African lions are to be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, five months after a famous lion named Cecil was killed in Zimbabwe by an American dentist.

 

African lions to join the endangered species list: Five months after Cecil was slain, the animals are to be given special protection

• Lions in central and west Africa will be listed as endangered
• While lions found across south and east Africa will be listed as threatened
• It is hoped the move will make it harder for hunters to bring 'trophies' to US
• Fish and Wildlife Service said its move is not the result of Cecil outcry 

By Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline

Published: 07:14 EST, 21 December 2015 | Updated: 08:03 EST, 21 December 2015 

 

African lions are to be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, just five months after a famous lion named Cecil was killed in Zimbabwe by an American dentist.

It is hoped the move will better regulate hunting and make it trickier for hunters to bring lion trophies into the US.

Lions in central and west Africa will be listed as endangered, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, while a second subspecies found across southern and eastern Africa will be listed as threatened.

African lions are to be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, five months after a famous lion named Cecil (pictured) was killed in Zimbabwe by an American dentist. Lions in central and west Africa will be listed as endangered while a second subspecies in southern and eastern Africa will be listed as threatened

Both changes will make it harder for hunters to import lion parts.

In particular, importing skins and trophies from countries where the animals are endangered will be 'generally prohibited,' the agency told The New York Times.

The order states the Fish and Wildlife Service will deny a permit to import a sport-hunted lion to anyone who has been convicted or pleaded guilty to violating federal or state wildlife laws.

If this rule had been implemented sooner, it could have potentially prevented the death of Cecil.

In 2008, Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who shot the lion with a bow and arrow earlier this year, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Fish and Wildlife Service about a black bear fatally shot in western Wisconsin outside an authorised hunting zone.

Under the changes, this would have prevented him getting a permit to travel to Africa and hunt Cecil.

The order states the Fish and Wildlife Service will deny a permit to import a sport-hunted lion to anyone who has been convicted or pleaded guilty to violating federal or state wildlife laws. The move has been made in response to a large decline in the numbers of lions in Africa, rather than in direct response to Cecil's demise

The move has been made in response to a large decline in the numbers of lions in Africa over the past two decades, rather than in direct response to Cecil's demise.

But some claim the creature's very public death was the driving force for many such changes.

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Ringling Bros., has revealed that it will be removing Asian elephants from its act in an effort to help protect an endangered species

Victory! Ringling Bros. To Stop Using Elephants In Their Circus

November 24, 2015 by Amanda Froelich

 via

True Activist Exposing the truth one lie at a time

Thirteen Asian elephants will continue to tour with the company before retiring to Ringling's Center for Elephant Conservation in Florida by 2018.

Credit: wsj.com

 

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Animals belong in the wild, not captivity. This is a message being heard loud and clear this year, as  marine parks and zoos continue to receive flack from animal rights activists.  The efforts of outspoken activists have paid off, however. Increased concern over the treatment of SeaWorld’s orcas has forced the marine park to end its killer whale show. And now, the famous circus company, Ringling Bros., has revealed that it will be removing Asian elephants from its act in an effort to help protect an endangered species. BBC reports that Feld Entertainment, the parent company Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, told the media in March that it would begin phasing out elephants removing them completely from their shows by the year 2018.

 

At present, the circus has 13 elephants traveling with three different acts and plans to place those elephants at the conservation center in Florida by 2018. More than 40 elephants are presently cared for by the conservation center, the company said. According to multiple sources, the change was not spurred by animal rights activists, but instead the growing public concern about how the animals are treated. Either way, it’s a win being celebrated around the world.

“This is the most significant change we have made since we founded the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation in 1995,” Kenneth Feld, CEO of Feld Entertainment said in a statement. “When we did so, we knew we would play a critical role in saving the endangered Asian elephant for future generations, given how few Asian elephants are left in the wild.”

The circus will continue to tour with other animal performers, including tigers, lions, horses, dogs and camels. What are your thoughts on this news?

Comment below and share this article!

Japan to redesign Antarctic whale hunt after UN court ruling

by Staff Writers

Tokyo (AFP) April 18, 2014

Japan said Friday it would redesign its controversial Antarctic whaling mission in a bid to make it more scientific, after a United Nations court ruled it was a commercial hunt masquerading as research.
The bullish response, which could see harpoon ships back in the Southern Ocean next year, sets Tokyo back on a collision course with environmentalists.
Campaigners had hailed the decision by the International Court of Justice, with hopes that it might herald the end of a practice they view as barbaric.
"We will carry out extensive studies in cooperation with ministries concerned to submit a new research programme by this autumn to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), reflecting the criteria laid out in the verdict," said Yoshimasa Hayashi, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
Japan, a member of the IWC, has hunted whales under a loophole allowing for lethal research. It has always maintained that it was intending to prove the whale population was large enough to sustain commercial hunting.
But it never hid the fact that the by-product of whale meat made its way onto menus.
"The verdict confirmed that the (IWC moratorium) is partly aimed at sustainable use of whale resources.
"Following this, our country will firmly maintain its basic policy of conducting whaling for research, on the basis of international law and scientific foundations, to collect scientific data necessary for the regulation of whale resources, and aim for resumption of commercial whaling."
Hayashi, who had met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier in the day, confirmed a previous announcement that the 2014-15 hunt in the Southern Ocean would not go ahead.
Last month's court ruling does not apply to Japan's two other whaling programmes: a "research" hunt in coastal waters and in the northwestern Pacific, and a much smaller programme that operates along the coast, which is not subject to the international ban.

