Endangered Species
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Is Golf More Important to San Francisco Than Endangered Animals?
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Obama Admin Still Neglecting Endangered Species
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Agency's Disregard for Desert Species Ruled "Arbitrary and Capricious"
Updates on Wolves, Whales, and Dolphins: The Hunts Go On
Published September 10, 2009 @ 06:31AM PT
In Japan's village of Taiji, the rounding up of dolphins and shipping them to aquariums, to live the rest of their lives in unnatural, miserable captivity, has begun. The killing of pilot whales has begun. Whether and when the killing of dolphins right there in the cove will resume is yet to be seen. Read more here. (See last related post on this blog here.)
The district judge out in Montana who had the power to stop the wolf hunts underway in Idaho and set to begin next week in Montana passed up the chance: He acknowledged that environmental/wildlife groups may be right that the wolves shouldn't have been delisted, but has ruled that the hunts can go on while the painfully slow process of enviro/wildlife groups suing the government over the delisting continues. Read more here. (See last related posts on this blog here and here.)
Oh--and tens of millions of land animals will be killed for food today, 20,000 every minute, just in U.S. slaughterhouses alone, along with the killing of a mind-boggling number of aquatic animals. There's no failed injunction or grand-scale outrage or media frenzy to report on in relation to those equally tragic deaths because people aren't as horrified by the killing of pigs and cows as they are by the killing of dolphins or as disgusted by the terrorizing of chickens as they are by the hunting of wolves, so this isn't exactly news. But while we're noting the day's bad news for animals, it seems wrong to leave out the ones being killed so casually en masse, who are the same as dolphins and wolves in all the ways that matter.
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Photo of dolphin in Texas aquarium by Flickr user See1,Do1,Teach1
1 of Only 3 Wolf Pairs Killed in Oregon -- For Ranchers, For Us
Published September 08, 2009 @ 07:10AM PT
Some may remember a short post from May titled "Worst Case for Wolves -- And How You May Be Playing a Part." It concluded,
But while we're expressing our outrage at the citizens itching to pull the triggers and the politicians who are allowing it, let's not forget, friends--why is everyone so eager to shoot and kill wolves? For the benefit of ranchers -- and by extension, the benefit of those who eat and wear animals and what comes from them. The killing of wildlife, the further endangerment of endangered species, the destruction and pollution of habitat, the eating and wearing of animals (from the flesh of a cow to the wool of a sheep): it is all connected.
It's worth repeating now that the hunting of wolves is happening in Idaho, now that the hunting of wolves in Montana is just days away, and now that we have this news from the Center for Biological Diversity about the killing of a wolf pair in Oregon, courtesy of the USDA's Wildlife Services -- in a state where there were only three wolf pairs to begin with. The crime committed by these two wolves? Trying to survive, by killing the animals we wanted (but don't need) to kill for ourselves. They killed "livestock" three months ago. So they had to be gunned down. Not because they were doing something unnatural or evil, but because we set up shop in their habitat and because we want to kill and eat and wear sheep and lambs and cows.
All. Connected.
Further reading (off-site): The USDA's War on Wildlife
See also "Gov't Employees Kill Mountain Lions for Sport, Gov't Fires Whistleblower," related to the mass killing of wildlife by the government for animal agribusiness.
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Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Hunting of Wolves and the Fight to Stop It
Published September 02, 2009 @ 06:37AM PT
Hunting wolves hasn't been legal in the contiguous United States in decades. That changed yesterday, when it became legal to kill wolves in Idaho as a result of the wolves' inappropriate delisting. Organizations such as NRDC, Defenders of Wildlife, and Earthjustice are fighting to stop it--and to stop the hunting of wolves in Montana too as of September 15--but it's up to the court at this point. I appreciate the way a New York Times editorial opposing the hunt ended yesterday:
To us, the wolf hunt in Idaho and Montana seems indecent. Hunters want to kill wolves because wolves kill elk — and the human hunters want the elk. A second reason is a love of killing things. A third is an implacable, and unjustified, hostility to the wolf. It is well past time to let gray wolves find their own balance in the Rockies.
Precisely.
And for an insider's look at what's happening in the legal arena as nonprofits present their solid arguments and fight to stop the killings, see "Wolf Delisting Court Battle 2.0" from NRDC's Switchboard. Here is one frustrating (but telling) relay of information, from outside the courtroom:
Art for Endangered Species
Published August 10, 2009 @ 08:44PM PT
It's encouraging when people find creative ways to advocate for--and educate others about--animals. This week, I received a note from an artist named Molly Schafer about a project that she and fellow artist Jenny Kendler have newly undertaken on behalf of endangered species:
The Endangered Species Print Project (ESPP) offers limited-edition art prints of critically endangered species. The number of prints available corresponds with the remaining animal or plant populations. For example, only 30 Amur Leopards remain in the wild, so for this edition, only 30 prints will be made. All proceeds from ESPP are donated to conservation organizations; a different organization, whose mission is to the ensure the survival of the specie depicted, is chosen for each print.
Fascinating, right? The artists' site provides information about the animals depicted, and additional prints featuring different animals will be released monthly, including works by guest artists. So if you're interested in buying a print--or if you're an artist interested in getting involved--learn more here.
Pictured above is the project's print for the Seychelles sheath-tailed bat; only 37 of these bats remain.
The Navy versus the Whales (Again)
Published August 03, 2009 @ 05:30PM PT
From NRDC's Switchboard:
Today the Navy released its Record of Decision to begin construction of an undersea warfare training range right next to the only known calving grounds for the critically endangered right whale. Hunted nearly to extinction, North Atlantic right whales are one of the world's most endangered species, with only about 300 remaining. The North Atlantic right whale remains extremely vulnerable to the continuing threats posed by ship strikes, entanglement and ocean noise - a triple threat that will be exacerbated by the Navy's disastrous plan to build an undersea warfare training range adjacent to their last remaining calving grounds.
Once constructed, the proposed undersea warfare training range will be the site of intensive, year-round exercises employing the same kind of active sonar that has caused multiple marine mammal strandings leading to injury and death. It would effectively transform the waters off the Florida coast into an epicenter of sonar use.
Continue reading here.
"Guilt-Free" Sushi Doesn't Include Bits of Fish
Published July 29, 2009 @ 08:21AM PT
Apparently, between yesterday's post and this one, we have a theme going: foods that require the killing of animals are not greed- and guilt-free just because they don't require the killing or exploitation of some other animals. Yesterday, I wrote about the problem of referring to Fair Trade milk chocolate as free of "greed" and as a win for the "socially conscious" when dairy consumption and "production" involve some of the greediest, cruelest human acts. And today, I'm writing in response to a Christian Science Monitor article titled "Guilt-Free Sushi."
Obama's Nominee for FWS: No Friend to Endangered Species
Published July 07, 2009 @ 05:10AM PT
President Barack Obama continues to make some mind-boggling decisions with regard to animals--decisions we would have expected from Bush, but not from someone who promised us better. In this latest instance, Obama has nominated, to enforce the Endangered Species Act as head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sam Hamilton: the FWS official with "by far the weakest record on Endangered Species Act enforcement of any comparable official in the country," the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) reports.
