Lolita has lived in a tank for 45 years and hasn't seen another orca since 1980. Sign the petition to help free the world's lonliest orca:
http://thedo.do/lolita
Tuesday 10 November 2015
Meet Lolita, The World's Loneliest Orca
Lolita has lived in a tank for 45 years and hasn't seen another orca since 1980. Sign the petition to help free the world's lonliest orca:
http://thedo.do/lolita
Saturday 7 November 2015
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust: The death of Indonesia's rainforests
The world’s greatest environmental crime in history
is currently taking place. A great part of the earth is on fire and the
rainforests in Indonesia are being deliberately burned to the ground to clear
the forest for palm oil plantations. The world and the media have decided
to turn a blind eye to a crime that will have consequences for the whole world.
The Sumatran/Borneo rainforests are some of
the most diverse and ecologically important ecosystems on earth, home to many
critically endangered species such as the orangutan, the Asian elephant, the
sun bear, Sumatran tiger, clouded leopard and the Sumatran rhino (which now
number at less than 100). George Monboit states that the fires are destroying "treasures as precious
and irreplaceable as the archaeological remains which have been levelled
by ISIS". The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates
that 70 per cent of the anti-cancer plants identified so far are rainforest
plants. A new drug development possibly for treating HIV, is Calanolida A,
which is derived from a tree discovered on Borneo. It was only discovered in
1991. According to the United Nations, 25% of Western Medicine comes from
rainforest ingredients, yet scientists have tested less than 1% of tropical
plants. The rainforests in Borneo/Sumatra are potentially our largest and most
powerful chemical laboratories, if we destroy them it won’t be like mothballing
a factory, we simply will not be able to able to open them again. The
irreversibility of the destruction of the Indonesian rainforests is a
catastrophic loss to medical science.
(By 2022, Indonesia will lose 98% of all of its rainforest)
The orangutan, a fellow ape which we share 98% of
our DNA with, is also under a real threat of extinction. It is thought up
to a third of the world’s last remaining endangered orangutans have been
wiped out by the fires in the last few weeks. Before the fires there were only
6,000 orangutans left in the wild in Sumatra, thousands are now estimated to
have perished and burned alive in the fires. It could already be too
late for the orangutan.
It is
not only the environment that has been affected by the fires, humans are
suffering greatly too. The smog from the fires has engulfed the whole country
and as a result 500,000 people have developed respiratory problems, 100's
of people have died and over 75 million people (including millions of
children) are breathing in toxic fumes. Schools have been closed,
flights cancelled and a state of emergency called. In Palangkaraya, where the
air standard pollution index has reached 1900 (anything over 300 is considered
hazardous), scientists have recorded dangerous levels of carbon monoxide,
cyanide, ammonia, and formaldehyde in the air. The head of the BBC Indonesia,
Bec Henschke, in October described the fires as a "apocalyptic hellish
scene" and "even in the hotel which was air conditioned" she
would wake up in the night "having to breathe from oxygen in a can".
She notes that "the scale of the environmental devastation is just
unbelievable. I don't think I've ever felt so depressed about the world and
I've covered lots of sad things".
Why is
this happening?
Indonesia's
forests have been overly exploited over the last decade because of the huge demand
in palm oil. The forests are burned to the ground because it is 75% cheaper to
clear the rainforest that way than any other method. Palm oil is a vegetable
oil which is found in one in ten of our supermarket products, from crisps to shampoo
to chocolate. 50 million tons of palm oil is produced annually, supplying over
30% of the world’s vegetable oil production. According to Greenpeace, major
corporations such as Dove, KFC and Pepsi are among the worst offenders in
destroying virgin rainforest for palm oil. The WWF estimate that an area the
size of 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared each hour to make way for
palm oil production. New photos released today by Greenpeace show that
palm oil workers in Borneo are already planting burnt peatlands with palm oil seeds.
The fires in Indonesia highlight a planet which is
in real danger. Since 1970 the earth has lost 52% of all of its wildlife,
according to the United Nations three quarters of all fish stocks are now over-
depleted or exploited and we could see fishless oceans by 2042. The WWF's
Living Planet Report has noted that "people are now using about 25% more
natural resources than the planet can replace." If everyone in the
developed world lived like people in the UK, three planets would be needed to
support the earth. Our resource use has simply outstripped what the earth
had replenished.
