News
The number of news found: 15.
02/25/2011 MAN RESCUE TANGLED ORCA
A juvenile orca that got tangled in cray pot ropes was "on its last legs" before being rescued off the coast of Kaikoura the day before yesterday. One of the rescue team, Ian Croucher, described an "amazing scene" when he and three Department of Conservation staff arrived at the point south of Kaikoura, near a landmark known as Barney's Rock, about 3 P.M.. As the rescuers arrived the whole pod disappeared, including the baby. Mr. Croucher, the owner of South Bay Fishing Charters, said the team had to search the area in his boat. When the floats of the cray pots appeared they managed to grab the ropes and pull them, with the juvenile orca, alongside the boat. As the baby orca came to the surface the rest of the pod lined up. DOC worker Dave Walford used a hook and knife system he designed and made to cut the ropes that had wound around the tail of the young orca a couple of times. "When it was released it, it gave a couple of kicks and shot the gap. It went away happily with the rest of the pod and they cruised off," Mr. Walford said.
02/23/2011 WWF CALLS FOR MORE INTENSIVE BEEF PRODUCTION IN BRAZIL?!
More intensive beef production can limit deforestation in Brazil where the space used to rear cattle is ten times what you see in other countries, according to WWF Brazil CEO Denise Hamu. "This doesn't mean we are going to put them in jail but it means we need to review our productivity parameters and how we can really get into the market without deforesting," she said. She said protecting against deforestation would only work if it was driven by consumers refusing to buy products that come from unknown sources.
02/21/2011 VICTORY IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN DAY FOR THE WHALES
It's official - the Japanese whaling fleet has called it quits in the Southern Ocean, at least for this season. And if they return next season, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will be ready to resume their efforts to obstruct and disable illegal Japanese whaling operations. The killing of whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is over for this season and the whalers did not even take 10% of their quota. Sea Shepherd estimates that over 900 whales have been saved this year.
02/17/2011 JAPAN BELIEVED TO BE QUITIING WHALING SEASON EARLY
Japan's whaling fleet is believed to be quitting the Antarctic under heavy conservationist and diplomatic pressure, just halfway through its worst season. The Japanese government has decided to cut short the season and the fleet is heading back to port, sources in Tokyo told the International Fund for Animal Welfare. The sudden departure has raised hopes Japan may be moving to end its widely opposed, 23-year-old "scientific research" program, which has killed about 10,000 Antarctic whales.
02/16/2011 U.S. SENATE TARGETS WOLVES
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has introduced a dangerous bill that would remove federal protections for all gray wolves in the U.S. - a move that would certainly doom the few remaining Mexican gray wolves struggling to survive in Arizona and New Mexico. But it isn't only the future of wolves at stake. Senator Hatch's bill permanently exempts a single species from the Endangered Species Act - setting a dangerous precedent for removing protections for some of our most vulnerable wildlife.
02/15/2011 SIXTY-FIVE ANIMALS FREEZE TO DEATH IN MEXICAN ZOO
The Chihuahua Zoo is located in northern Mexico in the state of Chihuahua, about an hour north of Chihuahua City in Aldama. A powerful cold front brought temperatures down to five degrees Fahrenheit. The zoo owner told CNN that a combination of factors led to the animals' deaths. The cold front was unexpected and the civil protection agency didn't alert the public. The freezing temperatures knocked out the electricity to the zoo and so night watchmen turned on the gas heaters without realizing that the gas lines had also frozen. Saturday morning they found that the population had been decimated, a tenth of the animal population frozen to death. One monkey, 44 birds, including peacocks and parrots, 12 snakes, three crocodiles and five iguanas were found dead in the zoo.
02/14/2011 JOHN BARTLETT WANTS TO BE A 100% VEGAN DESIGNER
For award-winning clothing designer John Bartlett, eating vegan isn't enough. He wants to design vegan, too. Bartlett said he will wait to present during Fashion Week until he's established alternatives to all animal-derived elements within his work. "Next time I show," Bartlett told Niteside, "I want to show a fully vegan collection. I want to make sure there's intention behind it. Over the past year, I have taken leather out of my collections, I will no longer [use] down and, hopefully by next fall, I will no longer [use] wool. I want to be a one-hundred-percent vegan designer."