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SBS News

Japanese officials dine on whale in protest against court ruling

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  (AP)

   

Hundreds of Japanese officials and pro-whaling lobbyists have eaten whale in defiance of a international court ruling that ordered the country to stop its Antarctic whaling program.

By

SBS with AAP

UPDATED 2:05 PM - 16 Apr 2014

The 26th whale meat tasting event in Tokyo was hosted near the nation's parliament and was attended by lawmakers, officials and pro-whaling lobbyists.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told attendees that the country must protect its whale-eating culture.
"[Japan] has a policy of harvesting and sustainably using the protein source from the ocean, and that is unshakable," Associated Press quoted Mr Hayashi as saying.
Meanwhile, a lower house MP criticised the arguments against whaling as emotional and not based on reason.
"Japan’s whaling is based on scientific reasons, while counterarguments by anti-whaling groups are emotional, saying they are against the hunts because whales are cute or smart," the Japan Times reported Shunichi Suzuki of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as saying.

Read More Here

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Japan 'will continue whaling in Pacific'

Updated: 15:21, Friday April 18, 2014

Japan has decided to continue its whaling program in the Pacific Ocean, reports say, despite losing a United Nations court case on its other "research" hunt in the Antarctic.
If confirmed, the move will likely spark anger among environmentalists who hailed a ruling in March by the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Tokyo's hunt in the Southern Ocean was a commercial activity disguised as science.
Japan has exploited a loophole in a 1986 moratorium that allowed it to conduct lethal research on the mammals, but has openly admitted their meat makes its way onto dinner tables.
Campaigners urged Tokyo to follow the spirit of the ruling, and not just its letter, which specifically referred to Japan's hunt in the Antarctic, not its other research scheme in the northwest Pacific or its smaller coastal program.
But after the ICJ verdict, a government review has said the Pacific hunt should press ahead, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News Agency reported on Friday.
The review suggests the Pacific mission should reduce its catch and focus more on carrying out research that does not involve catching whales.
A spokesman for the fisheries agency said he was unable to comment.

Read More Here
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Eight days of patience in the bitter cold rewarded photographer waiting for a peek at polar bear cub and it's momma

Peek-a-boo: Beautiful moment polar bear and her cub poke their heads out of their den after 8 days

• Wildlife photographer Christine Haines captured the images after she spent eight days watching the den

• Patience in the cold was rewarded as cub then mother peeked heads out of the hole in the Wapusk National Park

• She said cub poked its head out of den for the first time on day seven, while they finally left the den three days later

By James Rush

Published: 09:58 EST, 4 April 2014 | Updated: 12:05 EST, 4 April 2014

Emerging from its den with its mother, a polar bear cub raises its head above the snow and looks out at the freezing world it calls home.
Wildlife photographer Christine Haines captured the images after she spent eight days watching the den.
Her patience in the biting cold of the Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, Canada, was rewarded when she managed to capture pictures of first a cub, then its mother peeking out of their hole.

Above the snow: A polar bear mother lifts her head above the snow after caring for her cub in their den

Sniffing for danger: The cub's mother also poked her head out of the den before sniffing the air to check for any danger, such as wolves

Peek-a-boo! A polar bear cub pokes its head out of its den after a photographer spent eight days waiting at the Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, Canada

Read More and view Additional Photos Here

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French Vet Sets Sights on Wildlife Conservation

VOA News

FILE - A Cheetah cub is examined by veterinary staff during a health check in its enclosure at Chester Zoo in northern England, July 31, 2013.

Lisa Bryant

February 23, 2014 

PARIS — Poaching, deforestation, human settlement and scarce prey are among the threats facing some of the planet's most iconic wild animals, from elephants and rhinos to lions and cheetahs. There are no easy solutions to save threatened species, but a group of veterinarians may be helping to boost their chances of survival.

The two-day old kitten Dr. Jean-Yves Routier is examining has a big bandage wrapped around its middle. It was injured at birth, but it will survive.

The fate is less certain for some of the bigger cats the French veterinarian treats. When he is not at his clinic in the Paris suburb of Noisy le Grand, Routier is in Africa. He uses groundbreaking reproductive techniques to boost the numbers of cheetahs, lions and other game animals - and to diversify their gene pool.

The challenge, Routier said, is how to manage what he calls micro-populations - small populations of wild animals that are threatened, some to the verge of extinction. Zoos use artificial insemination and other techniques to induce pregnancy in captive animals. But that, he says, it does not save threatened species in the wild.