(this baby elephant would not leave her
mother's side for over five hours after she was poached)
More than 100 world leaders will be meeting at the
United Nations Climate Change conference in December to try and reach a
ground-breaking deal on the climate. It is desperately needed as Dr
Canadell from the Global Carbon Project, has noted that the daily emissions
from the "Indonesian fires had been equal to the daily emissions of the
US, accelerating humanity's progress along the upward line of global emissions
by about one to two years". What has happened in Indonesia should never be
allowed to happen again, and provided we act now the IPCC has suggested that
there is still time to limit climate change.
To see the destruction of the earth in such a
callous and destructive manner is heart breaking. If the human species is to
rise to the full height that is demanded by its dignity and its intelligence
then we must act to save the planet now. It is clear that once we have
destroyed this planet we do not simply get another one.
Mahatma Ghandi once quoted "the
earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's
greed". Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last
wild animal killed, the last fish taken from the ocean, when all the air is
unsafe to breathe, will man realise that you cannot eat money. Simply
man has the power to turn the earth back into the earth again and the future survival of the planet now rests with us.
Please visit here to see how you can
help: http://www.internationalanimalrescue.org/orangutan-sanctuary
References:
-http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/climate-change/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElPu4CqfmTA
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33209548
http://orangutan.or.id/ponys-new-life-2/
http://orangutan.or.id/ponys-new-life-2/
Monday 5 October 2015
Meet Lolita, The World's Loneliest Orca
This is Lolita, she's lived in a confined tank for 45 years at the Miami Sea Aquarium and has not seen another orca since 1980.
She lives in the one of the smallest tanks in the world for a captive whale. Orca's are highly intelligent and social animals and in the wild she would swim up to 100 miles a day; however Lolita only has space less then 60 x 80 feet to live in. The confinement is apparently so stressful and abysmal that the only other orca at Miami Sea Aquarium, Hugo, years ago "repeatedly smashed his head into the walls of the tank and killed himself".
The orcas were stalked and herded into a three acre net by deafening explosions, speedboats, and airplanes. Alongside the captors, was a young marine mammal researcher Terry Newby. Dr. Newby notes that "confined and desperate the orcas looked for a way out" their "frantic cries reverberated over the cove and were heard for miles." Dr. Newby says that:
HE CAN STILL HEAR THEIR SCREAMS TODAY
Lolita was torn from her mother inside the pen using speedboats and nets. She was pulled closer and forced into a sling, never to return. The baby orcas were then sold around the world, including Sea World, to perform and die in tiny cement pools.
During the 15 years of capture in Washington and Columbia 257 to 307 whales were caught. 55 were transferred to aquariums, 12 or 13 died during capture operations. The rest died.
Lolita is the only Orca still alive from the capture; sadly she has spent the last 45 years of her life imprisoned in a pen performing every day for humans.
But Lolita's time enslaved is hopefully coming to an end. Her family, the Southern Resident Orca population has been classified as endangered and the government has agreed that Lolita should be included in her family's Endangered Species Act listing and receive the same protection from harm. This inclusion would open the door for her release from the Miami Sea Aquarium and return her to her home waters. Hopefully she can be free once again.
With your help, she can be released. Spread the word and sign the petition here:
https://www.change.org/p/free-lolita-help-this-wild-orca-trapped-in-a-tiny-concrete-tank-for-decades
An article by Harry Wright:
References:
http://www.seaworldofhurt.com/orca-capture/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dG1evYAGak
http://uk.whales.org/blog/2014/11/brief-history-of-southern-residents
http://www.orcanetwork.org/captivity/lolitacapture.html
Sunday 27 September 2015
The Bloody and Barbaric Truth of Rhino Poaching
South Africa is in the middle of a rhino poaching epidemic. Last year the country lost 1,215 rhino to poachers. This year already 756 rhinos have already been killed. At this pace, South Africa is losing more than one rhino every seven hours. 2015 is on track for a record year.
Rhino poaching is shockingly cruel and sadistic. This young female white rhino was poached in the Kruger National Park in 2013. When the rangers found her, she was still alive. The poacher’s bullets had ripped through her body breaking her back and leaving her unable to move or breathe properly. She was still conscious when the poachers hacked her horn out of her face.
Sadly, all Rhino species are now suffering a similar fate; according to the charity Save the Rhino if poaching continues to increase at current rates "rhino could be effectively extinct in the wild by 2026". That is in just over ten years time.
In the case of the Northern White Rhino, there are now only 4 left on the earth. In Kenya, 3 of the last 4 remaining are protected by drones and armed guard 24 hours a day.
The Javan Rhino is one of the world’s most critically endangered species with only a few dozen still in existence. The Sumatran Rhino which is the smallest and weirdest of the remaining rhino species (apparently it can meow like a cat) is also critically endangered, with around 80 animals left in the wild today. According to a new study, scientists actually now consider the Sumatran Rhino extinct in the wild.
