56 rare animals killed in the US

56 animals, escaped from a private zoo in Ohio, were killed by the local police force. The deaths include: 17 lions, 18 rare Bengal tigers, grizzly bears, black bears and wolves. Shocking

Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15364027

How one company may destroy the entire marine eco-system

The below article is reblogged from Grist.org

There are too many similar cases that normal people, you and me, are not aware of. Thank you Grist for raising awareness on this issue.

Omega Protein, Inc. (a company you've never heard of) is quickly overfishing the Atlantic menhaden (a species you've never heard of). As a result, a number of fish that you have heard of -- striped bass, bluefish, tuna, dolphin, seatrout, and mackerel -- as well as the ocean ecosystem as a whole, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Long Island Sound (which you’ve heard of) are suffering.

Menhaden are tiny, bony, oily fish that humans can't eat, but which, according to marine scientists, are "the most important fish in the sea." Menhaden are the main consumers of phytoplankton, and without them, areas like the Chesapeake Bay and Long Island Sound are clogged with algae. They are also a staple food for bigger, tastier fish, who, deprived of menhaden, are growing sad and malnourished.

In the past 25 years, the menhaden population has shrunk from 160 billion to about 20 billion, Alison Fairbrother and Randy Fertel report for Gilt Taste. (If you haven't heard of THAT, it's Ruth Reichl's post-Gourmet project.) This despite the fact that at this point, only one state -- Virginia -- allows menhaden fishing. And in Virginia, only one company -- Omega Protein -- is responsible for "menhaden reduction" -- cooking, grinding up, and selling the fish once they've been extracted from the ocean. The reduction goes into products like livestock feed, pet food, oils for cosmetics, and those disgusting fish oil supplements someone convinced us we should all take in order to get enough Omega-3.

If you're disturbed and worried by this whole situation, too f*cking bad. Gov. Bob McDonnell isn't (Omega Protein has given his campaigns more than $55,000), and he has made it known that he'll veto any bill that protects the fish.

Polar Bear and cub comes out of hibernation in the middle of an oil field

Sad image that this story gives of the great Alaskan wilderness. This mother polar bear and cub are caught on camera coming out of their hibernation den, to find that the desert island had become an oil rig construction site.

How much more of nature will we destroy? especially for oil!

'How humans run the Earth' - Infographic

Below is an infographic provided by upack.com, that depicts the rate at which human population grows and what impact/consequences it has on our planet.

Humans are already overpopulating this world and unless we ALL learn how to live in a more sustainable way, we stand no chance in the next century or so (and are likely to end up like the Rapa Nui people from the Easter Islands). The facts and stats below speak for themselves.

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'Traditional' Turtle slaughter in Australia

Many sea turtle species, along with the rare Dugong, are becoming more and more threatened by human activity and see their populations decline at an alarming rate.

The Queensland's Animal Care and Protection Act is meant to protect these animals.
However, in the name of the 'politically correct' and tradition, exceptions are allowed for some aboriginal communities in the North of Queensland.

These communities pull out these helpless animals onto the sandy beach. Still alive and once immobilized, the limbs are sliced off and the turtle is left to bleed to death. Eventually, the poor creature is beheaded.

These practices have no place to be in 2010. These communities should be told how to pursue some of their cruel traditions in a sustainable way (if any).
And like I read on another site, no one would even think about doing such thing to a cow.

Please be aware: Some of the footage below contains graphic content.

In the meantime, on the other side of the world...

More information on Turtle & Dugong slaughter

The Death of the Oceans? - BBC Documentary with David Attenborough

For those who follow me on Twitter, I sent a message calling for my Australian followers to watch a BBC documentary entitled "The Death of the Oceans?". This great documentary highlights the beauty of our oceans and what lives in there, as well as the terrible impact of human activities such as climate change, pollution and overfishing.

Sir David Attenborough reveals the findings of one of the most ambitious scientific studies of our time - an investigation into what is happening to our oceans. He looks at whether it is too late to save their remarkable biodiversity.
Horizon travels from the cold waters of the North Atlantic to the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef to meet the scientists who are transforming our understanding of this unique habitat. Attenborough explores some of the ways in which we are affecting marine life - from over-fishing to the acidification of sea water.
The film also uncovers the disturbing story of how shipping noise is deafening whales and dolphins, affecting their survival in the future.

BBC

For those who haven't seen it yet, you can watch it below (or you can watch it again if you haven't already).
And don't forget to share this around!









The video is also available in high definition here.

No more fish in the Seas [Infographic]

I stumbled across the infographic below which depicts the evolution of fishstocks for some of the main species victims of overfishing. I personally wonder how this same graph would look like if bluefin tuna and shark populations were represented.

Transcript of the text on the infographic:

People eat a lot of fish. In fact, per capita fish consumption has nearly doubled in the last 50 years. The problem is that they may not be anymore fish if we keep catching and consuming them at this rate. To calculate how many fish are left in the ocean, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations measures how many of each species were caught each year. Assuming that fishermen are catching as many fish as possible (and they usually are), the logic goes that fluxuations in the number of fish caught gives a fairly good indication of fluxuations in fish populations. Here is a look at how some of our most popular fish are doing.

Click on the picture for full size view

Source: "No More Fish in the Sea"

Whale hunting season is starting, again

Japanese whaling fleet

Whale slaughter is season is back for the Japanese "Research" vessels. This year, they've been granted the licence to kill another 900 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpback whales in the Southern Ocean.

The IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) has staged a simple yet marking show in Sydney's Darling Harbour, asking viewers to help stop the slaughter of the world's whales. If you want to help as well, please text SAVE to +61 488 771 771.

Top 6 reasons to leave the Arctic alone!

Along with global warming comes the melting of the polar ice cap. Nothing talks more than hard figures: Over 40% of the ice cap has melted away in 30 years!


As the Arctic sea opens up,we humans begin to pay a lot of attention to this once peaceful part of the world, leading to new issues and challenges. Below are some of the top reasons why we should leave this part of the world as it is: untouched.

1. Less ice = Great reduction of the inhabitat of many wild endangered or soon-to-be endangered species including Polar Bears, Harp Seals, Northern Fur Seals, Walruses and many more.
2. Interest in the North Pole raises tensions between countries in redefining borders: Norway vs. Russia vs. USA vs. Canada vs etc.
3. Expansion of commercial fishing areas. After overfishing in all seas, wouldn't it be great to create an arctic marine park? (by this I mean a "human-free" environment).
4. New commercial routes between Asia and Europe/USA, opening the area to thousands of ships per year. As we know, an increased traffic would lead to increased pollution and disturbance to local animals.
5. Lastly, new gas and oil drillings! 22% of global oil reserves are located in the Arctic according to the USGS. With all surrounding countries claiming as much territorial area as possible, there is no doubt that a race to discover and extract gas/oil has begun.
6. With oil spills ruining our world every few year, imagine what we would do if a major oil spill occurs in the Arctic just as it happened with DeepSea Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico? In such remote location difficult weather conditions, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to stop a leak and clean up the mess. Imagine the oil spills travelling under the ice...

Sources
Arctic route map by Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Arctic oil rig photograph by Richard Olsenius/NGS
Polar ice cap graph

Murdered Albatros on Midway Islands: Direct consequence of human mass consumption

One of my first articles on this blog was about the world's biggest garbage dump: the Pacific Ocean. Located thousands of kilometers away from all land, floating garbage is brought to one specific area by maritime currents. This plastic waste, result of human activity, piles up in the ocean until there is more garbage than actual life (plancton or fish). The plastic is photodegradable, which means the sun rays breaks it down into smaller pieces. Every form of life present there inevitably nurrishes on plastic and ends up killing the animal.

The Midway Islands are located in the middle of the Pacific. Made popular during the Second World war when the US Navy clashed with the Japanese naval army. The Midway Islands are now a beautiful sanctuary for many wild species. Unfortunately, the Pacific garbage patch is located nearby and affects many local species of animals, including birds. Chris Jordan, an American photographer, went there to photograph the consequences of American and Asian mass consumption on remote island creatures.

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Pictures & Information of the Great Barrier Reef Damage

While the Sheng Neng 1 has been refloated and transferred to another island, an inspection team from GBRMPA and the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management have undertaken observations of the damage caused by the carrier ship. A 20 to 30 meters wide scar stretches for approximately 100 meters. Yes! That's 3,000 square meters of damaged corals and marine life that could take up to 30 years to grow back. We will soon know exactly how much damaged has been done as a ship equipped with high tech sonars and cameras is on its way to the reef.
As it stands now, it seems like oil is starting to wash up on a few surrounding islands where baby turtles usually hatch and seabirds nest. Other reports mention the hulk paint scratched off on the seabed killing corals. This paint contains toxic chemicals such as heavy metals and herbicides which aren't good for marine life for obvious reasons.

I have enclosed more information about the damage at the bottom of this post. Don't hesitate to scroll down after the images.

These photographs of the bulk carrier Shen Neng 1 were taken by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

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"The End of the Line" documentary film trailer

Here is another very interesting documentary I forgot to mention on my 5 must-see recent documentaries article. The End of the Line deals with another serious issue affecting our oceans and that we are directly responsible of: Over fishing.

We humans are fishing more than we need, and more than we should be. The few existing quotas are not always respected and species have nowhere to hide in order to regenerate.

Our behavior will lead to a scarcity of existing fish stocks and the disappearance of endangered species, but also the rise of health issues and danger for populations relying solely on fishing to feed.

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Five Recent & Must-See Documentaries

Many people would rather watch a good old Hollywood action movie on a Saturday night. But if you have some time to kill, there are many great documentaries out there that are definitely worth seeing. Advanced filming equipment and methods bring us never-seen-before quality footage making documentary films an entertaining way raising awareness on various issues. Here are several movie trailers that fall in the "must watch" category. If you like trailer, rent/buy the whole movie! Also, please spread the word by sharing this page with your friends and family!

Sharkwater (2006)

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Deforestation amongst the "hidden" causes of global warming.

I came across this interesting news report on France24 regarding one of the "hidden" causes of global warming. Obviously we all knew deforestation was not a good thing, but the relation and impact of deforestation on climate change was slightly more subtle. According to the documentary, deforestation produce between 25 and 30% of the greenhouse gases released each year in the atmosphere. What's even more alarming, is that poor developing countries rely hugely on deforestation for many reasons: clearing fields for agriculture, producing and selling charcoal, etc. We need to help these countries develop sustainable yet growing economies. An example of what could be done is the result of SM Raju's project in India, that offers tree-planting jobs to thousands of families.

It is said that forests around the world disappear at a shocking rate of 2.4 acres, e-v-e-r-y single second. That's the equivalent of two football fields in size every second, or 172,800 footaball fields a day... What will happen when all major forests are gone?