By Bob Weber10 December 2014 (The Canadian Press) – Recently released documents indicate the federal government has reservations about restricting international trade in endangered species — more of them than almost any other government on Earth. The papers show that Canada has opted out of nearly every resolution to protect endangered species taken at last […]
By Louise Dewast3 December 2014 LONDON (ABC News) — Giraffe numbers are dwindling across Africa because of poaching and habitat loss caused by human population growth, according to wildlife experts, and it’s happening largely unnoticed. “It’s a silent extinction,” Dr. Julian Fennessy, Executive Director of the Namibian-based Giraffe Conservation Research group and a leading wildlife […]
By Ben Guarino 26 November 2014 (The Dodo) – The bodies of more than 1,000 rare sea turtles, collectively weighing nearly 3,000 pounds, were recently seized by Vietnamese officials in a warehouse raid. Conservationists have fingered Vietnam as a hotbed of illegal wildlife trade — a 2006 National Geographic article labeled the country Asia’s illegal […]
By Jeremy Hance24 November 2014 (mongabay.com) – South Africa has surpassed last year’s grisly record for slaughtered rhinos—1,004—more than a month before the year ends. In an announcement on November 20th, the South African Department of Environmental Affairs said that 1,020 rhinos had been killed to date. Rhinos are butchered for their horns, which are […]
17 November 2014 (IUCN) – Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Chinese Pufferfish, American Eel, Chinese Cobra, and an Australian butterfly are threatened with extinction. Fishing, logging, mining, agriculture and other activities to satisfy our growing appetite for resources are threatening the survival of the Pacific Bluefin Tuna, Chinese Pufferfish, American Eel and Chinese Cobra, while the destruction […]
By Joaquim Moreira Salles 10 November 2014 (Climate Progress) – The Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) has extended protections to scores of migratory birds, fish and mammals. Over 100 countries came together in Quito, Ecuador for a week […]
By Michael Casey 17 November 2014 (CBS News) – The never-ending demand for Pacific bluefin tuna among sushi lovers is driving the iconic fish towards extinction, a conservation group said. The Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded the status of the tuna from “least concern” to “vulnerable,” which means it is now […]
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer17 November 2014 WASHINGTON (Associated Press) – A key polar bear population fell nearly by half in the past decade, a new U.S.-Canada study [pdf] found, with scientists seeing a dramatic increase in young cubs starving and dying. Researchers chiefly blame shrinking sea ice from global warming. Scientists from the […]
By Terrie M. Williams6 November 2014 (Los Angeles Times) — As I rubbed the frostbite out of my hands on returning from a seal survey on Antarctic ice recently, I was informed that I had the dubious distinction of making the Top 5 in the 2014 list of wasteful scientists compiled by Sen. Tom Coburn […]
By Pat Dickens 5 November 2014 (Wild News) – Since 1976, the Ebola virus has caused some lethal human epidemics in Central Africa. Unfounded fears that the pandemic is spread across the entire continent of Africa is having a disastrous effect on its wildlife. Safari tourism has all but crashed. Camps are standing empty and […]