You may ask why this happening?
The answer is human greed and ignorance.
Greed
Rhinos are killed by criminals for their horns. The horn, made of keratin (the same substance in our hair and nails), can sell for $35,000 per pound, on the black market in Asia. The demand makes rhino horn as much worth as cocaine or gold for traffickers. The illegal wildlife trade is now the fourth most profitable criminal activity in the world, after drug smuggling, financial counterfeiting and human trafficking.
The demand has created “highly profitable and organised international poaching criminal syndicates” that deploy advanced technologies “ranging from night vision scopes, silenced weapons, darting equipment and helicopters to carry out the missions”. Poaching techniques have become ever more sophisticated and harder to enforce. Rangers are losing the battle to save the Rhino.
(This man was jailed for forty years by a South African court for organising illegal rhino horn expeditions.)
Rhino poaching is also linked to terrorism. The trading of illegal ivory and rhino horn has gained the interest of Islamic fundamentalist groups in Sub Saharan Africa. The trading of these commodities has "subsided a significant proportion of their funds, allowing these military groups to cover a larger area, expand in manpower, arms and machinery and to execute increasingly devastating operations within the area".
Ignorance
Rhino horn has also been an important feature of Chinese pharmacopoeia for at least 2000 years, where it is thought to have medicinal powers. Although there is no scientific proof of its medical value, rhino horn is sought after for a variety of uses such as relieving signs and symptoms of infection, and increasing sexual performance.
There is also a huge lack of awareness about the crisis in Asia. In November 2012, WildAid, interviewed 963 residents in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to better understand awareness of rhino conservation status. Over 69.9% of participants did not know that horns came from poached rhinos and 47.3% thought that Rhino Horn improved sexual competence.
Overall, the battle to save the rhino from extinction is not currently being won. Poachers have become to sophisticated, governments to corrupt, individuals to greedy and rangers to underfunded. Unless something dramatically changes within the next ten years, the future for this magnificent species could be lost forever.
There is still hope but we need to act now. Unfortunately time is now running out for the entire rhino species.
This article is dedicated to ranger Agoyo Mbikoyo who was killed by poachers earlier this year in the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
For more information about how you can help stop the Rhino Poaching crisis please visit this site: http://savingthesurvivors.co.za/.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpuHXqb8gb4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdFtJbqvpJo
http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1707:elephants-and-rhinos-fund-terror-networks-illegal-poaching-in-sub-saharan-africa-funds-islamic-fundamentalism&catid=60:conflict-terrorism-discussion-papers&Itemid=265
http://www.livescience.com/51965-sumatran-rhino-extinct-in-malaysia.html
Sunday 6 September 2015
The Time to Act on the Planet is Now
The scale of this immense construction in Dubai is awe inspiring evidence of the power that we now have in our hands with which to transform the face of the earth.
When in prehistoric times these stones were first put up to build this temple in the West of England at Avebury, they too must have been an astonishment to the local people and an amazing demonstration of how clever, how powerful human beings have become. Yet that was less than five thousand years ago, a mere moment in the history of life.
In the brief period since then, men have gone on to learn how to build huge skyscrapers, how to mould animals and plants to suit their needs and how to transform whole landscapes. Immensely powerful though we are today, it is equally clear that we will be even more powerful tomorrow. Once more there will be greater need upon us to use our power as the number of human beings on earth increases still further. Clearly we could devastate the world.
If we are not to do so we must have a plan and just such a plan has been formulated by environmental scientists in 1980, they called it the World Conservation Strategy and it rests on three very simple propositions;
1) One, that we shouldn't so exploit natural resources that we destroy them. Common sense you might think and yet look at what we have done to the European Herring, the Javan tiger and are still doing to the last remaining rhino species.
2) Two, that we should not interfere with the basic processes of the earth on what all life depends; in the sky, on the green surface of the earth and in the sea and yet we go on pouring poisons into the sky, cutting down the tropical rainforests and dumping our rubbish into the oceans.
3) Third, that we preserve the diversity of life, that is not just because we depend on it for our food, though we do, nor that we still know so little about it that we do not know what we are losing. But it is surely that we have no moral right to destroy other living organisms of which we share the earth.
As far as we know the earth is one of the only places in the Universe where there is life. In the two hundred thousand years of man's existence the greatest threat to the survival of our species is happening now. The earth's continual survival now rests in our hands.
To find out more about how you can act on climate change please visit the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation page at http://leonardodicaprio.org/.