02/12/2011 COMPASSIONATE VET REPRIMANDED FOR HAVING SAVED A DOG'S LIFE
A veterinary surgeon in Dresden went against the wishes of a woman who demanded him to kill her alsatian dog because she considered the necessary treatment after the dog's accident as too expensive. He did not comply but treated the animal instead and found a lovely, safe home for him. A happy end - at least for the dog, but unfortunately not for the man with the big heart! When the former owner found out that her dog was still alive, she went to court - to get him back!!! The public prosecutor took the reasonable decision of dismissing the case but amazingly it was the Tierärztekammer (Chamber of Veterinary Surgeons) Sachsen-Anhalt reprimanding a member for having done the right, compassionate and humane thing!
02/11/2011 SHOCKING TRUTH OF THE MONKEYS IN INDONESIA
Fear and pain etched across his face, a little monkey cries out as he grabs helplessly at a metal chain biting into his neck. As he lets out a high-pitched scream a gang of men force him to stand up straight, laughing as they tighten the chain. It is just one of a series of shocking images of the hell the monkeys endure in the slums of Jakarta in Indonesia, where they are forced to walk upright and wear costumes... all in the name of entertainment. A Sunday Mirror investigation discovered the monkeys are also made to wear masks, hats and glasses to catch the eye of passing tourists. If a visitor stops, the monkey is ordered by its owner to walk on his hands, sit on toy rocking horses or ride bicycles in the hope the tourist will hand over some loose change. Other creatures are forced to simply beg. On one Jakarta street a monkey was found wearing a doll's head mask, her suckling infant clinging to her as she begged for money at the side of a busy road.
02/10/2011 TWENTY-FIVE LIONS RESCUED FROM CIRCUS CAGES
Twenty-five rescued circus lions from all over Bolivia were gathered this week, in preparation for their trip to an animal rescue center in Colorado. Animal Defenders International worked with Bolivian authorities enforcing the country’s ban on the use of animals in circuses. The lions will be transported to The Wild Animal Sanctuary near Denver, CO, where they will have about 80 acres of open land to move around in. Preparations are being made to move the lions now. The lions’ new home in Colorado is already populated with 200 lions, tigers, bears, leopards, mountain lions, wolves and other large carnivores. The entire grounds is about 320 acres of undeveloped land.
02/09/2011 MAN KILLED BY ROOSTER AT COCKFIGHT
Details have been released on a bizarre death in Tulare County. A 35-year-old man was killed while attending an illegal cockfight near Earlimart. Investigators say Jose Luis Ochoa was cut by a razor attached to the rooster's leg. Lieutenant Rick Ko with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department showed CBS47 some of the weapons used in cockfighting. They are tiny razors attached to the rooster's leg that they use like knives during the fight. "We've seen people cut with minor cuts when they put on the knives... but nothing severe," said Ko. Tulare sheriff's deputies showed up to investigate the illegal activity and people scattered. At that time, one of the birds apparently jumped at Ochoa and the knife on its leg cut a major artery in the man's calf. He died at a hospital in Delano.
02/07/2011 NEW SEAL LEGISLATION AND LICENSING SYSTEM
Legislation comes into force on January 31 in Scotland that makes it an offence to kill any seal at any time, unless holding a specific licence or for animal welfare reasons to end suffering. In addition to outlawing unregulated seal shooting, the seal provisions under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 will also introduce a new licensing system and introduce a number of seal conservation areas around Scotland.
02/04/2011 CLIMATE TAX ON MEAT AND MILK RESULTS IN LESS GREENHOUSE GASES
A climate tax corresponding to €60/ton CO2eq on meat and milk could reduce greenhouse gas emissions from European agriculture by around seven per cent. If the land made available is used for bioenergy production, the decrease in emissions can be six times greater. This is shown by the researchers Kristina Mohlin, Stefan Wirsenius and Fredrik Hedenus, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in an article published in the scientific journal Climatic Change.
02/03/2011 GREEN PARTY IN CANADA DENOUNCES CHINA SEAL DEAL
The Green Party denounced the desperate and expensive efforts by the Canadian government to push Canadian seal products on China. In an attempt to open up a new market for products that most countries have already rejected, the Canadian government has announced a trade agreement with China that would see China temporarily lift an import ban on seal meat and oil.
02/01/2011 LIVE CATTLE EXPORT SPARKS OUTRAGE
A report on live cattle exports to Indonesia says animal welfare conditions are generally good, despite finding it takes four throat cuts to kill an animal, rather than the recommended one cut. The meat industry and the Australian Government released the report, prepared by four animal welfare experts including a slaughter expert from the United Kingdom. The report's conclusions have outraged the RSPCA, which it says shows a"multitude of horrors" in the Indonesian live cattle trade.
The number of news found: 15.