In 2002, Routier founded a nongovernmental organization called CRESAM. That stands for Conservation and Reproduction of Endangered Wild Species. He and his international team of highly specialized vets work with about 20 different species of carnivores in France and overseas. Many are big cats like cheetahs, living in private game parks. CRESAM is one of the rare organizations using artificial reproduction techniques outside of zoos.

A video on CRESAM's website shows Routier shooting a cheetah with a tranquillizer gun. Once down, the vets take blood samples of the animal. They have to work quickly. Within a few minutes, it will be back on its feet.

Cheetahs once roamed large chunks of Africa and Asia. But their numbers have plummeted from about 100,000 a century ago, to only about 7,000 to 15,000 today. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists cheetahs in general as a vulnerable species. Some subspecies are considered critically endangered.  Luke Hunter, president of the global wildcat conservation organization Panthera, said big cats face a basic threat: competing with humans for space.

"The issue becomes the whole suite of threats that humans bring into landscapes in which large cats exist, which includes direct hunting of large cats for their furs or their bones or other things that are considered valuable for certain cultures. [Also] hunting and persecution of cats because they're considered dangerous, and just wiping out habitats and prey that big cats need," Hunter stated.

Read More Here

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Denmark : Another Giraffe name Marius is in jeopardy of being killed at the Jyllands Park Zoo

Giraffe in danger after another zoo indicates possible plans to kill

Another giraffe in danger in DenmarkPhoto by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images

Penny EimsAnimal News Examiner

February 13, 2014

Another giraffe, ironically named "Marius," like the giraffe who was killed at Denmark's Copenhagen Zoo less than a week ago, is in danger of losing his life at a different zoo in Denmark, reported Thursday's CBS News.
The latest "Marius," in jeopardy resides at Jyllands Park Zoo, which is also in Denmark.
On Sunday, the first "Marius," an 18-month-old giraffe, was killed in public because he was considered "surplus," and his genes were said to be "inferior."
The Jyllands Park Zoo "Marius" is seven-years-old and he will be killed if the zoo acquires a female giraffe - unfortunately for Marius, the likelihood of a new girl in the zoo is "likely."
Zoo keeper Janni Lojtved Poulsen explained why Marius might be destroyed:

We can't have two males and one female. Then there will be fights,”

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• Second giraffe named Marius in Denmark faces slaughter threat
• Another Marius faces death
• Another Danish Zoo Planning To Kill A Giraffe Named Marius
• Second Danish giraffe called Marius may be killed
• Guardian: Second giraffe named Marius at risk of being put down in Denmark
• Second Danish zoo poised to kill healthy giraffe because it is 'unsuitable for breeding'

UK - Six lions at Longleat Safari Park have been put down, triggering outrage among staff

Zoo officials kill six lions, including four cubs

Penny EimsAnimal News Examiner

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Six lions killed at popular zoo in BritainPhoto by Morne de Klerk/Getty Images

February 10, 2014

A popular wildlife safari park in Britain is on the receiving end of public outcry after word got out that six lions in their care have been destroyed, reported Sunday's publication of the Daily Mail.
A lion, lioness and four cubs were destroyed at the Longleat Safari Park last month.
Officials at the zoo blame the killings on an increase in pregnancies at the park. On Sunday, the Longleat Safari Park posted this statement on their Facebook page:

In regards to the lions, there has been a large increase in pregnancies, resulting in a 40 per cent increase in population. This has unfortunately resulted in excessive violent behaviour, putting 21 of them at risk.

The park added:

Longleat takes the utmost care in trying to protect the welfare and safety of all our animals.

The explanation has fallen flat with many individuals.


Read More Here


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Outrage as lioness and cubs who were the pride of Longleat are put down leaving staff in tears

• Henry the lion, Louisa the lioness and four cubs were killed last month

• Longleat bosses claimed the lions were becoming violent and dangerous

• Employees wept when they heard what had become of the beloved animals
  

By Martin Delgado and Nick Constable
PUBLISHED: 17:42 EST, 8 February 2014 | UPDATED: 10:22 EST, 9 February 2014

Six lions at Longleat Safari Park have been put down, triggering  outrage among staff who claim there was no obvious reason for the animals to be killed.
An adult male called Henry, a lioness named Louisa and four of her cubs were all put to death last month in an operation supervised by vets.
Bosses at the safari park on the Marquess of Bath’s Wiltshire estate insist the decision was taken because of ‘health risks’ after a population increase led to violent behaviour.

At play: Lions and cubs, left, from the pride that was culled by vets at Longleat, pictured three weeks

But former workers in the lion reserve have questioned whether the animals should have been destroyed, and revealed that some employees were in tears when they found out what had happened.
The lions are one of the biggest attractions at Longleat, which opened in 1966 as Britain’s first wildlife safari park.


Read More and Watch Video Here


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