References:
https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/WCS-004.pdf
Sunday 2 August 2015
How the killing of Cecil has a more deeper meaning than the death of just "one lion".
Last week, Walter Palmer, the smiling rich American dentist, killed a protected lion in Zimbabwe sparking worldwide outrage. After luring Cecil out of his protected habitat, Walter shot the lion with his bow and arrow, then to his gratification, left him in agony for a further 40 hours before returning to finish him off with a gun shot to the head. Cecil was then beheaded and skinned, with his head taken back to Walter's house as a trophy.
Cecil was not just "any lion",
he was the head of a pride and one of Africa's most famous, that brought
in millions of pounds to Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park each year. Cecil, aged
13, wore a radio collar installed by researchers from Oxford University who
were studying his pride’s movements. This vital research is now severely
disrupted.
However, the killing of Cecil and the global
outrage that followed has a much deeper significance. It is not simply the
killing of one lion but instead symbolises the diminishment of the whole animal
kingdom and how mankind is degrading and destroying his own planet.
Cecil represented a species that is on the brink
of extinction. His death speaks of a trade in which thousands of wealthy white
Westerners travel to Africa to exploit and destroy its wildlife. Thousands
of lions are now being bred in farms to be later shot by trophy hunters in
a fenced park. The bones of the dead lions are then sold to China, where they
are used in traditional Chinese medicine. This demand has helped drive the
number of lions in the wild from 275,000 in 1980 to less than 20,000 today.
It is not only lions that are suffering. Since 1970 the earth has
lost 52% of all wildlife.
Elephants are also now under threat. We are now losing 100
elephants a day in Africa due to the ivory trade, equivalent to one
elephant being poached each 15 minutes. The numbers are truly
shocking. In the last three years alone we have lost nearly 100,000
elephants. The Tanzanian elephant population has declined by more than
60% in the last five years alone, with the forest elephant numbers in Africa
dropping by 65%. Fiona Maisels, a biologist with the Wildlife
Conservation Society, notes "by the time you eat breakfast, another
elephant has been slaughtered to produce trinkets for the ivory market." If
nothing is done to stop this, the elephant will disappear from the wild within
a decade.
The wild Rhino is also on the brink of extinction. There are now only four
(yes, four) Northern White Rhino left on earth and over 1,215
were poached last year. The horn – which is made of nothing more
exotic than keratin (the same substance as your fingernails) –
is then shipped to Asia, where it is believed it can cure cancer and increase
sexual gratification. The rhino's horn is often sawed off the animal while it
is still alive.
The palm oil industry is continuing to desecrate
Indonesia's rainforests and encroach on the only ecosystem in the world (the
Leuser ecosystem in Sumatra) where organutan, tiger, rhino and elephant cohabit.
Palm oil is a vegetable oil which is contained in one in ten of
our supermarket products; it is responsible for killing thousands of
orangutans each year, many of which are burnt alive. As a result of this
growing demand, Greenpeace have stated that Indonesia is set to lose 98%
of all its rainforests by 2022.
Tigers are also now critically endangered, with
only 3,500 left in the wild. Their numbers have dropped from 100,000 at the
beginning of the century. Tigers are poached for their body parts which are
used in traditional Chinese medicine. Like lions, tiger are also farmed in
China for their hides and bones which are used in wine. There are now more
tigers in Chinese tiger farms than exist in the wild in the rest of the world.
The sun bear is also a casualty of this
ruthless farming industry. With possibly less than a 1,000 remaining in
the wild, thousands of sun bears in China are farmed, muzzled and kept in
tiny cages where they are milked for the bile in their gall bladders, all
for useless “medicine” in the Asian market.
While all this is graphic and upsetting, it
represents the stark reality for many endangered species across the
globe. According to the WWF, the illegal wildlife trade is now worth more
than £12 billion pounds a year. Tragically, wildlife is now worth more dead
than alive.
However, it does not have to be this way.
Cecil does not have to die in vain. As a conservationist, I will continue to dedicate
my life to saving what we have left. But much more needs to be done: governments
need to take firmer action; education in Asia needs to be increased; and the
illegal wildlife trade stopped. Humanity needs to overcome greed, corruption
and ignorance to protect the vital ecosystems that we have left.
The earth, which has existed for 4.5 billion
years, is in danger of losing all of its nature – the precious fruit of
billions of years of evolution – within a matter of decades. When we reach that
point, I really hope we do not look back and simply say "we should have
done more".
In memory of Cecil, and the countless
unnamed
An article written by Harry Wright
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