply for a permit.
A similar rule will exempt factory farms from reporting air pollution from animal waste.
In the chemical industries, more than 100 major polluters have been exempted from monitoring their lead emissions and a rule is proposed to allow industry to treat 3 billion pounds of hazardous waste as "recycling" each year.
Now it's true that environmental safeguards have always been costly to big business and impose hardships on their established revenue models. But in light of an overwhelming and growing body of evidence, to ignore them or worse, circumvent them, is the epitome of shortsighted thinking, oriented towards only short-term goals - something that we as humans have been notorious at doing.
For the incoming administration, it will be difficult enough dealing with the challenges of climate change/global warming and developing an effective long-term energy policy. But it will also have to deal with the many environmental land mines the current administration has left in its path.
Stepping on to dry land for a moment, there are other predators besides sharks that are being threatened. Tigers are certainly in that category - there are less than 5,000 tigers left in the wild. Much like the shark fishing/finning industry, there is a clandestine black market industry that feeds an Asian market for tiger parts - a market with a long cultural history, but one that can be changed with continued vigilance.
The future of the tiger rests in the efforts of governments to prohibit and enforce against illegal poaching, for international cooperation in curtailing illegal trafficking, and for conservation organizations to continue their efforts to educate the public to curtail demand. One of the great dilemmas faced by many endangered animals like tigers, mountain gorillas, and sharks is that as their numbers become more scarce their black market value increases, making the poacher more embolden and willing to defy the law.
WildAid is one of the leading organizations dedicated to ending the trade in endangered animals. They have an excellent video that covers the issue regarding tigers. Take a look.
Tigers, like sharks, are both beautiful predators and vital to the health of the ecosystems within which they live. Support WildAid's efforts to curb the tiger trade.
The plight of dolphins captured for aquariums or amusement parks has become a more visible issue ever since the academy award-winning film The Cove detailed the brutality involved in dolphin and whale captures in Japan. Orcas (killer whales) and the mental and physical impact of their living conditions in aquatic parks have become an issue following the unfortunate death of a Sea World orca trainer, drowned by a temperamental whale.
In the wild, dolphins have a life expectancy of 45 years, and they can swim 40-100 miles a day. They spend half their time hunting for food, which is important for their mental stimulation. 
